That was when I first got it, with use it ages/dulls really nicely. And it really is bare brass - you can smell it on your fingers after handling the lens!
I'm looking at the SPII in bare brass... it is on the LLL shop but not at Popflash yet
Fred Miranda wrote:
That's valuable information! My LLL 35/2 8-Element glossy black paint lens doesn't seem to have that nickel plating everywhere because I can see spots where the brass is exposed. With this knowledge, for lenses where the nickel starts showing, I might consider filing it down to reveal the brass for a better patina look.
This is why I wanted the glossy black paint finish. Everything glossy black paint is the best. It matches my Leica anyway.
But that one is like $1,500. I can just save up another $600 and get a Summicron. Won’t be black paint but it’s a real Summicron. I know the 8E renders differently. No matter.
Desmolicious wrote:
That was when I first got it, with use it ages/dulls really nicely. And it really is bare brass - you can smell it on your fingers after handling the lens!
I'm looking at the SPII in bare brass... it is on the LLL shop but not at Popflash yet
j/k of course. What is interesting is since all these lenses are made out of brass, shouldn't the one with no added finish to it (chromed, painted black etc) be the cheapest?
Desmolicious wrote:
If only it didn't say Made in China on it...
j/k of course. What is interesting is since all these lenses are made out of brass, shouldn't the one with no added finish to it (chromed, painted black etc) be the cheapest?
It would be logical but Light Lens Lab considers the bare brass to be 'special edition'. It's interesting that the black paint with brassing is not considered special edition.
Desmolicious wrote:
If only it didn't say Made in China on it...
j/k of course. What is interesting is since all these lenses are made out of brass, shouldn't the one with no added finish to it (chromed, painted black etc) be the cheapest?
Huss, get the “Time” edition. Brass with the heavily worn off after a hundred years under the ocean look. Popflash had one (or more, IDK), but it sold.
I asked LLL about a photo of the Time edition I saw on the blog that had engraving that mimicked the plaque from the prototype. They said that was a custom commission. I wish they had done this to all of them or had the same plaque as the prototype.
highdesertmesa wrote:
Huss, get the “Time” edition. Brass with the heavily worn off after a hundred years under the ocean look. Popflash had one (or more, IDK), but it sold.
I asked LLL about a photo of the Time edition I saw on the blog that had engraving that mimicked the plaque from the prototype. They said that was a custom commission. I wish they had done this to all of them or had the same plaque as the prototype
I really appreciate that prototype plaque, and it was a bit disappointing when it didn't make it to the production models. I hope they consider selling it separately so that we can attach it ourselves. 😊
Fred Miranda wrote:
It would be logical but Light Lens Lab considers the bare brass to be 'special edition'. It's interesting that the black paint with brassing is not considered special edition.
Personally I like the 35 glossy black paint the nicest looking. I wish Leica made more in this finish in brass and not price them at 10- $15,000
Experimenting with a mild IR filter. This about the only way for me to get the same look as a dark red filter on b&w film printed to high contrast gloss paper. The M11M is just too sensitive to blue light to get this look with an orange or light red filter. The added benefit of the IR over the standard orange/red filters is it doesn't block up the shadows (dark shadows in these samples is an intentional edit). Depending on the scene, the shadow areas can come across very bright. Definitely have to use the Visoflex or LCD to focus as the rangefinder is so far off at any aperture as to be useless. True infinity focus becomes somewhere between the 10ft mark and infinity.
At these ISOs, the files even at 200% look like a very tight-grained TMAX 100 on medium format. The grain looks especially natural if sharpening and noise reduction are both set to zero.
f/2 -|- ISO 2000 -|- 2-shot pano in vertical orientation
same image as previous but for scrollllliiiing down to see it all :)
ISO 2000
ISO 4000
ISO 2000 – screenshot at 200% showing digital noise that is very filmic
Fred Miranda wrote:
I really appreciate that prototype plaque, and it was a bit disappointing when it didn't make it to the production models. I hope they consider selling it separately so that we can attach it ourselves. 😊
Even a vinyl decal would be better than all that empty space on the barrel. The plaque really made the lens seem more visually balanced.
I was earlier describing "bleeding" of highlights to darker areas, which was "almost physics-bending". Here's what I meant (bad picture, but emphasizes the effect):
As you can see the tree trunk doesn't have these kind of notches or rough edges, they are of course straight. This keeps blowing my mind with this lens. It is definitely a feature and I say this as a strength, not a weakness. It yields very interesting character to many pictures where the effect is more subtle, making the photo more pleasing to the eye.
Another bad picture emphasizing this effect and "ghosting":
The tree branches looks very dreamy. It isn't motion blur or cheap optics, you can get very sharp images with lots of micro-detail with this lens while still being dream-like and pleasing.
The thing with this lens is NOT to be clinically sharp and contrasty. If you want sharp and neutral results, look for some other 50 mm lenses, Summicron to say for example.
I took my SP II (silver) with M10R this afternoon for a lakeside walk. I still have a lot to learn about this lens. Here are few images, all taken wide open.
I was informed by David-Yu-Heng Chen that LLL has now reached agreements with Red Dot Repairs. Currently, they are authorized to repair light lens lab lenses in the Western Hemisphere.
Both in and out of warranty work? I guess it's a good thing compared to having to send back to China. But checking the Red Dot Repair website doesn't reveal much information. Such as: where are they located?
rscheffler wrote:
Both in and out of warranty work? I guess it's a good thing compared to having to send back to China. But checking the Red Dot Repair website doesn't reveal much information. Such as: where are they located?
Reddit post by them says Portland and Seattle locations.
Fred Miranda wrote:
I was informed by David-Yu-Heng Chen that LLL has now reached agreements with Red Dot Repairs. Currently, they are authorized to repair light lens lab lenses in the Western Hemisphere.
LLL could generate a much higher level of trust in quality if they sent all their NA market lenses to Red Dot Repairs first to verify the lenses are centered and properly calibrated with the rangefinder. I’d pay a bit more for that peace of mind. I’m sure Popflash wouldn’t mind not having to process as many exchanges as well.
