When we talk about Leica and M-mount cameras it’s easy to forget that it isn’t only Leica that produces M-mount glass. Many rangefinder owners have their favourites from Cosina Voigtländer or Zeiss, but there are lesser-know manufacturers — mostly in Japan it seems — including the niche products from Miyazaki-san which are available from Bellamy Hunt’s intriguing Japan Camera Hunter site.
Recently I was intrigued by the new Tsubasa Swallow 35mm f/2, a very attractive design with eight elements in six groups and a shorter-than-Leica minimum focus distance of 65mm. It is more or less the same weight as the Leica Summicron but has a larger filter diameter of 49mm to match the overall diameter of the lens. The Summicron, by contrast, has the “standard” Leica 39mm filter so that the front 6mm of the Summicron is stepped down, unattractively in my opinion. The result is that the Tsubasa has a more purposeful appearance.
Produced by the Japanese Hawks Factory, this new lens is set to retail at 198,000 yen, approximately £1,400, $1,850 or €1,650. You can find the full details here — and place your advance orders — at the Hawks Factory site. For for information see this article at LeicaRumors.
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Not sure how I found this article… I guess this lens was probably not exactly a smashing commercial success?
The photos off the Leica Rumors links are terrible. Are there any better samples around?
William
Not the best, I agree. I didn’t take them from the LR site but got the information and pictures direct from the company’s site in Japan. Used Google translate!