Back in December I reported that the Leica 24mm f/2.8 Elmarit M Aspherical lens was discontinued. The lens is currently listed as "no longer available".
Another lens, the Leica 21mm f/2.8 Elmarit M Aspherical lens is now also listed as discontinued at B&H:
If you are looking to get one of those lenses, Amazon still has the 21mm in stock and Adorama has the 24mm in stock.
Related posts:
- Leica 24mm f/2.8 Elmarit M Aspherical lens is now discontinued
- Leica 24mm f/2.8 Elmarit M Aspherical lens listed as “limited stock”
- Leica is rumored to announce a new 21mm ASPH f/3.8 lens
- Leica Super Elmar M 21mm f/3.4 ASPH lens now shipping in the US
- Zeiss Ikon 85mm f/2.0 T* ZM Sonnar lens (M-mount) to be discontinued?
14 Comments
I’m not a Leica owner (yet) so I’ve no real knowledge about their lenses, why are they discontinuing the Elmarit lenses…are they being replaced by newer models ?
not sure – this is an unusual move, since those lenses were good sellers
Guess they want us to all buy summiluxes….good thing Zeiss makes a 21mm f2.8 lense.
if that’s the case, Zeiss will be very happy
Wonder whether they are introducing a new ASPH lens; it’s difficult to imagine they would discontinue the 21mm Elmarit given the popularit of the focal length. Though, admittedly, I tend to grab my 28mm so as to avoid the need to use a finder.
I’m curious, despite the difference in focal length, what’s the difference between a Summilux and an Elmarit lens? Since both are from the same company.
I heard one of the difference is the look/color it produces?
Sumilux = max aperture f/1.4; Elmarit = mas aperture f/2.8. Leica uses different names for different max apertures.
Oh, so that’s the only difference? Thanks!
I did wonder why the S2 doesn’t have the term elmarit or summilux. And now I know
Adam,
The names elmarit (f 2.8), summarit ( 2.5), summicron (f 2.0), and summilux (f 1.4) refer to the widest aperture of the lens, but that is not the only difference. Additionally each lens has a different formula of lens elements, glass types, and feel. Each line up has a different “look” to the image. Some are more clinical, others more round…there are a million ways to describe the difference in image from each lens.
I am assuming you have not had a chance to work with many of the lenses yet, but when you do it will make more sense. The different lens lines have totally different characteristics, aside from having different F stops. It also explains why a 35mm summarit costs $1,695 and a 35mm Summilux costs $4,995. Its not just the F stop that is different.
The story behind the S2 and why it only has Summarit lenses is a bit longer, probably worthy of an entire article.
Sorry, “Summilux”
It doesn’t make sense to me that Leica would discontinue the most reasonably priced lenses unless there are replacements coming, but they also seem to have tremendous problems keeping lenses in stock (far worse than Nikon), so maybe they want reduce the number of different models they have to manufacture. Right now at B&H, only 7 of M-series lenses are in stock.
I also noticed that even though most of them are not available yet, most of the S-series lenses have had substantial price increases: 35mm from $5295 to $6495; 35mm CS from $5995 to $7495; 120 Macro from $6495 to $6995; 120 Macro CS from $7495 to $8495; 180 from $6495 to $6995; 180 CS from $7495 to $8495. Only the 70mm and 70mm CS haven’t gotten price increases and only the 70mm and 180mm are in stock.
maybe Leica will announce a whole bunch of new lenses which is probably why they need firmware testers – to potentially test the new lens profiles (just a guess)
That would be interesting. I wonder which new lenses they would introduce, I suppose the suspects would be the 21mm Elmarit, the 24mm Elmarit, the 50mm Summicron. I don’t see any of the other lenses really needing to be replaced; it’s difficult to do better for most of these lenses.
They may introduce also some new lenses, a 28mm Summilux comes to mind and maybe a redesigned 75 Lux?