Sensible? Of course it isn't sensible. Good grief.
I own the CosVoigt. 35mm f2.5 which is a tiny, sharp lens. $200 as a
discontinued closeout.
And the Leitz 40mm Summicron-C which is tiny and nice and a Leica
world bargain.
And the M-Rokkor 28mm 2.8 which is my 'standard lens on the R-D1s.
And the new collapsible 50mm f2 Heliar which is lovely.
I gave up the 40mm Nokton because, with useable 800ISO, very fast
rangefinder lenses aren't really worth the trouble and I preferred
the more compact Summicron-C.
But how can I put it? To hold in your hand something which is
probably the ultimate piece of photographic engineering easily
available to mere mortals (i.e. not NASA, etc.), feels near perfect
in every way and is the product of eighty years of continuous
improvement invokes something approaching awe. There is no way I
would buy one unless I suddenly came into an inheritance but perhaps
I should because of that very sense of awe. Everything else is a
copy, after all. And money is merely money and a means to an end. And
you spend a long time looking at the lid. And I'd rather spend it on
something like that than a mere car which will deteriorate in value
far faster and probably provide less pleasure. Most people wouldn't
think twice about spending an extra 3K on a car for some cute option
or other.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 03/07/2007, at 1:12 PM, Sandy Harris wrote:
> Is it really worth that? As jewellery, probably. but as a lens?
>
> A quick check at; http://www.cameraquest.com/inventor.htm
> shows Cosina/Voigtlander lenses at:
>
> 35 F 1.2 $819
> 35 1.7 $409
>
> Granted, the Leica name is worth something and prices for high
> end tech often have to be high:
>
> R&D is expensive, there are both costs and risks
>
> once you've got a design basically right, nearly all incremental
> improvements add significant cost
>
> the market is small so companies need good per-unit profit
> and dealers and distributors need a good margin
>
> Even so, I find it hard to believe $3000 is sensible.
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