Summicron-M 50mm - Leitz vs. Leica (round II)

Congratulations on your purchase. The 50-M Summicron Ver IV was designed in Canada according to Erwin Puts. There were corporate changes (reorganizations) a number of years ago - As I recall, essentially the camera division split split from the other optical divisions. Nothing to worry about. Collectors, as opposed to shooters, value one or the other.

Leitz refers to the former company name while it was still owned by the Leitz family and may have been used through to 1986 when the factory was moved from Wetzlar (site since the mid 1800s of the Optical Institute and Ernst Leitz GmbH) to Solms. The v4 Summicron-M 50mm was designed by the optics team of Dr. Walter Mandler at Leitz Canada (founded in 1951) in 1974, a landmark Double-Gauss design which was so advanced that it is still in production today, and since 1979, a testimony to its excellence as other lenses have been redesigned and new ones introduced. When the Leitz Canada plant was closed in the 1980s, the optical and camera production (and cameras, from the M6 onwards) moved back to Germany. The Leitz company lost major partner ownership in 1974 and this gradually caused the change of product descriptions to Leica (The original camera name, LEItz CAmera) instead of Leitz. Whether made in Canada (Leitz Canada), Wetzlar (Leitz Wetzlar) or Solms (after 1986, Leica), the importance is really the lens design and not the place of manufacture. Some earlier (pre 1970s) Summicron designs were mostly designed in Germany, although the designing influence of Mandler before his retirement in the 1980s was international in respect of the Leitz company.

One of the great kits I've used was all made in Canada, M4-2, that tabbed 50 Summicron and it's hood. Congratulations.

The lens is outstanding. As long as it is all properly adjusted, clean, and in good working order, you will not be disappointed. It is still state of the art, and the only 50mm lenses that can make any real argument to be equal or better than it are the 50mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH, the 50/2 Zeiss Planar ZM and perhaps the Konica 50mm f/2 M-Hexanon.

Thank you all for your support and valuable insights.

Being a newcomer to Leica, flooded with information about lens versions, editions, places of manufacture, I was a little overwhelmed! I feel much better now. Even the prospect of financial ruin is starting to grow on me, given my new 'habit'. I hope to get the lens in a few days, that is, if US Customs understands I have nothing left to take, and I look forward to developing my very first roll of black and whites as a Leica shooter.

All the v4 summicron-M I've come across since posting this question are in fact labeled "Leitz". I take it this is because these were manufactured before the shuffle. Regardless, mine is of the German-made variety, and while perhaps substantively irrelevant, there's something oddly comforting in that. Judging from eBay activity, the buyer's market seems to reflect that very sentiment; German-made Summi-50's fetch easily doubt that of their Canadian made counterparts. I suppose its all boils down to human perception.

I did have the option of going with the current production model of the 50mm but opted for v4 as I found the tab-focus more ergonomic. After all, how much turn does one *really* need on a 50mm lens?

"German-made Summi-50's fetch easily doubt that of their Canadian made counterparts"

That's good news. Daniel, you can profit from the ignorance or overblown snobism of some. I visited the Leitz Canada plant and was impressed. Fantastic place that is now making high tech military optics under the new name of Raytheon.

There's no real difference between the one you have and the latest one with the built-in hood. In fact, it may even be superior as the latest one suffers from flare on (rare) occasions. In some ways Leitz is actually more prestigious as when the company was "Leitz" the company produced movie cameras, enlargers, and microscopes. Ernst Leitz was the founder and the company bore his name. Now Leica is reduced to just cameras, with the other items either gone the way of the Dodo or sold off into an entirely separate company.

AFAIK the optical cell of the versions IV and V are absolutely identical, down to the coatings.
Version III with the convex/knurled tab (made in Canada?) is different from IV.
Canada-made lenses were produced under exactly the same QC regime as back in Germany. During the start-up of the plant, the owner (or designer, I cannot recall) personally instructed the canadian assembly staff!
I just looked it up: my Version IV is a German-made one and reads LEICA (# 3'572'xxx). It's such a tank!
First I had a plastic hood which I feared I would break so a I sold it for around 40 USD. For 50 USD I bought a metal version which I sold for 100 on the same day (photo flea market kind of event). Then I bought another metal one for 40...(Leitz Wetzlar Germany).
Only 2 or 3 ago I paid USD 700 (today's USD) for a nice v.IV user (perfect glass) and 9 years ago only 490 for a mint one! It's a real 50mm-Summi craze right now. I think it's a mix of M9 plus 4-3rds plus Zeiss shortage and no current 1.5/2.0 50mm produced by Voigtlander. But a doubling of prices!...
I do wonder when Leica comes out with an optically updated version, though. If one looks at the recent changes in the M line it almost _has_ to be a new 2/50 (yeah, despite all they said about 'too hard to better' etc.). Obviously/unfortunately, the version V is now a real cash cow as it is way easier to manufacture and still sells like hot cakes at 60% of the price of the elusive 1.4/50A. Sorry, I digressed, again.

Happy shooting, as soon as customs allow it, Daniel!

I understood the Mandler-designed Canadian-made convex-tabbed Summicron 50 of 1979 was the version 4. Later production was in Germany. The version 3 was chrome, tabless and much earlier.