Does anyone know with certainty if the new 50mm Summicron LTM is the same latest version as the M mount?

-- John Galloway (jgall30125@aol.com), August 17, 2000

Answers

John - are you referring to the 50mm Summicron which Leica released as a limited production LTM lens in Japan a year ago? I've been searching unsuccessfully for one of those for over eight months, and so has Stephen Gandy. I've come to the conclusion that its virtually unobtainable.

If you know something different, fill me in!

-- Joe Buechler (jbuechler@toad.net), August 17, 2000.

Dear all,

I have seen the 50mm Summicron LTM together with one or two other LTM lenses, such as the 35mm Summicron asph in silver, in Hong Kong. I believe they are still available. Of the topic, I also came across a Canadian 90/f1.0 Leica M-Mount lens! It is a huge lens indeed!

Good shooting

-- Tristan (kbgmi5@yahoo.com), August 17, 2000.

The 35 and two 50s are listed in the Eli Kurland ads in Shutterbug, so I assumed they were available.

-- John Galloway (jgall30125@aol.com), August 18, 2000.

I'm sure you and Steve Gandy have looked, but its usually eminently worth checking with Luigi Crescenzi of Leicatime (www.leicatime.com) in Italy, if I may suggest so.

In the Far East, the various Hong Kong shops always seem to have a few rarities floating around-those guys are all networked and can locate any item (at a price!) if there is an example in town.

You may check with Kinefoto in Hong Kong, but I don't have a street or web address for them. They are on Stanley Street in Hong Kong, if you know of anyone going that way.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), August 18, 2000.

Yes, it is the same optical formula.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), August 21, 2000.

Rich, a good dealer, has one on the shelf. Contact him at:

Photovilla@aol.com

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), August 25, 2000.

A couple of these (50mm and 35mm) I think were on offer on ebay recently. They are identical to the M lenses. Lovely if you have a Leica screw mount!

-- Robin Smith (rsmith@springer-ny.com), August 29, 2000.

Try Classic Camera in London. I saw them there this summer.

Matt

-- Matthew Pulzer (pulzer@dial.pipex.com), September 06, 2000.

Does this kind of behavior leave any doubt that the Leica management people are crazy?

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), September 06, 2000.

No, contrary to popular belief, the LTM lenses are NOT identical to the M ones in all respects. However they are mostly the same, including optical formulas. I believe the 35 has a different (larger) hood than the M version, and it's possible (though I cannot confirm) that the LTM lenses focus only to 1 meter instead of 0.7 (or maybe the barrel just isn't marked for 0.7) -- not sure what the real story is there but if close focus is important to you, you might check it out. I do know that on at least some M3's for example the rangefinder will not focus closer than 1 meter. The lens might be able to, however.

. The optical formulas are the same, as are most other aspects of the lenses, but \they aren't identical.

-- A. Moore (dmm@bronze.lcs.mit.edu), February 08, 2001.

To anyone that has been looking for these LTM lenses, my new Shutterbug magazine has just arrived and Tamarkin is selling the following lenses at a reduced price:

35mm Asph Summicron for $1299, 50mm Summicron for $849, 50mm Summilux for $1399.

All of these lenses are chrome and have the full USA passport warranty. The prices represent a savings of between two to five hundred Dollars from the list price.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), February 08, 2001.

Thanks Al

I just ordered one of the 50mm Summicron LTM's from Tamarkin. Great price! They still have a few left.

Finally, I'll be able to use the IIIf with modern Leica optics. I can't wait!

-- Joe Buechler (jbuechler@toad.net), February 10, 2001.

The 50mm Summicron LTM that arrived yesterday is physically identical to the M-mount lens, excepting the absence of the little red index dot (and the mount, of course).

Amazing that these are selling for the same price as the M-mount lenses. Now I suppose I should replace my 35mm Summicron-M with the more versatile screw mount version as well.

Between these and a couple of the Cosina/Voigtlander lenses, I've got a critical mass of interchangeability between my M6 and IIIf, making the IIIf a perfectly viable and small second body. I don't know if this concept works for everyone, but I'm happy as a pig in mud.

-- Joe Buechler (jbuechler@toad.net), February 15, 2001.