Ricoh lenses in Leica M mount

[Ksnow]

Today I was browsing some other forums and found a post stating that, in the late 90s Ricoh produced a couple of high quality lenses (21mm & 28mm) in Leica M mount, which command high prices today. Out of curiosity, I checked eBay and found this: http://cgi.ebay.com/Ricoh-GR-21mm-f-3-5 ... 8624wt_907 . Thought I'd pass this along just for fun. Ken

 

[odklizec]

Yes, these old lenses were most probably one of the reasons why Ricoh decided to go with M mount for GXR. And from what I've heard, these lenses should be easy to adapt for M mount (I believe they are not directly mountable on the M mount?). On the other hand, from the pure economical point of view, these old Ricoh lenses don't make much senses for GXR M mount. Because of the 1.5 crop factor of GXR APSC sensor, GR 21mm will turn to nearly 32mm and 28mm to 42mm. So buying these lenses for the APSC module sounds a little awkward and very unreasonable because of the price. But yes, both these lenses are a great collector's item and an excellent choice for someone with full frame?

 

[Ksnow]

At the time when these were made, were they marketed as high quality, low priced alternatives to Leica brand lenses?

 

[odklizec]

The GR hallmark of quality was there from the first moment they appeared on the market. I believe they were always on the expensive side? But most probably not as expensive as Leica lenses?

 

[ZDP-189]

The idea was to capitalise on the lenses in the GR-1V and GR-21. I have both these cameras, I specialise in compact cameras more than LTM and M-mount and they compacts have all the features I need, plus AF. Therefore, I didn't look at buying them then.

They are valuable not just because of the quality, but because they didn't take off and Ricoh didn't make many.

If Ricoh make more and the price of the new lenses does not have a collector premium on it, I'll probably help myself, despite all my Voigtlander lenses in similar focal lengths.

 

[thelps]

If Ricoh make more and the price of the new lenses does not have a collector premium on it, I'll probably help myself, despite all my Voigtlander lenses in similar focal lengths.

I was offered a silver 28mm by a local dealer and passed on it only because of the price premium. I have seen results from this lens and I would also buy the Ricoh over the VC provided it was priced similarly or even some more. Mechanically I thought the 28mm M Ricoh every bit as good as a any Leica lens - flame away!