Did Voigtlander recently anounce an ultra-compact Elmar class 50mm lens? I thought a saw/heard something about this. Maybe it was an f2.5 or f3.5 pancake type lens.

I still wish Leica would produce the 50mm f3.5 Anastigmat from the 'O' for the M cameras. We need a pocketable lens (e.g. shorter than the current 50mm Elmar.

Thanks...

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), May 16, 2002

Answers

There is a new Heliar 50/3.5 which Erwin Puts tested in his private newsletter #002. Those who think of him as biased towards Leica may very well be surprised at his findings.
Erwin doesn't allow quoting in the public domain or redistribution -so maybe you should write to him to ask for a copy. You may want to ask him about the size as well, I do not think he mentioned it in the newsletter.

Erwin Puts: imxputs@ision.nl


-- Niels H. S. Nielsen (nhsn@ruc.dk), May 16, 2002.

The 50/3.5 collapsible Heliar isn't available outside of the Bessa T anniversary kit. A shame since the lens is so good. (The caveat is that it's much easier to make a fabulous lens in a slower speed than the typical F/2 or faster. That doesn't diminish the feat, it just says that many other manufacturers haven't offered such a slow normal lens in a long time.)

The newest 50 from CV is the Color-Skopar 50/2.5 that should be available very soon (like this week). Look here: http://www.cosina.co.jp/50-2.5/. It is NOT a pancake design. It comes in a very nice black paint and much better chrome (as opposed to chrome finish, like the other CV lenses). Build quality is reputedly very high, almost to Leica standards. Mine should be here in the next week or so with the nice rectangular hood. :-)

It will not be smaller than the current 50/2.8 Elmar though.

Skip

-- Skip Williams (skipwilliams@pobox.com), May 16, 2002.

Not just chrome - the latest 28mm and 50mm Color-Skopars actually have brass barrels. Too bad their custom hoods cost exactly 1/10 of the lens - at least in Japan.

-- Andrew (mazurka@rocketmail.com), May 16, 2002.

The hood for the 50/2.5 that I ordered was $49, which isn't a lot for such a good hood (metal, square, thread-in + set screw). So that makes the total price of the lens $475 with the good hood. It does come with a small built-in hood.

Have you priced plastic Leica hoods lately? I paid $40 for a lens cap for my 35/2 Summicron's hood. What a rip-off!

Skip

-- Skip Williams (skipwilliams@pobox.com), May 16, 2002.

Thanks to all, here it is...

http://www.popphoto.com/Camera/ArticleDisplay.asp?ArticleID=1 59

I want one...

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), May 16, 2002.

And here...

http://www.cameraquest.com/voig101.htm

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), May 16, 2002.

Skip,

Yes those damned caps and odds-n-ends are a rip-off even when they're from Nikon, many times more so with Leica. I'm glad you like the price of your Voigtsina hood which I knew to be well made. Still, it comes to ~12% of the price of your lens and to me, it's too much. (Hack, I won't even get the 12575 for my Tele-Elmarit, not even used.) Voigtsina just don't make the hoods as good value as their lenses. The free, tiny hood won't do any good so the $49 model is the only choice.

-- Andrew (mazurka@rocketmail.com), May 16, 2002.

Andrew,

It would be a lot simpler if the lens was sold only with the hood, as Leica lenses are. That way you don't know how much the hood costs. I'm sure they could price the combo at $460 or something. But most likely this is traditional marketing and lowest-price mentality at work here. Publish the lowest price possible and don't mention the $49 and $33 that you need to spend to put it on an M camera and make it perform best.

In one way, it's classic bait/switch marketing, but they weasel out of it in that the lens is usable without the LTM-M adpater or the hood. Also, pricing the items separately keeps the inventory of kits down. It also inflates their profit margin, as the margin is certainly higher on the little stuff.

OK, I'll get off my soapbox and pay the $475. It's still a good value at that price, IMO.

Skip

-- Skip Williams (skipwilliams@pobox.com), May 16, 2002.

Don't jump down off you soap box just yet!

How about the M to LTM adapter that Cosina/Voigtlander knows many buyers will need (I think they get about $65). Add that to a proper hood and the lens price is getting up there for sure.

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), May 16, 2002.

I made a mistake, The lens is $325, + $49-hood, +$33-adapter = $407.

The $33 price is if you bought a set of three adapters for $100. I just picked a no-name one up a few days ago for $30.

Skip

-- Skip Williams (skipwilliams@pobox.com), May 16, 2002.

i think the collapsible heliar is quite an ugly lens

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), May 16, 2002.

Skip: vow, your hood just keep costing more and more relative to your lens! Besides, when has Leitz/Leica_ever_"publish the lowest price possible"? It's more like the highest price possible! ;-)

Stefan: yeah that's an ugly barrel all right. Anyway, the whole 101 Anniv Bessar T set is aimed solely at the collector. The T's accurate rangefinder without a coincidental viewfinder is a pain to use, and the stellar-performing Heliar is slow as a snail for the focal length, especially if you don't use ISO 400 or faster film.

-- Andrew (mazurka@rocketmail.com), May 17, 2002.