In addition to the previously posted 35mm Summilux replacement rumors I received few more bits of information:
- The construction of the floating element in the new 35mm Lux will not be based on the current 50mm Summilux lens. It will be similar to the floating element implementation in the latest 0,95 Noctilux lens.
- The new 35mm Lux will be slightly bigger and not much more expensive than the current 35mm f/1.4 lens (my previous guess @ $4,995 was probably too high).
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Can it get any better? My 35mm is so sharp.
I thought that the 50/0,95A, like the 75/2AA and the 75/2,5 S, was based on the 50/1,4A design, so I don’t quit understand the first bullet.
Interesting: Leica is upgrading its lenses with floating elements, a
feature normally associated with close range photography.
Could this mean a different mechanical construction with the
ability to focus even more closely with a yet to be released LiveView M
body? Of course it would not make sense now, that the M9 is
so much in demand. But LiveView as an additional feature would
certainly cure one of the basic limitations of rangefinder cameras.
Floating elements are also associated with the correction of focus drift (“focus shift”), a notorious feature of the current 35/1,4A, so I would not look further. Per Leitz standard, the M is limited to 0.7 m as closest focus point with rangefinder assistance; the Zeiss standard allows for 0.5 m. So Leica would have to adopt the Zeiss norm first
I am happy to report that my Summilux 35mm has no focus shift problem of any kind on my M9. And the bokeh on that lens rival that of my 50mm f/0.95.