p.8 #1 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
RustyRus wrote:
I hear you- I hope you are enjoying the lens!!!
I do however feel there are already so many clones in the market of the Steel Rim- For Example Voigtlander already has the 35 1.4 in SC or MC- Fred even did a thread comparing that lens vs the Steel Rim and they where very close-
So the market already has lenses similar to what you are talking about-
Again don't need to go down a rabbit hole- You also don't need to justify your purchase, you have taken some nice pictures already with the lens.
Its just starting to get concerning that the companies we love are going to move out of the market due to there not being enough money. LLL looking at doing film hopefully doesn't spell the end of Kodak. We will see ...Show more →
I love my 35 Nokton Classic SC! It's used far more than any other lenses I own. My M4 was paired with a brass body 50 Summicron V5 and I wanted to add another 35. I had both the V1 and V2 Ultron and sold them. I had been looking at 35 Summicrons when this thread popped up. I figured it wasn't too big of a risk at the price.
For years the camera and lens business was divided between a few major players. Kyocera and Cosina were pretty much in the background making capable cameras and lenses with much more famous names. At the turn of the century, Cosina branched out with a bunch of new lenses for both LTM and M mount cameras plus producing some outstanding lenses under the Zeiss banner. Canon and Nikon were all in on autofocus so there were no new MF offerings from them. In the late teens, Seven Artisans comes to the market with a variety of low cost lenses. They sell well and they expand their market. Light Lens Lab tested the waters with the initial lanthanum glass lens. It sold well and they expanded. Now there is Artizlab and a couple of others.
The market is full of second hand lenses. The problem is finding someone who can service them. These new companies understand there is a demand for classic lenses at an affordable price. If it's a fad the minor players will fade away and companies like Cosina will continue to update tjeir products for the best performance with the latest sensors. Leica will roll out an reissue on an occasional basis.
The rangefinder camera market has always been small. We should be glad there are new companies offering us a batch of new products.
p.8 #2 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
I bought into the funleader not only because I'm cheap.
Also (mostly) because I have a very sterile, micro-contrasty 35mm 1.4 Distagon and a 45mm GFX readily available for modern, sharp, high-performance imagery.
From my initial shoot earlier today the funleader is in a different league. The glow and character - and the tiny size - is for me worth the investment, assuming that I can offload the lens when I'm done with it relatively easily. The depreciation, for me, is manageable.
p.8 #6 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
Desmolicious wrote:
LLL producing film is the best thing that can happen to the film market with Kodak basically having a monopoly on colour film at the moment.
p.8 #7 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
Desmolicious wrote:
LLL producing film is the best thing that can happen to the film market with Kodak basically having a monopoly on colour film at the moment.
p.8 #8 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
My copy just arrived. I'm very impressed by this lens, particularly given the price. Build quality is much better than I anticipated. I think it's fairly close to Voigtlander The focus is a bit stiff but not crazy stiff. It is very smooth with no binding. The lens is so compact that adjusting the aperture via the "wings" is something that one probably would need to get used to, particularly given the focus tab location. I guess one nice thing is that the focus tab will not be near the aperture wings at either the minimum focus distance with brighter F-stops nor stopped down closer to infinity. The infinity lock is much easier to use imo compared to the other variations that are not built into a focus tab. I found this a non issue. The hood is cumbersome and awkward to use.
As others have said, it's sharp enough wide open in the center. Low contrast with classic spherical aberration glow wide open that quickly vanishes upon stopping down. Even by F2 contrast increases quite a bit.
I was curious how the sharpness across the frame might be by F11 and it's pretty damn good. Not crazy sharp into the corners of course but perfectly fine for landscape, architecture, etc. Nice dual personality for multiple uses- people/ portrait wide open or a few stops down but very useable by say F5.6 to F11 when one needs decent across the frame sharpness.
Here is a shot at F11 to give an idea of the across the frame sharpness capability on an SL2:
p.8 #9 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
Tariq Gibran wrote:
My copy just arrived. I'm very impressed by this lens, particularly given the price. Build quality is much better than I anticipated. I think it's fairly close to Voigtlander The focus is a bit stiff but not crazy stiff. It is very smooth with no binding. The lens is so compact that adjusting the aperture via the "wings" is something that one probably would need to get used to, particularly given the focus tab location. I guess one nice thing is that the focus tab will not be near the aperture wings at either the minimum focus distance with brighter F-stops nor stopped down closer to infinity. The infinity lock is much easier to use imo compared to the other variations that are not built into a focus tab. I found this a non issue. The hood is cumbersome and awkward to use.
As others have said, it's sharp enough wide open in the center. Low contrast with classic spherical aberration glow wide open that quickly vanishes upon stopping down. Even by F2 contrast increases quite a bit.
I was curious how the sharpness across the frame might be by F11 and it's pretty damn good. Not crazy sharp into the corners of course but perfectly fine for landscape, architecture, etc. Nice dual personality for multiple uses- people/ portrait wide open or a few stops down but very useable by say F5.6 to F11 when one needs decent across the frame sharpness.
