[Leica] Rarely covered topic: Best Leica R lens values

["Greg Bicket" <gbicket@home.com>]

Happy New Year LUGgers,

As it's a perspective rarely discussed topic, and offers huge opinion
skewing, I thought I would share some thoughts on cost/value of some Leica R
lenses.

There are lots of favorite R lenses in the Leica R catalogs, and in camera
bags.  I thought it might be an interesting angle to look at some of these
from the standpoint of cost/value.  We can skip some of the inter-brand
comparisons, and stick to Leica.  For my money, and I own all three, there
are three outstanding Leica R lenses from a cost value standpoint.  So our
relative unit of measure is multiples of other, similar Leica lenses.

First, the 50mm Summicron R.  Renders beautiful images, Leica sharp.  Turbo
bokeh!  One stop slower than the 50mm Summilux R, the current version of
which costs twice to three times as much as the Summicron.

Second, the f4 35-70 zoomer.  Very good results, fine color rendition,
quirky rotating front element, but about a third the cost of the
extraordinary f2.8 R lens of the same lengths.  Third, the sleeper f4
80-200.  Light, small, easy to use with 60mm filter thread, this lens makes
very Leica-ish images in terms of color and sharpness.  If its comparator
would be the f 2.8 70-180 APO, the 80-200 is around a fifth of the cost.
Neither of these zooms equal the quality of the faster, similar length
lenses, but we are talking very good quality from Leica designed lenses at a
fraction of the costs.

Some of my favorites remain my favorites, such as R 19 and R 100, but the
value for the bucks doesn't compare with the lenses above.  Unless cost is
truly no object, cost/value must at least be considered.  If partnership
with Kyocera can produce Leica designed zoom lenses of such quality for such
reduced cost, should not the line include far more such lenses?   What would
happen to the price of a Kyocera produced 50mm Summilux?

And before you say it, yes, shouldn't outsourcing body manufacture be
considered, too?   I for one, am hoping for some company commitment, and
some clever strategies for the R line, too.

Semper R.  Enjoy the light.

Greg