Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/06/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Peterson Arthur G NSSC wrote: > > 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 ><Snip> Art!, Your right with the ASPHs they upped the anti on weight but in the case of the new 3.4 135 Telyt it is a tad lighter was well as faster and I do love that lens. My 50 Summicron from 7 years ago with the reversible hood was lighter and an element shyer than it's predecessor. I like what they've done with that classic lens and prefer it to the one with the built in hood. Dropping an element on the 50 Summicron is a tread we've been tangled in before until we've gotten compactly digested and disgusted. But my 35 Summicron Asph weighs a ton and i was disappointed by that aspect only of the lens. The added weight was worth the price IMO of perfection. Mark Rabiner