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

[Emile de Leon]

The mysterious case of..Mr. Wang..
Will it ever be solved..

 

[das]

Has anyone considered making a version of this lens that would work with the old goggles? That would be pretty neat.

 

[splitimageview]

Whoa....not good. I was originally very interested in this project, but ended up unsubscribing from this thread a few months ago, as things were looking shaky...

11/6/20:

Would be helpful to get an update on this, but Kevin hasn't posted here in 50 days...

Latest activity in this thread: 3 times over the past 7 months...and not even visited since January.

Good luck everyone...

 

[Emile de Leon]

Is there any way to find out if Kevin has been here lately...w/o posting?

 

[Ccoppola82]

This is really too bad. I got my lens a while back and it truly is a nice piece of glass. Well made etc. especially for the $500 gamble I took on it. I understood the world got turned around and delays would be inevitable, but taking peoples money with no communication after is just bad business, especially when voigtlander makes such wonderful lenses at prices less than the current asking price of LLL. Kevin was good about communicating to me, so I do hope he makes an appearance here and makes things right. Moving forward, I’ll be sticking to CV or used Leica glass if I should ever catch a craving to try something new.

 

[Waus]

Mr Wang is posting this on facebook (When I contacted him, he certainly wanted to sell....)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/441159216426766/user/100030513980847/

 

[tamibss]

Hello Folks!
I had also ordered 2 Lenses and paid in Mid December.

I have just received email from Kevin today along pictures of two my Lenses.

He has informed me that some lenses will be shipped next week, He also assured me that

all the lenses will be delivered as soon as possible.

Just to add, this reply came after very long wait and i had also started bit worried.

some text from quote"

I have everybody's lens but please just give me one more week to finish this. Would appreciate your help. I will spend most of my time examining the rest of the lenses and preparing for the shipment. I will inform everyone in the emails before I ship out the package.

Best,
Kevin

-

Hope this bring some calm here 🙂

 

[johannielscom]

So.....Mr Zhou now going by Mr Wang, is going to tell you where Mr Kevin-Xu (now missing), has gone.

Good luck with that.

No reason to get smart with me buddy, I'm sharing stuff to possibly help others out. Pack your useless comments and go elsewhere.

 

[splitimageview]

Is there any way to find out if Kevin has been here lately...w/o posting?

As posted above, he’s not visited since 1/22/21. This is visible on the member list.

 

[splitimageview]

Hello Folks!
I had also ordered 2 Lenses and paid in Mid December.

I have just received email from Kevin today along pictures of two my Lenses.

He has informed me that some lenses will be shipped next week, He also assured me that

all the lenses will be delivered as soon as possible.

Just to add, this reply came after very long wait and i had also started bit worried.

some text from quote"

I have everybody's lens but please just give me one more week to finish this. Would appreciate your help. I will spend most of my time examining the rest of the lenses and preparing for the shipment. I will inform everyone in the emails before I ship out the package.

Best,
Kevin

-

Hope this bring some calm here 🙂

Basically the same thing he said in January:

https://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3015046&postcount=4049

He should make an appearance here. Hopefully this will end well.

 

[tamibss]

Well, Looking forward. I saw my lenses in a picture he shared 🙂 So lets hope this is resolved very soon for all of us.

 

[james.liam]

No reason to get smart with me buddy, I'm sharing stuff to possibly help others out. Pack your useless comments and go elsewhere.

The comment wasn’t directed toward you at all. Sorry that you took it that way. Was pointing out why that rather logical strategy you suggested wouldn’t work in this case, with principal players changing names or absent altogether. The sarcasm was directed at LLL & Co. Not you.

 

[kram]

Kevin is checking all the lenses he dispatches (which is a good thing). But it sounds like he is doing this as there is zero QA checks by LLL. The lens on salexelse where at full price, any claims of Qa checks being carried out?

 

[Emile de Leon]

There is a very high defect rate on these lenses ..

