Summilux 35mm pre-asph photos

I have two of them, one with the goggles No. 20606XX and the other plain No. 17772XX, I do not know the years of production. It is funny that I can screw the optics from their mounts so that I can use the early one in the goggles and the later one in the plain mount. No problems with focusing.

I think that they are optically not for 100% the same. The later one seems to be a tad sharper at full aperture. But they are both the most beautiful 35's for the M Leicas.

I also have the plastic lens cap (found separately) and a whole collection of OLLUX shades, there are many versions of those.

I've not seen the new one in the flesh. It would be nice if this new one was tested against the old ones.

Erik.
 
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I have two of them, one with the goggles No. 20606XX and the other plain No. 17772XX, I do not know the years of production. It is funny that I can screw the optics from their mounts so that I can use the early one in the goggles and the later one in the plain mount. No problems with focusing.

I think that they are optically not for 100% the same. The later one seems to be a tad sharper at full aperture. But they are both the most beautiful 35's for the M Leicas.

I also have the plastic lens cap (found separately) and a whole collection of OLLUX shades, there are many versions of those.

I've not seen the new one in the flesh. It would be nice if this new one was tested against the old ones.

Erik.

Hello Erik,

I've had a couple of Steel Rim lenses in the past and regardless of age and haze etc, their sharpness do vary with some of the batches .
This might be due to the glass they used which may have changed over the 6 years of production and/or their manufacture. Some lenses might have been better centered as well.
Late batches 206 and 216 are known to be sharper. Maybe they used lanthanum like in some other lenses ...

Right now I have an ex goggled lens from the batch 173 which Chris Andreyo / Skyllaney has "rebuilt" and am very happy with it .

I rapidly played with a Steel Rim reissue lens and did not find the "charm" the original lens offers.

The 2005 W-Nikkor f1.8 Nikkor reissue matches the original lens much better imho.

Best, Jean-Marc.
 
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This is with the black Summilux 35mm with the infinity lock, a cheapened version of the steel rims, serial No. 2221XXX. Sharp in the center, but towards the sides the plane of sharpness bows away to the back. Nevertheless these lenses are worth a fortune, above all if the infinity clip is made of brass. This one has it made from steel or aluminium.

gelatin silver print (summilux 35mm f1.4 No. 2221XXX) leica m2

Iris B. Amsterdam, 2008

Erik.

1688027435679.png
 
How are you mounting your 35/1.8 on the M10-P? According to this page Amedeo Lens Adapter Leica M Nikon Rangefinder the Amadeo adapter is not compatible...

~S
There are some lens wizards who offer conversions. Skyllaney in Scotland go the 'brutal' route of implanting the optics into a single helicoid mount with an indexed cam. Others such as this Korean gentleman offer modifications where they re-house the rear optics into a slimmer fixture so that it clears the rf-cam in the Leica. I prefer this route because it is less invasive and reversible.


Modified lenses can then be used with the Amedeo Adapter or similar products (e.g. Coiro Optics in Korea produces high quality adapters similar to Amedeo, but with 0.7m min focus distance.)
 
The 35/f1.8 W-Nikkor rear protruding element will not fit an original Amedeo adapter .
Yet these lenses have been successfully modified !

Screen Shot 2023-06-29 at 13.12.54.png



You may refer to this RFF thread:

Skyllaney's conversion - of both original and reissue lenses - allows to focus in the Leica direction , RF coupling from 0,7m onwards and a live view non coupled focussing distance down to 0,35m.



and facebook page




EC82E422-C094-4DEF-A688-EA2A74A3D5DA.JPG


Best, Jean-Marc.
 
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Hello Erik,

I've had a couple of Steel Rim lenses in the past and regardless of age and haze etc, their sharpness do vary with some of the batches .
This might be due to the glass they used which may have changed over the 6 years of production and/or their manufacture. Some lenses might have been better centered as well.
Late batches 206 and 216 are known to be sharper. Maybe they used lanthanum like in some other lenses ...

Right now I have an ex goggled lens from the batch 173 which Chris Andreyo / Skyllaney has "rebuilt" and am very happy with it .

I rapidly played with a Steel Rim reissue lens and did not find the "charm" the original lens offers.

The 2005 W-Nikkor f1.8 Nikkor reissue matches the original lens much better imho.

Best, Jean-Marc.

35 Summilux v1 1960:

3414b528-3ab7-421f-adfb-0a71c2b71015.jpg


Shot with a M10-P


Paris by JM__, on Flickr
 
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There are some lens wizards who offer conversions. Skyllaney in Scotland go the 'brutal' route of implanting the optics into a single helicoid mount with an indexed cam. Others such as this Korean gentleman offer modifications where they re-house the rear optics into a slimmer fixture so that it clears the rf-cam in the Leica. I prefer this route because it is less invasive and reversible.


Modified lenses can then be used with the Amedeo Adapter or similar products (e.g. Coiro Optics in Korea produces high quality adapters similar to Amedeo, but with 0.7m min focus distance.)
I knew of the skyllaney mod, but not the other - it looks like it wouldn't work on the 2005 re-issue though.
The 35/f1.8 W-Nikkor rear protruding element will not fit an original Amedeo adapter .
Yet these lenses have been successfully modified !

View attachment 4823351



You may refer to this RFF thread:

Skyllaney's conversion - of both original and reissue lenses - allows to focus in the Leica direction , RF coupling from 0,7m onwards and a live view non coupled focussing distance down to 0,35m.



and facebook page




View attachment 4823348


Best, Jean-Marc.

I like the idea of the modified version but then it would no longer fit on my SP and that would be a sad thing to do I think!
 
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