A while back, maybe more than once on these pages, I mentioned that much of the R glass I was seeing at the time was not in great shape. The last copies of the 280mm f/4 APO-Telyt-R and 80mm Summilux-R I had were ditched because of their deteriorating condition. With the exception of a 180mm APO and 2X I’d had for some time, I was done with R.

Until I ran into not one, but two spectacular examples at Leica Porto. Both were in near mint condition, almost shocking for one of them, which is 46 years old and known to be unrepairably haze-prone. Not this copy, though.

Enthralled, in Bangkok I ran into a dirt-cheap, first-batch user copy 80mm Summilux-R at a store I know to be trustworthy. The glass looked clear except for a pinkie-sized spot of very light haze that looked almost like a fingerprint, except that it was on an internal element. That explained the price of the lens, which otherwise came with a generous shop warranty.

The first shots I got from it were spectacular. Visiting my friend Leon, a shopkeeper who actually has a superb youtube video on what to look for in secondhand lenses, he pointed out that the light spot of haze was actually etching, the result of fungus that had been cleaned having eaten tiny marks into the lens coating. I’d seen this years ago in a version 1 copy of a 19mm Elmarit-R I’d owned. Although it can produce flare if strong light hits the spot, I never had a problem with the 19mm, nor so far with the 80 ‘lux.

But it served as a pointed reminder that it’s probably time for me to quit R—for good this time—while I’m ahead. With good care, the pieces I have will likely outlast me, and I’ll surely be content to shoot with them. So no more R glass to tempt me, but after recently adding an 11-23mm to the arsenal, TL glass is starting to look good again, especially with prices a bit more favorable these days . . .

SL2/80mm Summilux-R . . .