Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 09:32 AM 4/9/97 -0700, Henning J. Wulff wrote: >Actually, around 1965-66 the Summilux went from chrome to black, and at >about the same time the two elements just in front of the diaphragm >separated, and the two rear elements got glued together. More importantly, >the quality went up significantly. The first Summilux up to 1965 did have a >construction quite similar to the Summarit, but not identical. The latter >optical design is still in use. The change would have happened around the >2,100,000 mark, even though some books mention the 1844001 number. I don't >know. I have a July,1967 catalog which still shows the chrome lens. No, this isn't correct. The optical change occurred at 1844001. As Lager sets out in LEICA: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY (v. II, p. 172), "About 1962, at serial number 1844001, the Summilux was recomputed to give even better performance. It appears that official acknowledgement of this change did not occur until late 1965." And Dennis Laney says in THE LEICA COLLECTORS GUIDE, p. 138: "1961: Completely new optical design, based on new glasses and employing seven elements with the rear four as two cemented pairs, but no change in mount. Curiously, Leitz did not acknowledge this change until 1966 (cit. omitted)." Other references say substantially the same: the lens formula changed at 1844001, Leitz did not acknowledge this until 1966. Leitz could be funky about this sort of thing. They never DID acknowledge that the 2/50 rigid first-generation Summicron was of a different design than the collapsible version, although each has a different patent number. The Summilux lens mount was originally chrome; black paint was added in 1961. Both were discontinued in 1968 and replaced with black anodized, in the lens mount which remained in production until 1994 or so when the new, inbuilt-hood mount appeared. I have owned a chrome new-formula Summilux. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!