They just have to be kidding

With cell phones becoming increasingly more and more used, here comes Leica with this gorgeous but ridiculously priced lens. An A for effort and I believe that all those doctors, dentists and deep pocketed non photographers may even buy a few. But for the rest of us, no cigar. Medium format is really dead on arrival. Not needed any longer.

Leica has  just announced the Elmarit-S 45 mm f/2.8 ASPH lens for its medium format S system. With an angle of view equivalent to a 35mm lens on full frame, it offers that classic moderate wide-angle field of view that was so nice on the M system rangefinders. Similar to several of the other S lenses it'll be available in two versions:  with or without an in-lens 'Central Shutter' (that allows flash sync at shutter speeds up to 1/1000 sec) Remember the M synch?         Leica is offering firmware updates for its S, S2 and S2-P cameras to give what they call an 'optimum functionality' with the lens. The Elmarit-S 45 mm f/2.8 ASPH should be in dealers shelves this month with  a price  tag of £4650, or £5500 for the CS model. These are in Pound Sterling.  In US dollars the sticker shock will be even greater. You can almost buy a  good used car instead.