 

[rscheffler]

Guys, I've been away from this thread for a couple months....

As you may recall, I had some concerns about the optical performance of my copy, which I received in early December. I was in frequent communication about it with Kevin and he (apparently) relayed my concerns to the manufacturer. They basically said what any manufacturer says in these situations: we need to see the lens to determine what, if any, problems exist.

So they/Kevin covered the DHL shipping back to China back on January 10th. Kevin said it would take some time to resolve due to the lunar new year holidays, etc.

I kind of forgot about it until a couple weeks ago. I've since sent Kevin two repair status update requests to the 8element gmail address, but have not heard back. I found this unusual because he was previously very fast to reply.

It brought me back to this thread to see what's being discussed... and it doesn't sound good.

Not sure if this will be helpful, but here's the contact info from the DHL waybill, including telephone number, if someone here wishes to try calling. I have not yet tried that.

Jiawen Xu
SH KZ Building Decoration Engin Co.
Room 301, No.30, Lane 815, Taolin Road
Shanghai
200135
China
+86 186 2100 8160

The waybill also had the following email address listed:

lightlenslab@gmail.com

 

[Paul T.]

I think this mr. Zhou is on Facebook, he goes by the name Changtao Wang there and is actively contacting members in Leica related groups to sell the lenses. Also a new version with detachable M mount (like the convertible Summaron), a 35mm viewfinder, a soon to launch VIT triggerwinder, and more Leica compatible items.

Maybe contact him to ask about Kevin MIA, and let him know there is still a dozen of you guys left out here.

I would think the best way of getting the lenses is for rff members to join the forums where he's selling stuff and politely admonish him.

It's likely that they're not intending to rip people off, but are trying to get funds in from new buyers due to cash flow, so polite and public comment has to be the best prospect.

Sorry to see people left in the lurch. This thread always worried me though, if you're sketchy about lifting designs and trademarks, the same might apply to your delivery schedule.

 

[jonmanjiro]

FWIW I contacted Kevin to ask about progress with the last batch of lenses for RFFers and got a reply very quickly. He said he's been having a tough time over the last few months and that is the cause of the delay. He also mentioned that he's responded to many emails over the last few days, and is getting some lenses ready to ship asap.

Part of Kevin's reply copied below:

"Too much pressure in life that caused a delay with the project. I really don't have the energy and time to respond to every email I receive or explain anything on the forum. People will get their lens eventually I can promise."

 

[Rayt]

This lens is a hit here in Hong Kong and are selling well over its original price if you can find one at all which is a surprise because Leica snobs here (redundant I am sure) detest anything Made in China. I don't think the manufacturer anticipated its success. I'll get one eventually if it ever becomes available.

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

Although I had tested two prototypes of the 8-element replica back in 2019 for LHSA, the one that I was able to own had RF-coupling problems. It was o/w OK. The other one, which was the basis for my comparison with the original 8-element, seemed fine in all particulars. To make a long story much shorter, I sent my lens back to Kevin sometime near the end of 2020, and in January after the factory had worked on it, it was ready to send back to me. Only now it had other focusing difficulties after Kevin tested it, and was re-sent to the factory.

If Kevin had had to do such work on the quality control of the lenses of others here, no doubt he had his work cut out for him. I still wait hearing from Kevin specifically about my lens, but I am not worried much about this issue. Kevin and I have been often in communication about other things, and while there are times where weeks or even months go by without my hearing from him, I feel strongly that he is a reliable and trustworthy person.

Ed

 

[splitimageview]

Part of Kevin's reply copied below:

"Too much pressure in life that caused a delay with the project. I really don't have the energy and time to respond to every email I receive or explain anything on the forum. People will get their lens eventually I can promise."

He had the energy and time a year and a half ago, but when encountering difficulties, he abandons ship. 😀

He'd save himself a LOT of headache if he made an appearance here, instead of depending on others to post for him...