If I am not mistaken, this 40mm f/2 lens with its classic Double-Gauss design is essentially a modern replica or reproduction of the fixed lens found on the vintage Chinese Huaxia rangefinder camera. In the analog photography era, the Huaxia was the only Chinese rangefinder equipped with a 6-element-in-4-group Double-Gauss lens, which delivered impressive resolution of 46 lines/mm in the center and 30 lines/mm at the edges — significantly outperforming the more common Seagull/Phoenix 205 rangefinders, which used a four-element Tessar-type lens.
On eBay I pulled up the 3/4 M$ 35 mm Leica Fred posted to show, next ad down if you bin for highest price Leica is- for your amusement, you can get an apparently brand new LLL elcan silver chrome for 276,276$ as much as I like my elcan I probably would part with mine for much less- must be real deal they have 97% positive ! They do say best offer- maybe they would take a 1/4M$ - :-) Tariff would be a killer.....
On eBay I pulled up the 3/4 M$ 35 mm Leica Fred posted to show, next ad down if you bin for highest price Leica is- for your amusement, you can get an apparently brand new LLL elcan silver chrome for 276,276$ as much as I like my elcan I probably would part with mine for much less- must be real deal they have 97% positive ! They do say best offer- maybe they would take a 1/4M$ - :-) Tariff would be a killer.....
Light Lens Lab is teasing a rangefinder module.
I know they have a lot of projects in the pipeline and some were put aside along the way but would you wish them to do a rangefinder film camera or a digital one?
I guess they would do a film one first but…
raizans wrote:
Since they’ve been making lenses that are optimized for digital, I expect it’ll be digital.
Good - Leica needs some competition. I had hopes for Pixii, but bootstrapping a digital rangefinder body, which is already a niche within a niche, is a tall order unless you bring serious, useful, change to the table. Think things like a hybrid OVF, focus confirmation, significant body size reduction, etc.
If LLL is going to do a digital RF body, I'm not expecting anything groundbreaking - maybe a 33MP clone of an M10 with USB-C - but they also have a lens business to backstop burning cash on developing bodies, which Pixii never had.
In keeping with the spirit of LLL, I do hope their digital body is just a re-imagined M9. Imagine the M9 CCD colors and character, just with an updated sensor - maybe 45mp - and newer electronics. Yes, please.
Dan Chang wrote:
Make a lens is easier than make a digital M. I do not see any possibility in the near future from LLL. The possible player would be DJI.
I totally agree. "The spirit on LLL" is to copy (reverse engineering) whatever lens is rare enough (expensive enought) to grant them keep increasing their prices. But (copying) a rangefinder might be a totally different story - they might need a German to do this for them
Sonnar-7 wrote:
Light Lens Lab is teasing a rangefinder module.
I know they have a lot of projects in the pipeline and some were put aside along the way but would you wish them to do a rangefinder film camera or a digital one?
I guess they would do a film one first but…
I saw that somewhere but can't find the source anymore. Do you have a link?
Fred Miranda wrote:
I saw that somewhere but can't find the source anymore. Do you have a link?
_jim_ wrote:
It was in their IG stories...they even teased a 35mm vertical travel shutter mechanism the next day!
Yeah like @_jim_ said, the stories are gone now and there was indeed the shutter mechanism following the rangefinder module.
I know that they have a lot of side projects, other SP lenses, the 40mm, their film stock, the Seagull TLR…but I must admit a Rangefinder project had me curious, I wish it was a digital one even if unlikely.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Can anyone confirm the weight of the Light Lens Lab 50mm f/1.2 "1966" Silver Chrome? LLL mentions 632 grams I've read reports saying it's 545 grams (lens bare without hood caps). Thanks!
Fred, my sliver chrome 1966, no hood, no caps is 485g. (Assuming my kitchen scale is correct)
mdg137 wrote:
Fred, my sliver chrome 1966, no hood, no caps is 485g. (Assuming my kitchen scale is correct)
Thank you!
I should probably let LLL know they need to correct the listed weight for this lens. The current spec of 632g could discourage people from buying the brass version since it's clearly heavier on paper than it is in reality.
The LLL elcan is a lens I keep circling back to use. This is only a minute or two opportunity photography early some mornings in Tucson, I position myself for my shot for chosen scene, with my lens choice and settings for the day, wait for the light, click, the glow light is then gone giving way to flat light, go have a cup of coffee. Light lens lab elcan lens, Leica M11 EV1, cobalt ektar edit
EMH2025 wrote:
The LLL elcan is a lens I keep circling back to use. This is only a minute or two opportunity photography early some mornings in Tucson, I position myself for my shot for chosen scene, with my lens choice and settings for the day, wait for the light, click, the glow light is then gone giving way to flat light, go have a cup of coffee. Light lens lab elcan lens, Leica M11 EV1, cobalt ektar edit
yes 2.8 the elcan benefits from a small stopdown I rarely go beyond 4 or at most 5.6, but also rarely use 2
at 2.8 and 4 there is plenty of elcan in it. It doesnt hurt the effort that for maybe 60 sec or so the glow is really intense in the morning as the light sweeps over my home, and I can capture one or two spots and plan the next one for the next morning
each with a place to stand and wait for the moment.
EMH2025 wrote:
yes 2.8 the elcan benefits from a small stopdown I rarely go beyond 4 or at most 5.6, but also rarely use 2
at 2.8 and 4 there is plenty of elcan in it. It doesnt hurt the effort that for maybe 60 sec or so the glow is really intense in the morning as the light sweeps over my home, and I can capture one or two spots and plan the next one for the next morning
each with a place to stand and wait for the moment.
Thanks. I guessed f/2.8 because stopping down one stop from wide open improves off-axis performance noticeably, which your comp shows. If it had been wide open, I don't think the result would have looked the same, since the very top of the subject would likely show noticeably weaker performance than the center. I think you chose the perfect aperture for this scene. You kept some background separation and still gained the extra sharpness you needed.
This is one of those rare cases where the Leica 50mm f/2 Summicron Rigid would actually do slightly better, and it could have been shot wide open.
Fred Miranda wrote:
This is one of those rare cases where the Leica 50mm f/2 Summicron Rigid would actually do slightly better, and it could have been shot wide open.
glad to hear that. I had been thinking of selling my 50 rigid given that I've only been using my Summilux 50/1.4 pre asph v2 almost exclusively when shooting 50mm, but I haven't been able to come to terms with getting rid of it since there's some quality about it that I love. I think I'll hold on to it (especially since Ye cleaned the haze and pronounced it a good copy)
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