Are chrome lenses better built compared to black?

[.JL.]

Do chrome lenses offer better build quality than their black counterparts?

I am considering a used Summilux 35/1.4 asph in chrome. The only thing holding me back (aside from the price) is the 415g weight vs. 250g of the black. I don't like to carry the extra weight unless there is a practical reason to it. Better construction seems like a good reason, but I'm not sure if it's true.

 

[Joe Mondello]

Do chrome lenses offer better built quality than their black counterparts?

I am considering a used Summilux 35/1.4 asph in chrome. The only thing holding me back (aside from the price) is the 415g weight vs. 250g of the black. I don't like to carry the extra weight unless there is a practical reason to it. Better construction seems like a good reason, but I'm not sure if it's true.

I actually am unfamiliar with the particular lens in question, but can only think that there is a typo in the info you are reading or that they are 2 different lenses.

The ONLY difference between a chrome lens and a black one is the finish color (assuming it's the same design).

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

The silver ones are built of brass (heavy), and the black ones are made of aluminum (light).

Leica say the performance is the same.

 

[clintock]

The black anodized aluminum alloy is lighter than the triple-plated brass of the chrome type, and some associate more heavy equipment with quality.
--unless you're talking about a part of an airplane or bicycle..
The strength is likely just the same or possibly even better in the alloy.

 

[varjag]

It's been a while since engineering classes, but I think brass has smaller thermal expansion coefficient than aluminium alloys.

 

[HuubL]

I don't know if chromes are better, but in any case I like them better than black lenses 🙂

 

[awilder]

I use to think modern chrome lenses while heavier than their black aluminum alloy brothers would focus smoother but when using the latest 50/2.8 Elmar-M, focus was no smoother than my black tabbed 50/1.4 asph. which some have complained about not being as smooth as they would like it to be. I do think that earlier chrome lenses from the 50' & 60's were smoother than current lenses because of greater care in inspection and assembly back in the old days.

 

[telenous]

Difficult to explain why, my two chrome lenses (including the Summilux 35 Asph. you are interested in) do feel beter built than the black ones. I guess the manufacturing process is similar for the two finishes so there must be some other reason why chrome 'feels' better built - and my guess is that the reason is the extra weight in all moving parts. There's just something more assertive about the action of the aperture ring of a chrome lens compared to the black ones, as if the former is better dampened.

On the other hand the extra weight of the chrome lens can be annoying (it is to me!) if you are carrying it all day long. And then again it may be the case that it provides better stability when shooting.

You win some, you lose some, hence YMMV.

 

[rogue_designer]

you could always shell out the extra for the LHSA black paint versions (or did they only make the 50 in that).

 

[thomasw_]

JL, being a fellow canuck, such that you live and shoot for the most part around this vast land of ours, I can understand why you want a wide 35mm lens. there is a lot to take in🙂 the only difference between the lenses that günter osterloh writes about concerns the different alloy weights. so you must decide based on the weight factor, the wear factor and the aesthetic factor.

weight factor---we must give the nod to the black

wear factor---we must give the nod to the chrome

aesthetic---this is the hardest to write about. my view is that lenses 50mm FL and less look better in chrome, while 75mm FL and more look better in black. mixing chrome bodies with black lenses and vice versa, captures my eye with the contrast, so I encourage it. i know there are many camera/lens fashion will say otherwise, but i maintain that the contrast looks interesting and sharp.

 

[bob cole]

Are chrome lenses better built compared to black?

Do chrome lenses offer better built quality than their black counterparts?

I am considering a used Summilux 35/1.4 asph in chrome. The only thing holding me back (aside from the price) is the 415g weight vs. 250g of the black. I don't like to carry the extra weight unless there is a practical reason to it. Better construction seems like a good reason, but I'm not sure if it's true.

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I just checked the weight of the 35mm/f1.4 aspherical for the Leica M and the weights of the black and the chrome are almost the same:

The first version is black only and weighs 300 grams.
The second version is available in black or chrome and both weigh the same, 310 grams...

Sartorius' "Identifying Leica Lenses" gives both first and second versions high marks...

 

[.JL.]

I actually am unfamiliar with the particular lens in question, but can only think that there is a typo in the info you are reading or that they are 2 different lenses.

