>I'm not familiar with a Mandler Summicron-M, but I suspect the Leica
>owners I know would
Gary,
The current 50mm f/2 Summicron-M; same optical design since 1979 when it
was designed under the auspices of the great Walther Mandler, then head
of the lens design team at Elcan (Ernst Leitz Canada). I always suspected
it was mainly an economy design--Mandler had essentially brought back the
M4 from the dead (in the M4-2) after the marketing flop of both the M5
and the CL, I suspect because he wanted to design non-retrofocus lenses!
But he needed a budget intro 50mm like every other marque on the planet.
It's roughly the same cross-section as the 6-element, 4-group 50/1.8
Zuiko. It's never been my favorite Leica lens, although I have friends
who swear by it. I think I like the Zuiko better--but that's probably
because I'm a skinflint and the Zuiko is so much cheaper! :-)
--Mike
Mike Johnston, Editor-in-Chief
_PHOTO Techniques_ magazine
(www.phototechmag.com)
Preston Publications Division of Preston Industries, Inc.
Niles, Illinois
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