Latest from Leica

New from Leica is the Leica M Lens Container.

It's made from borosilicate glass and fireproof carbon fiber, which accounts for the $70 price.

I'm kidding. It's plastic.

It will fit any M-mount lens with a height less than 80mm (without bayonet) and a width less than 68mm, including non-Leica lenses.

Are there any lenses that are more fun to collect? There are ~70 years' worth of them now, from a large number of different makers. While cameras and lenses are not guaranteed to be compatible in absolutely all cases, it can at least be said that the vast majority of M lenses will work on the vast majority of M-mount cameras, whether film, digital, and Leica or non-Leica.

Mike
(Thanks to Oren Grad)

Book o' the Week

Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman. A very brief, illustrated overview of the life of America's 16th President suitable for young people.

This book link is a portal to Amazon.

Link to B&H

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Comments

[JoeB]

My Nikkors from the late 60's were shipped with similar plastic containers. Outer box of course contained the display piece.

[Doug Anderson]

Add an LTM to M adaptor and you open up another whole world if lenses to display.

[Moose]

The wisdom and wit of Thorstein Veblen and P.T.Barnum live on!

[Redwood100]

Typical Leica...it doesn't even have a self-screw down lid!

[Trevor Johnson]

Shirley, my wife, said to me, "you love your Leicas".

Enough said....

(And I've used/have/ most other cameras, either in my work, (healthcare), or, otherwise.

[Doug]

Wow, I thought I was being extravagant when I put my extra lenses in an old telescope eyepiece bag.

[William Lewis]

Heh. Cute. I imagine they'll be quite popular in the collector's realm. Not so sure about those who actually use their lenses.

Right now, I only have one actual Leica lens - a very nice Elmar 90/4 in LTM that is a very fine portrait lens. I used to have a wonderful 50/2 Summitar that I had traded an early Summicron for but like an idiot I sold it when I first went digital with m4/3.

Now, of course, they're all that much more expensive but I keep looking just in case I find a good one I can afford because it always was the best of Leica - that wild bokeh & "glow" and everything like that wide open that can be razor sharp if you want stopped down. It came between the Summar and the Summicron and has the virtues and vices of both lenses. I loved it and would love to have one for my M 240.

[Zyni Moë]

Total materials cost: perhaps a little more than the packet your crisps (chips) come in. But perhaps also, not.

[Dan Khong]

To say that Leica collecting is because of its cult status is only partially correct.

While cult status could explain the behavior of those who collect, talk about but almost never use Leica stuffs, there are those who regularly use and enjoy holding an M camera that fits the hand so well and the lenses that are such a joy to use. Even the earlier LTM cameras emanate a classic design copied by other, smaller than the M cameras and lots of play when taking pictures.

The 8-element 35mm Summicron-M design in LTM is already in the market and they are nicely priced and you can hardly tell the difference from the German version in terms of picture quality. Because LTM lenses can be used on both the SM and M mount cameras, they are attracting more attention because of their versatility.

I wish they also make a container for LTM lenses.

[Kodachromeguy]

Did Leica or E. Leitz use these in the past? My 1960s 50 DR and misc. 1980s lenses came in boxes with foam or styrofoam cutouts. But I have a Hasselblad chrome 250c in a tube.

[Crabby Umbo]

Reintroduction of an old idea. Back in the day, your Hasselblad lenses came in those.

[Gijs]

If I get one of those, and put my non-Leica lenses in it, will I start getting the "Leica-look" in my pictures? Will I need to keep the case over the lenses while on the camera to get the Leica-look?

thanks for the help!

Gijs ;)

[Jeff]

@Redwood100… the lid does screw down, and the lens itself first screws down into the bottom plate. Skip to 6 minute mark for demo..
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AqXrvISmKaU

[Ned Bunnell]

Or you could buy several of the $40 Leica f/1.4 coffee mugs, and they could serve dual purposes:)

https://flic.kr/p/2nhGwSR

[Jack Mac]

Mike,
I apologize that the extra lens I loaned you with the Reporter M wasn’t in that new/old plastic Leica lens container, but it’s not a Leica lens and therefore is not allowed to be placed in a Leica lens container without a shrill alarm going off.

[Yes, that's what the red dot on top is for--it's the alarm! :-) --Mike]

[JMac]

Can't wait until the aftermarket adapters come out.

[Not THAT Ross Cameron]

Hi Mike, dumb Q, but do these containers serve any practical purpose? Are they intended for storage / display, or is it more marketing?

As per JoeB, I picked up an old pre-AI 50/1.4 Nikkor that came in one of these. Not sure what to do with the case - it has seen better days.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Yes, I saw these cases offered on a Leica dealer site and assumed they were vintage from used stock. I could only smile when I learned they were “new”. I can’t imagine anyone using these cases for anything but collection display. They certainly have no practical purpose otherwise.

And, yes, Crabby Umbo is spot-on! Hasselblad did indeed package some lenses, such as the silver 80mm Planar, in these hard bubbles. I almost bought a lens that came in one. Nutty short-lived marketing stunt.

[Patrick Dodds]

@jeff: an 8 minute video showing how to use a plastic lens case? Good grief, have we reached peak YouTube yet?

[David Lee]

I have a few of those back in where it used to be home. Of course, everybody knows that you can only use them with chrome lenses. It’s super bad taste to use them for black lenses. For those you have the leather pouches. I have my father in law Contarex and I think one of the lenses also has one of these plastic jars.

[Pak Ming Wan]

I'd be mildly interested if there was a special slot in the base where you could insert some dessicant to keep the lens dry in say a humid environment. That would be a useful product in some countries.

Pak

[Chris H]

These are not a new idea, even from Leica. I have a few of these that came with older Leica lenses, I believe from the 70s. Seems like Leica R lenses were commonly found with this kind of case.

[Alex Mercado]

It’s a CD/DVD spindle cake box adorned with a red dot.

Just imagine how sweet the limited edition beanie babies version will be. ;)

[Alex G]

They remind me of the ones that Kodak Retina lenses in DKL Mount come in.

[John Robison]

“Latest from Leica”
Believe it or not, reading this title I thought this was the first Leica ‘air lens’.
Like air guitar, air lens is a mighty lens, able to be any focal length and aperture. It can be positively the resolution king, north of 200 line pairs per milliliter or a Thambar with gobs of famous Leica Glow.
The Leica Air Lens comes with a guarantee to turn you into HCB, or Eisenstadt, or any famous user of the mark. Your ‘hit rate’ will be so good that, if using a classic film M you will only need to buy three 36exp roll a year (If film prices keep rising like the last five years you will still need to take out a second mortgage for that.)

Then….imagine my disappointment, only a lens display case.

[Mark Sampson]

When Nikon made their EL-Nikkor enlarging lenses, they came in similar cases. They are useful for storing the lenses that you're not using at the moment.
History trivia: I still have, and sometimes use, the first really good lens I ever bought; an EL-Nikkor 50/4 ($45 in 1976). It has lived all these years in its clear plastic bubble, and it's still a good enlarging lens.