[Leica] Is it just me?

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

>When I was handling the M8 a few weeks ago, I heard about this new
>Tri-Elmar, the wide angle one.  16/18/21 correct?  Now, at f/4 aren't we
>giving up a little bit of light for these three focal lengths?  That is, Why
>not just have a 15mm or a 16 or the 21?  A person could get a 21 a full stop
>faster or at the same speed, you could get a range of focal lengths for the
>same price as the new wide angle zoom.  I'm only saying this because the
>difference between 16mm and 21mm is so slight that you can walk it in 6
>steps.  I can't imagine looking at a scene and saying "if I only had a lens
>two millimeters longer (or wider)."  instead, I'd just take two steps and
>shoot.  Three focal lengths, very close to each other in appearance, less
>speed, greater size and more weight.  Granted, I'll not be able to afford
>one, but it seems like this marketing of Leica's is in the wrong place.
>It's an expensive lens to make and the company needs to make up the costs of
>production as well as make a profit, hopefully keeping themselves alive for
>years to come.  This looks like it will be a connoisseur's/collector's lens
>at best but is that were the company should be concentrating it's marketing?
>Perhaps I missed the thread where the new Tri-Elmar wide was run through
>it's paces, but it just seems like a solution for a problem that never
>existed.
>
>Philip

A 16 is a long ways from a 21 in practice. Also, in this range an f/4 
lens is a lot more useable than in the 28-35-50 range. You could 
maybe get a _used_ range of single focal lengths for the price of 
this lens, but likely not new. 'Likely' because Leica doesn't make 
anything shorter than 21 in single focal lengths, so it's hard to 
compare.

For the M8 something needed to be done about the lack of lenses 
shorter than 21, or 28 equivalent. They could have just made a single 
focal length 15 or 16, but that's an iffy proposition right now. They 
can't compete on price with the 15/4.5 CV, and they don't want to get 
into the size/price region of the Zeiss 15. I think their decision to 
make the 16-18-21 was a sound one. It offers reasonable focal lengths 
for M8 users while neatly sidestepping the other offerings, at a 
price that, while high, is pretty much in line with their other 
offerings and looks like a bargain compared to the Zeiss 15.

That finder, on the other hand....  :-(

-- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
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