[Leica] Affordable Leica Lenses

["Art Sala" <artsala@earthlink.net>]

When I first became interested in Leicas (1970'something), I remember
looking at the R3 and thinking that in order to afford this camera kit, I
would have to opt for the R35f2.8 and the R90f2.8 lenses.  At that time,
much more affordable than the Summicrons (as the story goes, I opted for
Nikon for another decade).

So what happened to these lenses?  Was the optical performance not up to
Leica standards?  Did Leica figure that a newbie on a budget could opt for
clean used lenses instead of these slower variants?

Cheers,
Arturo