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

[Emile de Leon]

What is the difference between V1 and V2 other than uneven vs even spaced aperture ring? coating? glass type?

Its said the coatings were changed over time to lower contrast and raise the shadow details after ver1, as well as warm up the colors.

 

[D&A]

I am no expert on the different versions and there could be some transitional pieces, but like many here who received their lens moderately early on when amber coating was beginning to be introduced (still with uneven aperture spacing), some of us demonstrated that on bright sunny days (on a digital M body), the color rendition was still definitely cool/blue-ish. I had heard though later on in the production run, something was again changed to lower contrast and raise shadow detail, so maybe yours is one of those transitional pieces, whereas much later versions had even spacing apertures. Regardless the lens has truly been a joy!

Dave (D&A)

 

[raid]

I am in the group who requested a brass lens and stuck with it until the bitter end. When the brass option was retracted in December, I opted for silver and then never heard back from Kevin; I still haven't been asked to pay. Are there any others here who had to switch from brass in December? Have you paid yet?

I switched from brass to black. This thread now has do many posts that I can’t find my posts in which I posted when I got the lens.

 

[teddy]

Its said the coatings were changed over time to lower contrast and raise the shadow details after ver1, as well as warm up the colors.

I don't have an M9 or any Leica M digital, but when I stuck it to my Sony a7 - (it worked really well), the colours were on the cool side, but it was winter also. The sun is more on a lower angle here down under and the AUstralian sun light is very high contrast in winter - too much actually.

I wonder if the "cooler" colours are more sensor dependant - because as I've said before on this thread, the Summicron Replica is COOLER than my original Leitz Summicron 35/2 Type 1 (1963).

To me, the differences between these lenses are so minimal that is not worth worrying about at all. I mean, you could have both the Leitz and the Replica with you, sneeze and spray the original with snot, and you not realising it - keep on shooting and getting lower contrast because of all the snot spray on the front glass you just added. There are very slight variations on the Leitz glass also. I've had 5 Leitz Summaron 35/2.8 on my hands. Used them all and kept one. The amber coated or similar Summarons where so slightly lower contrast, and I kept the purple cyan coated one instead because of a slightly higher contrast; better for colour. These things are hand made, and variations exist.

Summicron Replica

Original Summicron 35/2

 

[raid]

I received my lens last June.

 

[raid]

I posted many images taken with this lens. It is an excellent lens.

 

[D&A]

Teddy, on Leica M digital, the replica can easily be identified by cooler rendition compared to the Leitz. The differences can be readily seen. Optically there are some differences too in the falloff of the depth of field BUT all in all its a very very good replica and worthy of high praise and definitely has a close fingerprint to the original 8 element. Again very pleased.

Dave (D&A)

 

[Emile de Leon]

From the pics I've seen..

 

[D&A]

From the pics I've seen..
The Leitz has better coverage and less vignetting..and is warmer.
Also..

They/LLL tried to correct high contrast & coolness (ver 1) from ver 2/purple onwards..a little at first..then more later on...with the most changes coming w/ver2 amber onwards...which are all pretty much the same to the present except for aperture spacing and fonts etc..
So..original amber ver 1 was high contrast/cool..then in ver 2 they started to put the brakes on the cool high contrast starting w/purple and then going w/amber to present for even more effects of lower contrast and warmth.

I know its highly unlikely, but would love to see a controlled test of all these versions on the same camera and subject to demonstrate the characteristics of each.

Dave (D&A)

 

[valdas]

My lens is in transit from China right now.
Kevin just sent all the tracking info via DHL.
Should be here in a week.
Since my original ver 1 lens had a sticky aperture we worked it out that I would receive a ver 2 lens instead w/amber coating and uneven aperture scale which has lower contrast (better shadow detail) & warmer color.
I'm happy w/this and looking forward to using it!

I am not sure about all those versions, but mine is marked as V1 and yet it has amber coating and uneven aperture spacing, so...I am really confused what was the original one.