The ONLY difference between a chrome lens and a black one is the finish color (assuming it's the same design).

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I just checked the weight of the 35mm/f1.4 aspherical for the Leica M and the weights of the black and the chrome are almost the same:

The first version is black only and weighs 300 grams.
The second version is available in black or chrome and both weigh the same, 310 grams...

Sartorius' "Identifying Leica Lenses" gives both first and second versions high marks...

I was refering to figures in Leica's official website. Please click 'technical data' in this link.

 

[horosu]

I had a 50 Summicron in black and now a 35 asph summicron in chrome. I can definitely say that the chrome one feels much smoother than the black one, Idon't know if that's a rule, though...

 

[.JL.]

you could always shell out the extra for the LHSA black paint versions (or did they only make the 50 in that).

I have the BP version of the 50 summilux. It's solidly built and operates smoothly, but it is also annoyingly heavy.

Difficult to explain why, my two chrome lenses (including the Summilux 35 Asph. you are interested in) do feel beter built than the black ones. I guess the manufacturing process is similar for the two finishes so there must be some other reason why chrome 'feels' better built - and my guess is that the reason is the extra weight in all moving parts. There's just something more assertive about the action of the aperture ring of a chrome lens compared to the black ones, as if the former is better dampened.

On the other hand the extra weight of the chrome lens can be annoying (it is to me!) if you are carrying it all day long. And then again it may be the case that it provides better stability when shooting.

You win some, you lose some, hence YMMV.

Extra weight is annoying indeed. The chrome Summilux 35 AA would replace a black Summicron 35 v4 - a 250g (or half a pound) of additional weight. I am willing to carry more weight for one extra stop, but chrome version is adding a bit too much...

 

[bob cole]

I was refering to figures in Leica's official website. Please click 'technical data' in this link.

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I guess Sartorious was wrong....sorry about that...

 

[.JL.]

I had a 50 Summicron in black and now a 35 asph summicron in chrome. I can definitely say that the chrome one feels much smoother than the black one, Idon't know if that's a rule, though...

I can't conclude unless I can compare black vs chrome version on the same lens design. I have a black 90 summicron that feels as solid as my brass 50 summilux. At the same time, my black 35 summicron isn't built to match the quality of the above two lenses.

 

[rogue_designer]

I would caution against making the assumption that heavier equals better built.

 

[peter_n]

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I just checked the weight of the 35mm/f1.4 aspherical for the Leica M and the weights of the black and the chrome are almost the same:

The first version is black only and weighs 300 grams.
The second version is available in black or chrome and both weigh the same, 310 grams...

Sartorius' "Identifying Leica Lenses" gives both first and second versions high marks...

This reads like you weighed them. Did you? As has been pointed out to Joe Mondello there is a difference in construction with the chrome lenses having brass barrels and rings - much heavier than their black alloy counterparts. The figures given by JL look right to my memory (I don't have my Hove Leica book here).

I tend to buy black for the weight reason, but my experience of chrome lenses is that they feel more heavily damped than the black versions. The chromes feel like the Konica M-Hexanon lenses to me.

 

[telenous]

I can confirm the 415gr. mentioned in the Leica technical details for the chrome Summilux 35 Asph. is exactly right (just weighed mine). More weight does not equal better built (the manufacturing between chrome and black has to be the same, it would be madness if it wasn't) but, concurring with Peter's experience above, more weight, part for part, make the action of the chrome lenses feel more dampened, and perhaps a little more accurate for that.

All in all, I do prefer black lenses myself. Chrome ones are in my view aesthetically more pleasing but the weight consideration, well, overweighs everything else.🙄 😀

 

[peter_n]

I will admit to buying a chrome lens just for the sake of having a chrome one. But I did it in rather a calculated way, I took an inventory of the lenses I wanted to buy and figured out the closest chrome lens weight to a black lens weight in my shopping list. That was the 24/2.8 ASPH which in chrome is 388g and 290g in black. So I'm the proud owner of a chrome 24/2.8. 😉 Checking the Hove Leica Pocket book 7th. ed. on p. 117 I see the black 35/1.4 ASPH weighs in at 250g but the chrome version is a whopping 415g as stated by JL above! 😱

I completely agree with Alkis; weight outweighs everything else! 😀