[Leica] Leica in the future

[Erwin Puts <imxputs@knoware.nl>]

Someone wrote that he would bet that the current line of M lenses would be
the last one and many persons speculated about the future of Leica products
looking for clues from financial reports and words from the new CEO.
Leica-watching for Luggers is as natural as kremlin-watching was for the
CIA. I would say, both still have to score one significant point. The wave
of insanity that engulfed the Lug the last weeks, only points to one
conclusion. If every Lugger would confine his contributions to his own
frame of reference or proven area of competence, we would vastly expand our
common knowledge and reduce the traffic by a factor of 10.
I myself cannot contribute to the Lug anymore since Eric in his Olympic
wisdom has decreed that testers of lenses have worthless information about
lenses compared to his own views.
Still for the some of you who assume that the area of competence of real
photographers should be confined to that part of reality (taking pictures)
and that optical design, analysis and testing  is just not an area that
most real photographers are qualified to have a valid opinion about. Real
photographers are also not qualified to discuss the crashtest methods used
in the automobile industry, even if some drive cars. I distract a little,
but feel very much upset by Eric and a few others who stubbornly and
erroneously decree (without any rational argument) tthat testing lenses in
a scientific way is a futile excercise and that only real photographers
have the right to allow themselves a serious opinion about lenses. To set
things straight: ANYONE, not only Eric is entitled to have any opinion
about any lens. And if opinions disagree is is not by definition that Eric
is right (even if that is his right to think so). It might be that Peter K
is right.
It might even be that the tester is right. To elaborate on this topic would
be another post.
The current lens line for the M is not the end , but just the beginning of
a new and exciting era of lens design.
Just 20 years ago Dr Heynacher (from Zeiss, Marc!!) predicted (and his
predictions are serious stuff as he is a real expert) that we are in the
Stone Age as far as lens design goes. Especially as we continue to get into
the intricacies of mastering  the aspherics challenge, we will see
importent  improvements in the near future, but at a price.
I know (now I am in my area of expertise) that Leica engineering staff has
many new lenses on or even beyond drawing board  stage. It will be  easy to
make some common sense hunches, so I will not give any details here. The
new designs go beyond what is now possible in the Apo-Sumicron ASPH, the
Apo-Telyt or the Elmarit  24 ASPH, these three currently  belonging to the
top contenders for ultimate image quality.
Which of these designs will see the end of the assembly line no one knows.
But the idea that Leica has stopped  their search for the ultimate quality
lens, has no factual basis at all. Not for the M and not for the R.
I will not talk about the future of the M or the R as a camera system (not
my specialty). But you can infer from the ongoing research into new lenses
that is will not be done for dead bodies.


Erwin