opinions on the titanium lux 35 1.4

[maitani]

I'm a spoken fan of the pre-asph designs of leica, esp the older mandler designs have something i often miss in todays 'perfect lens world', with aspherical and double /triple aspherical designs.

I once had a old 35 lux v1 which I loved dearly, but sold it (only reason I got a really, really good price for it..), then i got the ASPH lux 35 which I absolutely adore until today, but it's rather big esp with hood, and when i go through the older pics those pre-asph luxes have the cerain something, raw look, kind of 'unfiltered' character and look I love about the 50 pre asph too..
the old pre-aspherical lens was so tiny, it felt so right, and it was even more than usable from wideopen.

I saw in the 90ies during the colour edition frenzy by leica, there was a titanium version of the compact and beatiful pre-asph lens, probably a low volume item, bundled with some body, I'm not sure..

any opinions on this particular lens? is this an identical design to the old lux V1, V2?, or was the coating impoved in some way? as it's about 30 years younger.. also copys on the bay are north of 4k but I've seen them passing hand locally for much lower than that, is the titanium pre asph lux worth a consideration for that non-asph look? is it made of heavy brass or lighter alumium? anybody here has one?

regards
maitani

 

[brusby]

I don't know about the titanium, but I share your enthusiasm for the v2 lux. I really like that it's one lens wide open -- slightly soft and dreamy for say portraits -- and quite another that's sharp and contrasty stopped down just a click or two. Plus it's the perfect size and the most fun to carry around on the M9.

 

[maddoc]

The titanium 35 Summilux pre-ASPH was made (assembled) together with a couple of black anodized ones as one of the last batches in Germany, when the 35/1.4 ASPH just had started selling. I think design-wise it is identical to the other, later (v2) ones, and having it compared to earlier versions it has the same color of the coating (elements). If you like the 35mm Summilux pre-ASPH then this is the version to get (or the black German-made version).

I'm a spoken fan of the pre-asph designs of leica, esp the older mandler designs have something i often miss in todays 'perfect lens world', with aspherical and double /triple aspherical designs.

I once had a old 35 lux v1 which I loved dearly, but sold it (only reason I got a really, really good price for it..), then i got the ASPH lux 35 which I absolutely adore until today, but it's rather big esp with hood, and when i go through the older pics those pre-asph luxes have the cerain something, raw look, kind of 'unfiltered' character and look I love about the 50 pre asph too..
the old pre-aspherical lens was so tiny, it felt so right, and it was even more than usable from wideopen.

I saw in the 90ies during the colour edition frenzy by leica, there was a titanium version of the compact and beatiful pre-asph lens, probably a low volume item, bundled with some body, I'm not sure..

any opinions on this particular lens? is this an identical design to the old lux V1, V2?, or was the coating impoved in some way? as it's about 30 years younger.. also copys on the bay are north of 4k but I've seen them passing hand locally for much lower than that, is the titanium pre asph lux worth a consideration for that non-asph look? is it made of heavy brass or lighter alumium? anybody here has one?

regards
maitani