[Leica] 21mm f1.4 Summilux - the next "must have?"

[benedenia at gmail.com (Marty Deveney)]

A new 40 would be very nice.  Leica they seem reluctant to have
different finder frameline sets or magnifications except with the a la
carte price premium, so I don't think a 40 seems likely.  But it would
be nice, Leica, if you're listening...

Marty

On Tue, Jul 6, 2010 at 12:28 PM, Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> 
wrote:
>> The ?50 R Summilux was upgraded just before the R system was cancelled
>> (to the E60 filter version) but the 50 R Summicron hadn't been
>> redesigned since 1976.
>>
>> There is a prototype 50/2 M asph at Solms that they have on display or
>> show to factory tours periodically. ?I think they decided not to
>> release it because it would be too expensive for a lens of that
>> specification and most of the proposed features ended up going into
>> the 50/1.4 asph. ?Given their recent price structure it wouldn't
>> surprise me if it appears eventually. ?The old lend could do with
>> upgrading: among other things, the overall look of the images it
>> produces no longer matches as well as it used to with the rest of the
>> M line - and I have always thought that a major strength of the M
>> lenses was a very strong familial similarity in their imaging
>> characteristics. ?All the recent (post 50/1.4 asph) asph lenses render
>> almost identically but just with different focal lengths and
>> apertures.
>>
>> Marty
>
> And they cancelled the 2.8 a year or so ago.
> Now that the M9 is out the 50 is a very strong focal length again and the
> identify is back on many of its lens focal lengths.
> I'm sure the slow end of its 50's is on the short list.
> A Summicron if not an elmar.
> If I was running Leica they'd be coming out with a strong new 40mm lens.
> Even more "normal" and workable than a 50.
>
>
> [Rabs]
> Mark William Rabiner
>
>
>
>
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