ELCAN replica lens posts

I would second Emile enthusiastically: the lens is fun to use. Quick, responsive, and above all reliable. I honestly have not got a really bad image with it as long as I was thinking before hand. Although getting a well-focused image of the neighborhood cat running towards some has still proven elusive.

It seems part of the Leica M’s basic ethos for me: even though the diaphragm ring turns the opposite way than other M lenses, it feels part of me when I use it. I can set things up and just use it instinctively. For my work this LLL ELCAN replica and the Leica M10 Monochrom are really all I need 75% of the time.

Ed
 
Kevin possesses one of the original sets. Quite some time ago he sent me comparisons between what that lens could do and what a very, very early replica prototype did. The latter was not yet quite up to snuff IMO. The prototype I have now is much better. While I might like to do an A:B comparison with an original myself, no one is going to lend me one, I fear. No matter: I am very satisfied with the replica I have.

But another friend also has both, and has promised some shots. We will see.

Ed
 
Thank you, Ashwin. Looking forward to your exploring this interesting lens further. Bokeh is prominent here - what do you think?

I was just about to upload a couple of full frame shots, but from my iPad, which I have not dome here before. I can do this fine from my iMac, but can’t figure out how to get the proper url for it otherwise. Perhaps this is not possible from an iPad, so it will have to wait until I return from a brief vacation.

Ed
 
I'll probably pick this lens up later down the line barring any significant pricing changes although the Planar f/2 might have to make way for it.

You can walk out of the store with one in Hong Kong for around $700 USD which seems reasonable. It's still $100 USD more than a Nokton 1.5 ii though (another lens I was looking at).
 
Over the weekend, I was invited to a sugar shack of fair size, where they were boiling during the maple syrup season. I decided to use a 35/2 Summicron APO Aspheric on the M10 Monochrom, to get the coverage of a 35, rather than the ELCAN. And to test out this new lens. While several of the images were quite satisfying, they lacked the "snap" of the ELCAN, being more low key in feeling. They were quite sharp and really there was little to complain about, but they were different from what the ELCAN would have done. They gave "pastels", even though that concept lacks coherence in black and white. If I had been shooting color, I think it would have worked better. Or, if I was using the LLL 8-element copy I might have gotten a more forward type of image.

This was for me a fascinating experiment, and my wife and I talked about this for quite awhile yesterday. She too had noticed the difference.

Ed
 
Here are two shots I took with my M10-R and the ELCAN. Had not had a working version of this camera for many weeks. On the first one, the screws in the chairs are quite sharp if one can truly view these a full resolution. About f/4.5.

L1000038-Edit-Edit copy by woodswoman57, on Flickr

The second shot is wide open. If one zooms in, one can see the low-quality bokeh from this lens, even though the rest of it works well.

L1000040-Edit copy by woodswoman57, on Flickr

Ed
 
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