For those asking me via PM about my review of the LLL 28/2.8 9E, @LightLensLab requested that I review this lens, but for some reason, I haven’t received it yet. As soon as I hear back, I will post an update.
The Light Lens Lab 28mm f/2.8 "Elmarit" 9-element just arrived at my doorstep. After some initial testing, I have to say that, surprisingly, it's a very high-performing 28mm lens. I have never tried the vintage Leica, but I'm pretty sure it's a much-improved design. In terms of resolution and contrast, it surpasses the Voigtlander 28/2.8 Color-Skopar when both are wide open. I'll start a detailed review soon.
Fred Miranda wrote:
The Light Lens Lab 28mm f/2.8 "Elmarit" 9-element just arrived at my doorstep. After some initial testing, I have to say that, surprisingly, it's a very high-performing 28mm lens. I have never tried the vintage Leica, but I'm pretty sure it's a much-improved design. In terms of resolution and contrast, it surpasses the Voigtlander 28/2.8 Color-Skopar when both are wide open. I'll start a detailed review soon.
I also got mine this week and shot it this morning. No clue what it looks like yet but really like the handling. I saw someone mention above how much they like the hood, I'm in total agreement, great design. Only thing is it didn't come with a cap for the hood. The front cap for the lens is a very poor design in my opinion, won't stay on
rsolti13 wrote:
I also got mine this week and shot it this morning. No clue what it looks like yet but really like the handling. I saw someone mention above how much they like the hood, I'm in total agreement, great design. Only thing is it didn't come with a cap for the hood. The front cap for the lens is a very poor design in my opinion, won't stay on
I encountered a minor problem with the lens hood. The hood attaches to the pin, but if it rotates slightly, it won't come off even when pressing the two side buttons. The hood must be perfectly aligned with the pin to detach, but it doesn't stay completely stationary when attached. At one point, I thought the hood was stuck permanently, but I realized I just needed to rotate it slightly to release it. Perhaps this was the Leica design but I never tried the OG lens.
Fred Miranda wrote:
The Light Lens Lab 28mm f/2.8 "Elmarit" 9-element just arrived at my doorstep. After some initial testing, I have to say that, surprisingly, it's a very high-performing 28mm lens. I have never tried the vintage Leica, but I'm pretty sure it's a much-improved design. In terms of resolution and contrast, it surpasses the Voigtlander 28/2.8 Color-Skopar when both are wide open. I'll start a detailed review soon.
Wow. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not how the originals perform. From what I have seen posted from the older versions, they seem to have an interesting balance of aberrations/color/saturation/contrast for more of a throwback look. Maybe the LLL has lost this, which on one hand might be disappointing, making it 'yet another' modern (28mm) lens. On the other hand, if technically better than the VM, it could still be interesting!
rscheffler wrote:
Wow. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not how the originals perform. From what I have seen posted from the older versions, they seem to have an interesting balance of aberrations/color/saturation/contrast for more of a throwback look. Maybe the LLL has lost this, which on one hand might be disappointing, making it 'yet another' modern (28mm) lens. On the other hand, if technically better than the VM, it could still be interesting!
I thought I read somewhere this 28 9e was not meant to mimic the Leica 28 9e optically like they did with the 35 8e, but they were going for similar design and rendering yet much improved optical performance.
“However, this lens will be our first time not following the original design in terms of the chemical composition of the optical elements. The reason behind this change is that the quality of the original 28mm f/2.8 “Nine Element,” was deemed unsatisfactory in terms of rendering and performance upon our testing. So, we have worked upon it to improve it.
“The Nine Element has unique rendering characteristics within the Double-Gauss family. We have closely followed the original design and its MTF information from a field of view starting at zero degrees and upwards to the full field of view. However, while we have followed the form and the scale of the MTF original’s curves, by our changes we made improvements upon all contrast transfer ranges in terms of lp/mm1. For example, the 40 lp/mm of the New Nine Element shares approximately the same data information as the contrast transfer of the 20 lp/mm of the original’s MTF information.
“This improvement in the contrast transfer also applies to all ranges of lines/mm throughout all fields of view (with the most importance regarding rendering performance in the corners). We have made only marginal improvements in the centre because we wish to retain the classic good rendering characteristics in this area.
“Again, I will have to re-iterate the things that we have changed and those we retained — we have retained the classical exterior aesthetics, the original nine-elements-in-six-group design. Speaking of which, during the design phase of this 28mm f/2.8 9E, we concluded that this group design must be retained; while it is an old design in terms of optical technology and challenging to produce, it benefits by keeping the physical size of the lens within its original limits. However, while we are retaining the same optical configuration, we have had to change the type of some optical elements.
“The original lens had poor performance; we changed one of the elements inside to an Extra-Low Dispersion (ED) glass (specifically, the sixth inner element). The result of the change was a marginal increase in resolution in the centre, a drastic increase in resolution in the corners and edges, and drastically minimised distortion and chromatic aberration. Out-of-focus characteristics are now more rounded, with a pleasant circular out-of-focus bokeh. We eliminated the red-fringing that occurred with digital camera sensors with the original lens.
“With our focus on specialised glass-element development and manufacturing, we discovered that to make the improvements that we aimed for during our development phase, we had to replace an element. We used our own entirely new fluorite-like glass designed specifically for the task. Such proprietary development is an entirely new endeavour for us.
Testing the new LLL 28 9e and comparing to my Voigt Ultron 28 II. My Ultron II is one of the sharpest lenses I've ever used. Extremely clinical, great in my opinion for landscape and not much else. This LLL 28 has some character. The LLL is sharp dead center and then softens near the edges. Compared to the Ultron, ever so slightly less sharp than the Ultron dead center, softens up near the edges/corners. Near distance, less than 5m, the LLL 28 is SHARPER than the Ultron dead center, wide open. The Ultron is better at infinity.
Color is cooler and not as saturated as the Ultron and the LLL is not as contrasty. Zero purple fringing on the LLL, even when the Ultron showed it. The LLL has some field curvature and distortion isn't as well controlled as the Ultron. Two totally different lenses, this LLL moreso resembles an Elmarit ASPH I
rsolti13 wrote:
Testing the new LLL 28 9e and comparing to my Voigt Ultron 28 II. My Ultron II is one of the sharpest lenses I've ever used. Extremely clinical, great in my opinion for landscape and not much else. This LLL 28 has some character. The LLL is sharp dead center and then softens near the edges. Compared to the Ultron, ever so slightly less sharp than the Ultron dead center, softens up near the edges/corners. Near distance, less than 5m, the LLL 28 is SHARPER than the Ultron dead center, wide open. The Ultron is better at infinity.
Color is cooler and not as saturated as the Ultron and the LLL is not as contrasty. Zero purple fringing on the LLL, even when the Ultron showed it. The LLL has some field curvature and distortion isn't as well controlled as the Ultron. Two totally different lenses, this LLL moreso resembles an Elmarit ASPH I ...Show more →
This is quite interesting about sharpness. I have the 28 ultron and it's really a stellar performer, but it can be a bit unflattering for people (like a lot of my sony lenses). I'd be curious to try it.
Has anyone used the 28 9e on an M240 generation body?
I love the look of the new LLL lens but that M240 sensor does not play well with wide angles and I have pretty tight standards with regard to peripheral color and Italian flag. My M262 had nasty cyan edges with the 28 ultron (current version, now sold) and I even see issues with my 28 elmarit v3.
