Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/06/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Mark, I question your assumption that "Normally a new version of a lens is more compact and lighter by a small margin." That may happen sometimes, but quite often things seem to go the other way, at least recently. Both the new ASPH 35mm lenses, Summicron and Summilux, are larger and heavier than their predecessors, the latter one by quite a significant margin. So too I believe the current 50mm Summicron and Summilux are both larger and heavier than the previous versions, if only slightly, even though their optical formulas remained unchanged. And the new ASPH-APO 90mm Summicron is also slightly larger and heavier than its predecessor, which in turn was slightly larger and heavier than the one (with the 49mm filter thread) that preceeded it. And the last 135mm f/4.0 lens (with 46mm filter ring) was larger and heavier than the previous Tele-Elmar (with 39mm filter ring) that preceeded it, even though again the optical formula remained unchanged. It can go both ways, and there's really no "rule" here, or so it seems to me. (But I can be wrong.) :-) Art Peterson -----Original Message----- From: Mark Rabiner [mailto:mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com] Sent: Monday, June 12, 2000 3:11 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: Was: Tell Me About This Lens Now: TE versus new elmarit It's a little hard to come away form Erwins thing on the 90/2 non- Asph impressed. And now the new one for comparison is the 90/2 Asph-apo perhaps the most imprsssive glass in the history of optics. Why would you want this ugly looking older thing? And some crazy French magazine five years ago pretty much called the Current Elmarit one of the greatest optics of all time! When a French maitre d's saw you with this lens they always gave you the best table in the whole joint! I would think the fact that the TE was replaced by a lens twice it's size would make one suspicious. It's obvious Leica felt they had made a mistake and had to have the whole thing rethunk. Normally a new version of a lens is more compact and lighter by a small margin. All of a sudden they come out with one twice the size and weight. I certainly experienced first hand the reason! Would not wish one on my worst enmity! Mark Rabiner