Fred Miranda
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Upload & Sell: On
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highdesertmesa wrote:
Finally got my copy today, assembly date of 4/24 just 18 days ago.
Lens is very particular about flange distance being correct when adapted to my SL2-S or else it will have focus shift. I switched from my macro adapter to my M-Adapter-L and zero focus shift. I'll have to go back and re-adjust the macro adapter's infinity hard stop.
Aperture ring is not loose – just the slightest bit of play as designed. Aperture clicks are stiff and decisive.
Focusing out of the box is stiff. Same thing with my 28 Cron that has since smoothed out. Already seen some improvement by holding the lens facing downward and racking focus over and over. Still a bit jerky for making fine focusing adjustments.
Glow is gorgeous and ethereal at f/1.4. I have to say the reissue SR glow is much nicer (stronger without losing its appeal) than the glow from my pre-ASPH v2. I'm quite surprised, though, that it's just as sharp as my pre-ASPH v2 was at f/1.4. Could not be happier about this. Also very cool: I can use the aperture ring between f/1.4 and the f/1.7 half stop as a direct adjustment for the strength of the glow. If f/1.4 is too much, holding it right between the f/1.4 and f/1.7 gives the same glow as my pre-ASPH v2 did. The SR reissue glow is gone by f/2 like the pre-ASPH v2.
I really wish Leica had engineered a way to mechanically adjust the infinity lock itself into an "off" position, so that it could function as either an infinity lock or as non-infinity lock. Infinity lock is a bit annoying when adapting these lenses to other platforms, since infinity is not exactly at the lock position. Although I was glad to discover that this infinity lock design is not under tension when positioned right before infinity like the infinity lock of the 28 Summaron and CV 40 2.8 is. That tension is problematic on those two other named lenses, because you can't let go of the focusing tab when the infinity lock is partially engaged without the focus moving one direction or the other by itself.
Filter and hood situation: I knew what this was going in from everyone's reports, but I had to laugh when I'm looking at all the goodies knowing neither of the hoods nor the lens cap works correctly with a filter. Of all three of these screw-ups, I think the one that is most glaring to me is that they did not at least include their E46 lens cap. Even better would have been to have provided a metal lens cap like the one on the 50 Lux Black Chrome that would attach over a filter. Pure insanity. Everyone who tested these prototypes should be put in stocks in the Wetzlar town square. But I'm guessing the prototypes didn't include the hoods, they were just designed and tossed in the boxes after the fact.
MFD is shorter than the advertised 1m. Looks like ~0.88m using the foot markings in red as a guide (focusing stops just a bit closer than the 3' marking at ~2.9').
Fred, thanks for the encouragement to get this lens despite the hood/filter situation. For now, I'm just going to use it without a filter and get over the OCD of needing one. I've been doing that for the last week with the CV 40 2.8, and it's been liberating  ...Show more →
Hey, congrats on the new lens! I'm really glad you managed to get a good copy. 
The lens has a minimum focusing distance of less than 1 meter, specifically around 0.9 meters based on my calculations.
For me, currently I actually don't use any hood with this lens, which makes it a super compact combo with the M. However, I do have a super thin UV filter attached, and it's great because it still allows me to attach the included lens cap. You're absolutely right, though. The cap doesn't work with any other thin filter that I've tried.
By the way, here's the filter I use:
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