I had a CL and sold it. I didn't care for the operation mechanics. The
swinging-arm meter cell and the mandatory use of a PC625 always bothered me.
But the 40/2 Summicron is a fabulous lens, much better than my 40/2 Zuiko.
I agree with Winsor on the reasons for the 40/2 Zuiko's "popularity". It's
a neat little lens that makes a small camera even smaller vs. a standard
lens. But a superior design? I don't think so.
The two other comparisons that I have are that the 50/2 Elcan fitted to US
Military versions of the Leica M4. It was a compact lens, with fewer
elements and poorer performance than the then-current 50/2 Summicron. But
the military ordered it that way and they are now REALLY expensive
collectors pieces. But they don't outperform their contemporaries.
Also the 38/2.8 Olympus Pen FT lens is a real pancake lens, even thinner
than the 40/2 Zuiko. It also wasn't very expensive, but now brings at least
5 times the price of the normal 38/1.8. Nikon and Pentax, among others have
introduced very short, ~40-45mm lenses over their history designed to keep
the camera as short as possible. Some are very valued.
Skip
Comparison with the Leica CL is problematic to me. I was a Leica
owner when the CL was issued and it was Leica's first venture into a
cheap consumer oriented "tourist camera" and the design of the system
had more to do with cost and profit than the best of design. For
instance, expensive prisms were replaced by inexpensive mirrors in
the rangefinder which also was made much less accurate by reducing
the rangefinder base. It did not get a lot of respect at the time. I
would hope that Oly was rather trying to emulate the compactness of
their high quality namesake M cameras with their collapsible lenses.
If you have the 40 and like it, fine. All I was saying was the the
current highly inflated used prices only reflect demand based on
reasons other than its intrinsic quality as a lens. Someone who does
not own the lens might be better off with another option for less
money. Just my opinion.
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California
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