highdesertmesa wrote:
Sorry I missed this response. When you put your reply above the quoted text, the forum doesn't notify the person you're quoting that they were quoted
The point I was trying to make was if Voigtlander lenses were designed and made in Germany and Leicas in Japan, the prices would probably reverse. Since this will never happen, there will always be a big disparity in the price. And I think expecting Leica to reduce the price of the current 0.95 Noct simply because Voigtlander hit a home run with the 50 f/1 is unrealistic. You could make the same argument about their 50 APO, but just because Voigtlander made a 50 APO doesn't change how much it costs Leica to make theirs.
If anything, Leica sometimes boxes themselves into a corner with their pricing on their higher end lenses – simply because the lenses are incredibly difficult to assemble to tolerance.
Didn't know that. I will type below when quoting from now on. I think it was on mobile, and there was free space above the quote, so there it ended...
My point (in the second paragraph) regarding Leica pricing was that Leica increase their prices even though the lens was designed up to twenty-five years ago (like the 90mm Apo-M). A more sensible pricing policy would for instance be to just keep the original price and let inflation do its work. Instead, Leica keeps increasing the price, and for this reason, the price to performance ratio goes progressively down.
Regarding assembling tolerance, I expect this to be the same for all manufacturers of similar spec'ed lenses. Why don't I have the otherwise wonderful 28mm Summicron-M Asph II? Because it performed poorer than, or at best on the same level as, the Ultron II in almost every way. I sent the 'cron to Wetzlar twice for optical adjustment. Did it get better from these two services? No. It behaved differently, and partly worse. So, the idea that Leica has a higher standard regarding lens assembly is not supported. From reports, I have read, this unfortunately also applies to current Leica cameras. Recently, a Leica reseller told a customer that he should expect to send in the (new) M camera within a year or two. Regarding production quality, Leica isn't what it once was, I'm afraid.
