[Leica] The IIIF still works

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

Leica has as a business model the concept of making higher quality lenes
than its 35mm format competition so it starts with a price point a magnitude
higher than the rest.  5 grand not 500 clams.
With its customers willing to pay for that kind of quality they can make a
lens of that quality. They have glass choices a 500 dollar lens does not
have and they can make the construction of the lens to higher tolerances.
    One would think some day just for fun the people at Canon or Nikon could
come out with a 5 grand 35mm 1.4 lens but they seem to feel that is not
their business model mission statement.  They could of course do so and that
optic would compete directly against Leica's output. Perhaps besting some of
them. It might make the rest of their lens choices seem cheap in comparison.
As yet if your paying 5 grand for a lens from Canon Nikon you're getting one
that looks like a bazooka.

It took me ten years go amass ten Leica M lenses. I count not pick one up on
a  whim as a current job was going to pay for it and I already head the rent
in. it had to be an ongoing financial consideration lasting about a year.
And it was always I felt worth it.


Mark William Rabiner
Photography




> From: Paul Roark <roark.paul at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 08:31:37 -0700
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] The IIIF still works
> 
> Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> wrote:
>> ...
>> Optical science has not stood still ...
> 
> I had an interesting discussion with a Canon technical rep some years
> ago.  He made the point that most R&D went into not making lenses
> sharper per se, but rather making them "affordable" while still good
> enough.  That reality even affects Leica -- although at a higher
> price-performance point.
> 
> Along this line, it appears one of the main advances may be in making
> molded aspherics better.  One simply can't make a top notch, very wide
> or very fast lens with only spherical elements, and the cost of
> grinding one aspheric at a time is even out of Leica's cost structure.
>  I think what we'll see, going forward, is the move to more and more
> aspherics -- not just a single element per optic.  In line with this
> thinking, I'd guess that the slower telephotos, where aspherics are
> not needed, would be the area where the older Leica lenses can best
> match the newer ones (at least in a low flare situation).
> 
> I think one of the advantages the M series will continue to enjoy in
> terms of performance is the ability of the designers to ignore the
> requirements of AF and IS, which has to be a huge part of current
> optical design for the mainstream companies.
> 
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com
> 
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