Leica has added a 35mm ?1.5 rangefinder lens to its digital M-series lineup. Previously, the only electronic 35mm to be had was the rather slow ?2.5 model, hardly the kind of fast lens that we expect to use on these compact, go-anywhere bodies. On the other hand, that lens came from the “budget” Summarit-M range, all of which had the same maximum aperture of ?2.5 and lacked any aspherical lens elements.
That older 35mm lens can be had for $1,700 street. The new Leica Summilux-M 35 mm ?1.4 ASPH adds back in all these luxury elements and will cost $5,000. It also comes bundled with a metal lens hood which costs $150 when sold alone.
Leica lenses aren’t about the specs. You’ll find no image stabilization here, nor even a zoom (zooms wouldn’t even work well with a rangefinder. The closest you’ll get is a three-way, multi-telephoto setup). They’re about the engineering, the image quality and the hand-made-ness of each lens the company turns out.
The only concession to modernity is hidden inside. These lenses have a 6-bit encoding in them which tells the camera which model it is.
This lens will probably be as stunning as any from Leica, and well done to Leica for getting back to what it does best: making lenses. It’s M-series bodies are increasingly irrelevant, if well made, but the lenses, which will work on any Leica film camera (or Micro Four Thirds camera with an adapter) are possibly still the best lenses you can buy. Available July.
Summilux product page [Leica via Leica Rumors]
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/fBvIQrEH3Rc/
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