Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/06/04

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Subject: Re: Was: [Leica] Noctilux Now: Summilux
From: nod <smackphoto@bigfoot.com>
Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 09:33:06 +0100

Eric Welch wrote:
> 
> At 01:27 AM 6/4/98 +0100, you wrote:
> >agrees and wouldn't also the recomputatioon of an M lens to make it like
> >an slr lense, loose the optical benfits of the rangefinder design ?
> 
> What benefits would those be?

optically speaking Leica M series lenses are of a purer design simply
because they don't have to be made for a larger optical register
(distance between lens mount and focal plane) because there is no
mirror. Although with the 50mm originally mentioned there are only a few
benefits, with wide angles these increase as the ability to place the
rear elements closer to the plane is desirable and resultant in that
legendary Leica quality.

The smaller optical register also leads to more compact lenses, which is
one of the major ergonomic benefits of the M system, the original
comment was

>I am hoping that Leica will soon introduce a new M 50 1.4 based on the
>recently introduced R 50 1.4.
>
>Tom Shea

which is pretty pointless unless one would like the M-series to become
comparatively big and chunky.

(please note I am not an Optical Lab Technician, although somewhere I do
have an exact description of why optically speaking M-series lenses are
purer, I just can't find the thing)