New 50mm ?

[david_franklin1]

<p>Dear all, I was in a well-known London Leica dealer today and one of the staff mentioned that there is a new 50mm f2 asph lens coming out in the next few months to replace the current summicron. Sounds interesting, anyone know any more??</p>

[geoff_r1]

<p>This would not suprise me, the 2/50 is the only old design in their current lens line. The current lens is fantastic, so despite being around 30 years old, I can only assume there has been no need to release a new one. </p>

[james_elwing]

<p>I hope not. That is the only current design M lens I own</p>

[Bill Blackwell Images]

<p>No big surprise. But if you want one prepare for at least a six-month backlog.</p>

[john_kwok]

<p>It's long overdue. I asked Leica years ago to build one. I guess now the economics are right. Be interesting to see how well it compares with the Zeiss ZM Planar, which I think is slightly superior to the Summicron with respect to contrast and resolution.</p>

[baudolion]

<p>I agree with John that it's long overdue - I find the current version Cron 50 not that great in terms of (a) tendency to flare with a diffuse light source (e.g. bright sky) just outside of the image, (b) somewhat boring rendition (very gradual change from sharp to unsharp areas), compared to the more "punchy" modern lenses that really make the subject stand out against a blurred background, and © problems with moire - the current 50 cron is the one lens that's caused me endless problems with moire on the M9 - extreme resolution, perhaps too much for the M9 sensor. Replaced it with a 50 Lux asph, no problems with moire any more, nice punchy, modern looking images. I know there are people who prefer the "look" produced by the older pre-asph Leica glass, but I am not one of them. For that reason, a new cron 50 asph would be interesting, especially if it could produce the same "look" as the 35 Cron apsh or the 75/90 Apo Asph - i.e. high resolution, high contrast, high resistance to flare - to produce saturated colours and sharp, punchy images.</p>