M75 F1.4...gone

[bobtodrick]

Announced today from Leica NJ...the 75 1.4 is discontinued. Backorders to Feb

28th will be honoured.

[vivek iyer]

Carsten has one for sale right now!

[35mmdelux]

beginning of the End.

 

MP, the last hurrah.

[Bill Blackwell Images]

It is a very good lens but it has always been a light seller. I was very surprised when Leica introduced the 75mm Summicron. Leica spent the time and R&D on it when working capital was difficult to come by.

 

I would think the next casualty would be the Noctilux.

[peter_muller3]

I thought about a 75mm f/1.4 for a long time, then took the plunge with a mint condition used one last year. Couldn't be happier with it. I'm relatively new to the Leica M series, and find the Leica lenses a little like custom-made signature Arnold Palmer (today'g generation would say "Tiger Woods") golf clube. They won't hurt my game, but very few of us ever play up to the potential of them. I'm sorry to see this go, and if the Nocto is really next...it will be the beginning of the end for Leica as we know it.

[jeff_drew4]

I'd love to be able to afford one of Leica's, but my little CV Heliar 75mm does a terrific job for a few hundred dollars. oh well . . .

[35mmdelux]

We'll see but I'm not so sure about it being the next. It is afterall Leica's big claim to fame.

[guy_mancuso]

Bummer I just bought one a couple weeks ago and it is awesome.

[vinay_patel]

"I would think the next casualty would be the Noctilux."</p>

 

Nope, Leica has a different strategy. They just raised the price to over five grand, making it the greatest status symbol a Leica fanboy can <del>wear</del> use. One of those on an M8 and you've got $10K of Leica bling around your neck, even before counting in the Luigi case and the IR filter ;-)

[Bill Blackwell Images]

"[The Noctilux] is after all Leica's big claim to fame."

 

I am only speculating based on events at Leica over the past 36 months, or so.

 

1. Most of the older lens designs have been replaced with modern aspherical formulas with only the 50mm Summicron, the Noctilix, and the 90mm Elmarit-M (of designs more than about 20-years old), still left in production.

 

2. All Leica production is down with a tremendous backlog.

 

3. And the Noctilux has sky rocketed in price (with a $1,500 increase that took place almost overnight), which could mean any number of things outside of what Leica is telling us. Only one of which could be that production has already all but discontinued and the price increase is a move to help sell out current inventories

[35mmdelux]

if this were the case, and I'm not saying it isn't, in my mind Leica would broadcast the halt in Nocti production. It would be extremely difficult to secret this info.

 

Further, it would seem to me that increases in pricing are generally attributable to strong demand. The supply/ demand thing.

 

How would a price increase help sell inventories?

[Bill Blackwell Images]

"How would a price increase help sell inventories?"

 

Well, you've caused me to rethink this. Normally, when a price increase is announced, older stock clears out (the old "FIFO" trick), but Leica dealers (at least here in the USA) have to adhere to Leica's MSP policy, so my logic may not work in this case.

 

However, international (grey) prices are lagging a bit and lenses can still be purchased at old prices.

 

It's only speculation anyway.

[stuart_richardson]

This is kind of sad, but it does not surprise me too much. The 75/1.4 is a great lens, but

people who want it tend to buy it on the used market since they have been around for a long

time and the new prices are so high. That, and the 75/2 is a much more practical lens...don't

get me wrong, I have and love both, but I am not surprised at all that it is being discontinued.

[len_smith]

Bill Blackwell wrote:

 

>I would think the next casualty would be the Noctilux.

 

 

The next casualty will be the 135mm f/3.4 Apo-Telyt-M. It cannot be coded for use with the M8 and I would guess that the last one has already been made.

[blakley]

Tony's right; the 135/3.4 will be next. The Noctilux will NOT be discontinued; in fact a new production run wouldn't be surprising - I bet they've sold more in the last 6 months than in the preceding three or four years. It's possible to imagine a 35 Noctilux, though. The 75/1.4 seems pretty superfluous given the 75 Summicron, the 90/2 APO Summicron, and the Noct and 50 Cron ASPH.

[stuart_richardson]

Hmm, I wouldn't think they would discontinue the 135/3.4. It is a new lens and it is the only

lens in its focal length. It may not work on the M8, but it does work on the MP and M7, as

well as every other M made before them. The 135mm has been a classic M focal length since

the beginning, so it does not make much sense to me that they would just can it because the

M8 is a 1.3 crop camera. Currently, the only other lens that strikes me as an odd man out is

the 50/2.8 elmar. Though it is a good lens, how many people really choose the Elmar when

there is the Summicron, Summilux ASPH and Noctilux? Granted, it is very tiny, but the

Summicron is not very large and it is faster, and most find it a better performer.

[david11]

"The 75/1.4 seems pretty superfluous given the 75 Summicron, the 90/2 APO Summicron, and the Noct and 50 Cron ASPH."

 

I guess if you want faster than F2 in a longer M lens, used is the only option. FWIW, there isn't any "50 cron ASPH".

[kens]

...or the 24 Elmarit? It's always been kind of an odd length for the M, and even more so with

the 1.3 crop.

[jerry_pfile3]

The 24 biting the dust? Besides being a wonderful lens, the M8 has given it an additional kick in the 'demand' pants.

 

Jerry

[ronald_moravec1]

The Leitz glass works have been gone for a decade or more. Without the high density "home made" Noctlux glass, these two lenses can not be made.

 

Nobody else is going to set up to make the glass for them as the cooling cycle is about 10 years. So when the glass is gone, it is gone forever.

 

The $5500 price is to maximise profit on the last melt.

 

The 75 1.4 has some of the same glass so it is gone too.

 

I had a sample of the glass in my hand a few decades ago and the 1 inch cube weighed about a pound. Close your eyes and I could not tell this from a piece of solid lead.

 

There is a further problem in that lead can not be used in glass sold in Europe now. It is a polution problem in manufacturing the glass. It probably extends to the grinding operation also.

[david k.]

"...or the 24 Elmarit? It's always been kind of an odd length for the M, and even more so with the 1.3 crop."

 

Don't think so, the M8 has frame lines for the 24, and is a 32mm equivalent. A very attractive option on the M8.....and a great lens optically, I would think it will be VERY popular on the M8.

[mark_sampson]

Correct me if I'm wrong- but hasn't the Noctilux always been made by Elcan (formerly Leica) in Canada?

[ronald_moravec1]

I think it is ELCAN, but they still need the glass which mostly likely is not in the commercial catalogs.

[karl_keung]

so what magic glass they use in the 50/1.4 asph summilux? is it inferior to the ones used in

50 Noctilux or 75 summilux?

[stuart_richardson]

Not inferior, just different. The problem is that you cannot change the glass without

redesigning the lens, so it is not a simple matter of just switching out one type.