I've also now managed to scratch the front element. It's not a huge or deep scratch, but it's more than "cleaning marks." I wasn't using the hood Let's see if that affects the next set of photos.
The scratch will have zero effect on your images. only effect will be on resale value.
p.11 #2 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
_jim_ wrote:
Yeah. There is a lot of focus shift (like the Lux pre-a and V1 Nokton). The Lux ASPH 11874 has even more apparent focus shift. It's just part of the design.
That's good to know. I thought I was missing focus.
p.11 #3 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
A few weeks back, I lent my Artizlab 35 1.4 Classic to @_jim_, mostly to get his impression of it. The bottom line, it front focuses. On digital, that's easy to correct. On film, a bit more difficult. My lens apparently had been assembled then taken apart to add some shims in hopes of correcting the problem. Mostly, they buggerd up the screws. I have no intention of taking a sub five hundred dollar lens to a shop in hopes it could be corrected. The other option was to take the Sony A7CII off of the copy stand and actually use it as a camera! Being a film guy, I took 36 pictures. It still didn't feel right but here are a few:
p.11 #5 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
This is a ridiculously fun lens to use. A beautiful dreamy, smeary, glow-y mess (complimentary). For being a novel optical design, it really seems to capture a lot of original Summilux character.
p.11 #7 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
madNbad wrote:
Any focusing tips for using the lens on a film body?
My copy appears to be calibrated for 1.4 (I would assume they probably all are). The focus shift is strong enough that even by f/2 the point of best focus is no longer where you wanted it.
As far as focusing tips...expect to miss focus a bunch and have a more than few wasted frames. I have tons of images from it (and other lenses) that would've been nice if...
p.11 #8 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
_jim_ wrote:
My copy appears to be calibrated for 1.4 (I would assume they probably all are). The focus shift is strong enough that even by f/2 the point of best focus is no longer where you wanted it.
As far as focusing tips...expect to miss focus a bunch and have a more than few wasted frames. I have tons of images from it (and other lenses) that would've been nice if...
I'll try the focus and lean it a bit trick. A 35 V2 Summilux is pretty low on the list of things to spend money on.
p.11 #10 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
I have used this little Artizlab 35 1.4 for a while now and one very surprising finding is that it performs noticeably better in regards to detail/ sharpness on my cameras that have thicker cover glass and that are not optimized for rangefinder lenses. Case in point, I directly compared this lens when mounted on my old Sony A7r(notoriously poor with small, wide rangefinder lenses) to it's performance on the SL2 and my GFX 100S. The result from the A7r and GFX (in 35 crop mode) is noticeably more detailed away from the center than the result on the SL2, which was soft towards the outer center to frame edges. In fact, by F8, this lens is tack sharp edge to edge with only the extreme corners soft on both the A7r and GFX. All this to say that this is a fantastic lens for adapting to most, non-optimized mirrorless bodies and I would highly suspect it's performance to actually suffer on an M mount digital body.
p.11 #11 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
Ive still been enjoying this lens quite a lot! Haven’t had any issues focusing and im happy enough with it that its kept me from buying the steel rim reissue.
Let's see if that affects the next set of photos. 