Here is a shot at F11 to give an idea of the across the frame sharpness capability on an SL2:
AsI mentioned above, the hood will rotate around as you use the lens but the tabs seem to settle in at the 12 and 6 o'clock position. It keeps the hood tabs out of the way of the aperture wings.
p.8 #10 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
madNbad wrote:
AsI mentioned above, the hood will rotate around as you use the lens but the tabs seem to settle in at the 12 and 6 o'clock position. It keeps the hood tabs out of the way of the aperture wings.
Yes, I did notice this but at least for me, using the hood makes use of the aperture wings and focus tab seem too crowded. It might be that would change if I used the hood all the time but I foresee not using the hood very often myself.
p.8 #12 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
First photos from the new Artizlab 35/1.4. MP/Kodak TMax 400 various apertures. The coffee booth is at 1.4
I am not 100% sure but I think the lens is slightly longer than 35. The focus and aperture rings are quite stiff but hopefully will loosen up. The build quality is excellent, and the focus lock only bothered me like once. If you use an index finger to adjust the focus, the lock undoes itself in an intuitive way. I can’t explain it well but it works fine.
p.8 #13 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
One major possible issue I'm seeing, at least with my copy, is that when used with the Leica M to L adapter on the SL2, I'm seeing flickering (on/off) of the live view feed (EVF and rear screen). This does not happen with "dumb" adapters, only with the official Leica adapter.
p.8 #14 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
rollei35_warton wrote:
You are definitely right about the focal length of this lens. It’s longer than 35mm.
Look at the pictures in my post #15 and #16, comparing to summilux 35 SR, the artizlab lens has slightly narrower view. The subject is a little bit bigger in the picture.
Those pictures were taken on a tripod, so the position of the camera didn’t change. The lens for sure is longer than 35mm
I compared the focal length with this lens to both a Minolta MD 35mm and a Nikkor 35mm lens on my SL2 mounted on a tripod and the Artizlab is indeed very slightly narrower. It's not dramatic - I would guess the lens is actually 36/37mm assuming the other two are accurate.
Here is the relative fov of these three lenses. The Minolta is the widest, the Artizlab the narrowest and the Nikkor sits in the middle but closer to the Artizlab.
p.8 #16 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
Tariq Gibran wrote:
Aberrations wide open in direct bright light. Crops are 100%. Close focus adapter used.
Thanks for the sample. Did you notice that the spherical aberration (glow) is more pronounced off-axis (away from the center)? That’s expected, but on the Leica, it’s also noticeable at the center and becomes even more pronounced off-center.
In that way, the Artzlab seems to render more similarly to the Cosina Nokton version.
p.8 #17 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
ninadp wrote:
First photos from the new Artizlab 35/1.4. MP/Kodak TMax 400 various apertures. The coffee booth is at 1.4
I am not 100% sure but I think the lens is slightly longer than 35. The focus and aperture rings are quite stiff but hopefully will loosen up. The build quality is excellent, and the focus lock only bothered me like once. If you use an index finger to adjust the focus, the lock undoes itself in an intuitive way. I can’t explain it well but it works fine.
p.8 #18 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
Fred Miranda wrote:
Thanks for the sample. Did you notice that the spherical aberration (glow) is more pronounced off-axis (away from the center)? That’s expected, but on the Leica, it’s also noticeable at the center and becomes even more pronounced off-center.
In that way, the Artzlab seems to render more similarly to the Cosina Nokton version.
Yes, it's still there in the center but it does become more noticeable away from the center. The coatings on the lens appear to be really good - maybe too good! I suspect you really need the right conditions (point light source in scene, very bright light or bright subject) to reveal the aberrations at their strongest.
p.8 #19 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
ninadp wrote:
First photos from the new Artizlab 35/1.4. MP/Kodak TMax 400 various apertures. The coffee booth is at 1.4
I am not 100% sure but I think the lens is slightly longer than 35. The focus and aperture rings are quite stiff but hopefully will loosen up. The build quality is excellent, and the focus lock only bothered me like once. If you use an index finger to adjust the focus, the lock undoes itself in an intuitive way. I can’t explain it well but it works fine.
Nice images! The cafe shot really shows off the beautiful (imo) combination of central sharpness with the glowy aberrations from the light sources. The other images that were taken stopped down demonstrate the dual personality of this lens.
p.8 #20 · Funleader to Release Lens Inspired by Leica 35/1.4 Summilux
mikegao wrote:
Those are beautiful pictures!
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Tariq Gibran wrote:
Nice images! The cafe shot really shows off the beautiful (imo) combination of central sharpness with the glowy aberrations from the light sources. The other images that were taken stopped down demonstrate the dual personality of this lens.
Thanks!
I am keen to see how this lens compares with my V4 Summicron 35—I resisted getting the steel rim reissue or V2 Lux because, if I understand correctly, those behave much like the V4 Summicron stopped down. This is quite a bit cheaper, so it made sense to try it.
What I am noticing also is that distortion seems to be pretty low—see the biker image, for example. I'm sure there's some, but nothing serious. I like that a lot.