 

[Mooshoepork]

Wow the replica isn’t arriving for some people and has huge QC issues? Never would’ve guessed

 

[jonmanjiro]

They/LLL tried to correct high contrast & coolness (ver 1) from ver 2/purple onwards..a little at first..then more later on...with the most changes coming w/ver2 amber onwards...which are all pretty much the same to the present except for aperture spacing and fonts etc..
So..original amber ver 1 was high contrast/cool..then in ver 2 they started to put the brakes on the cool high contrast starting w/purple and then going w/amber to present for even more effects of lower contrast and warmth.

I received my lens on May 9th, 2020 (was one of the first to do so, I think). On April 24th, Kevin sent me a photo of the lens just before shipping that shows the purple coating and uneven aperture spacing. AFAIK the purple coating was first and the switch to amber coating happened some time later.

Edited to add: Kevin sent me this photo below on January 19th, 2020. I was hoping to receive the fully assembled lens within a month of that date, but then a pandemic came along and messed up that plan. I think the lens was actually assembled shortly after this photo was taken, but the lock downs and whatnot that followed messed up the logistics chain so the lens just sat there in the factory for some months.

 

[lcpr]

Yeah I got mine a month or two later after jonmanjiro and it has an amber coating. In any case the contrast/colour rendition is pretty close to my Rigid Summicron so I’m a happy camper.

 

[shawn]

Teddy, on Leica M digital, the replica can easily be identified by cooler rendition compared to the Leitz.

Dave (D&A)

Can they be readily seen from RAW files using the same area for white balancing?

Shawn

 

[andyturk]

I am not sure about all those versions, but mine is marked as V1 and yet it has amber coating and uneven aperture spacing, so...I am really confused what was the original one.

Mine too. It's in silver chrome and has "V1LC" on the body, amber coating and uneven aperture spacing. #214/500

 

[Emile de Leon]

From what I heard..(from a good source)..

 

[D&A]

Can they be readily seen from RAW files using the same area for white balancing?

Shawn

Yes!

Dave (D&A)

 

[D&A]

From what I heard..(from a good source)..amber coating was on ver 1..but people complained about the high contrast and cool color.....then coating was changed to purple which slightly reduced the high contrast and cooler color..
Next came revised amber on ver 2..but this time the contrast was lowered and color warmed up even more. This probably remained the same to ver 3..even though some say it was further tweaked along the way.
But probably LLL are the only people that know exactly the timeline of all of this as there seems to be all kinds of lenses out there with different coatings and glass in them.
I noticed right away from the early LLL release photos that the Leitz was warmer w/more shadow detail and less vignetting, but didnt know what coating (amber or purple) was used on the LLL prototype test lens.
I guess everyone will have to figure this out for themselves, but at least as of now..the current ver 2 & 3 lenses w/amber..are lower contrast and warmer..which may be a good or a bad thing depending on which kind of look you need.
Perhaps for the folks that wanted the multicoated versions that never appeared..the 1st ver in amber or purple would be the best choice. But maybe a VC would be even better.
Just checked DHL..
My lens is in Cincinnati OH..it cleared customs..and will be here on the 22nd.

It's hard to know if this is accurate. As mentioned, the very first Ver 1 lens had purple coating and that appeared for a very short time. Right after that, Ver 1 switched to amber coatings, I assumed to warm things up a bit. The lens was still "cooler" than the original Leitz and by a fair margin. I had never seen or heard of the next itineration of the lens going back to purple coatings to warm things up. Why would they do that it the reason they switched from the very earliest run of the lens from purple to amber to warm things up a bit, go back to purple? I assume that wouldn't warm things up a bit, but cool things down?

All these lenses up to this point had uneven aperture spacing. Then came the lenses with even aperture spacing and still amber coatings but had heard contrast was somewhat lower. Hard to say.

Lastly I thought all or most of the lenses were multi coated versions and that I hadn't heard of any single coated Ver. 1 lenses.

Dave (D&A)

 

[Platinum RF]

Lastly I thought all or most of the lenses were multi coated versions and that I hadn't heard of any single coated Ver. 1 lenses.

Dave (D&A)

I think all versions are single coated. The MC version never come out

 

[maartenmoerman]

Just checked DHL..
My lens is in Cincinnati OH..it cleared customs..and will be here on the 22nd.

Lucky ******* - i haven't heard a thing yet.