[Leica] 75 'cron

[sethrosner at nycap.rr.com (Seth Rosner)]

Don, I'm forwarding your post to Stefan Daniel at Solms; it seems to me that 
input like yours should be invaluable to the planners at Leica. Only one 
disagreement with you: I do not believe that a 105/F1,4 is possible for two 
reasons, one because I think that even if it is technologically achievable 
it would be ferociously expensive and monstrously heavy and bulky and two, 
perhaps more important, I do not think it would work on an M-camera, the 
bulk of such a lens would block the viewfinder.

Seth
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Dory" <dorysrus@mindspring.com>
To: "'Leica Users Group'" <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 9:50 PM
Subject: RE: [Leica] 75 'cron


> Frank,
> With all due respect, another 75 will not sell many lenses.  Low sales,
> low revenue, equals R&D money down the drain.  For most Leica shooters,
> the absence of a 75 will be of no consequence.  Most could fall back on
> a 50 or a 90.  I happen to be an owner a passionate devote of the 75
> Summilux, but I think its sales rank right up there with the 135 APO or
> maybe the 90 macro.
>
> Places in the lens lineup that could use help would be a faster 24
> designed for digital sensors, possibly a redesign of the 50 Summicron, a
> new 15 possibly an F4 so smaller and lighter than the Zeiss offering.  A
> redesign of the Noctilux with aspheric surfaces might make sense.
> Learning to use alternative materials to lighten the lens might make
> sense.
>
> Now, if Leica brought out a new frame set with a unique frame line for
> the 75 that was free when you bought the new 75 APO macro Summicron, now
> that might be of some interest.  Besides, if a 105 F2 is interesting,
> then the 105 F1.4 would be even more interesting.
>
> Don
> dorysrus@mindspring.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org] On Behalf
> Of Frank Filippone
> Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 5:51 PM
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: RE: [Leica] 75 'cron
>
> If Leica is chasing Bessa/Cosin/Voigtlander, they are in deep doo-doo.
> Back
> to my argument to fire someone for wrong thinking.
>
> A 105 lens ( if you even guess that a digital M is around the corner or
> in
> the near future, or in the not too distant future, or in the future,
> sometime) is dumb.  They have not had a 105 lens in what, 65 years?
> There
> is a 90 that is popular and there is a 75 that is popular.  If you take
> (any
> Summicron or ASPH Lux) 50mm lens and multiply by the presumed digital
> factor
> of 1.6 you get 80mm AOV. The portrait FL of choice by Leica for 75
> years.
> Why a 105?    Multiply by 1.4 and you get... 70MM. The FL they already
> have
> in the lineup for 35 film.  I am not saying that thi sis not the reason
> they
> are doing this, but it sounds .... unlikely.
>
> In my mind, there is only 1 logical reason for the lens..... a redesign
> was
> needed for some reason of optical glass availability, or just plain
> cost.
> Face it, Leica Canada has been gone for a while, and this is the last
> lens
> to survive that ex-Canada thing.  If I were going to design a new lens
> to
> replace the existing, I might just think about changing the design for
> lower
> cost ( less optical elements of less costly optical glass).  So a 75 F2
> makes sense here.  The 75/1.4 would then be discontinued.
>
> This kind of thinking meets the goal of lower cost ( F1.4 vs F2).  It
> also
> fixes the availability issues.
>
>
> Frank Filippone
> red735i@earthlink.net
>
>
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