[New test photos released] Leica Summicron 35/2 Eight Element copy made in China

I received a black paint LLL 35mm lens, number 500134 a few days ago. I had paid for it somewhere back in September as well.

It's got purple lens coatings and no VLC engraving - perhaps it doesn't have the flint glass elements? No bother - it is what it is.

It's a beautifully made lens; smooth, dense, precise, tiny. It feels old worldly and hand-made instead of giving a "mass produced by machine" impression I feel in other contemporary lenses. I can literally feel the care and pride that has obviously gone into it's manufacture.

I've taken about 100 street photo's so far, using it on my M-D 262 with the usual 2 or 3 keepers. I didn't do any particular testing - just used it as I would any other of my lenses.

Technically it appears distortion free with no chromatic aberration, medium contrast, plenty of sharpness and resolution. It's got lovely highlight roll-off - probably related to the lower contrast single coatings used in it's design.

Shooting around f4, focussed at 2.5 meters (8 feet) gives great subject isolation from the background. Out of focus areas are beautifully rendered in a gentle manner with no harshness.

Tonality in Black and White seems especially good and really seems to give life to skin tones.

I'm still working out colour balancing in Exposure X5 (Previously Lightroom Stand-alone). I'm guessing the lens coatings are significantly different from my other lenses (mostly CV glass) so I'm adjusting sliders in different ways than I'm used to.

I've fitted a Shapeways lens hood: https://www.shapeways.com/product/S...m-canon-ltm?optionId=100067268&li=marketplace which I love - it's super compact with virtually no finder blockage.

Overall I cannot say how it performs in it's role as a replica of the original 8-element Summicron. It is however; a beautifully made lens with lovely optical rendering in it's own right.

Massive thanks to Mr Zhou and Chinese initiative for bringing this lens into existence. And equally massive thanks to Kevin Xu who has worked tirelessly to bring this lens into my (and other RFF members) hands.

RESPECT!

eck.
 
So it looks like Mr. Zhou is making some refinements to the lens as production continues. A recent post by Wen at SH Cameras Co in Hong Kong, from whom I obtained my V2LC, shows that the aperture scale has been updated to have even spacing a la the original. I wonder if they've managed to keep the aperture blades circular at the same time or if the design was reverted to match the original formula completely.

125958722_1815238191968404_7456991481985138202_o.jpg
 
If our lenses ("proto-type") are already great lenses, I wonder if the changes made resulted in an even better lens or not.
 
I received mine with the IROOA replica hood a couple of weeks ago and it suits the repaint M2 so well. What a beautifully made set, which is just such pure pleasure to use. Gratitude to Mr Zhou's team and Kevin for this epic project.

I started a Flickr group for images of/from the lens as RFF doesn't have a "Leica M lens copies" forum. This monster thread is great but the images are scattered throughout, albeit with illuminating commentary. Feel free to add your images there as well as here if you are inclined. http://https://flic.kr/g/3fGbtY.

50618426328_f5f9dc630b_c.jpg
[/url]LLL358element by john m, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
jmilkins said:
I received mine with the IROOA replica hood a couple of weeks ago and it suits the M2 so well. What a beautifully made set, which is just such pure pleasure to use. Gratitude to Mr Zhou's team and Kevin for this epic project.

I started a Flickr group for images of/from the lens as RFF doesn't have a "Leica M lens copies" forum. This monster thread is great but the images are scattered throughout, albeit with illuminating commentary. Feel free to add your images there as well as here if you are inclined. http://https://flic.kr/g/3fGbtY.

URL], on Flickr
Click to expand...
Congratulations on receiving your lens that looks good on your black M2. Show us some photos! 🙂

While RFF doesn't at this point feature a special forum area just for this lens, we do include it on the list of lenses to specify for Gallery uploads. It thus is searchable in the Gallery. See:
"Light Lens Lab 8-elem Cron copy 35mm f2"
 
Doug said:
Congratulations on receiving your lens that looks good on your black M2. Show us some photos! 🙂

While RFF doesn't at this point feature a special forum area just for this lens, we do include it on the list of lenses to specify for Gallery uploads. It thus is searchable in the Gallery. See:
"Light Lens Lab 8-elem Cron copy 35mm f2"
Click to expand...

Thanks Doug - I didn't expect that a specific forum would be created as this lens does have pretty limited availability. I will post images in the Gallery / and this existing thread as it's good to add to RFF preferentially. Let me know if there's a preference to edit the off site link out of above post.
 
raid said:
How can I get a hood?
Click to expand...

I would reach out to Kevin. I just got my replica lens last week as well, black paint (interestingly, marked V1LC, rather than V2?) and had asked for the hood. He mentioned that he still had a few in stock. It's lovely, as John suggests.

Also, in case anyone's interested, I bought this cap for the hood, as I'm the kind of person who usually leaves the hood on my lenses, and I therefore like to have a front cap for the hood. This is a Chinese replica of the Leica IROOA hood cap, which seems fitting: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Cap-...C-Metal-High-Quality-Black-Color/272461196915
 
All I remember is Kevin telling us that we could not order lens plus hood together and that one day there will be lens hoods for sale. I may have missed when it was announced here that lens hoods could be ordered through Kevin. Was it announced?
 
I also don't remember it being announced. I had just reiterated when I was paying for my lens that I'd like to be on the list for the hood when it gets released, and to my surprise he said he had some in stock and that he could ship one along with the lens, for $75. I think there had been some mention way back in the thread that they would figure out how to let people sign up for the hoods, as I think a bunch of us were mentioning our interest here. My speculation is that Kevin has been busy enough just fulfilling these orders and that throwing on a separate preorder list for hoods (possibly with no idea when the hoods might actually arrive) might stretch him too thin. Just a guess though.
 
jmilkins said:
Hi Aizan, No it's not, I asked Kevin if the hood was available when paying, and at the time he had a couple of different types including the LLL. It's beautifully made and really feels of high quality.
Click to expand...

Thanks, John! I'll wait until Kevin formally announces wider availability of the hood. It sounds like they're still in short supply.
 
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