Just a quick heads up for anyone interested. Today is the final day to place an order for the Titanium Limited Edition of the LLL 35mm f/1.4 Aspherical "11873". Light Lens Lab will not be taking orders for the titanium version after today. It really is a short window, so if you were thinking about it, this is the last chance.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Just a quick heads up for anyone interested. Today is the final day to place an order for the Titanium Limited Edition of the LLL 35mm f/1.4 Aspherical "11873". Light Lens Lab will not be taking orders for the titanium version after today. It really is a short window, so if you were thinking about it, this is the last chance.
I think it's a misunderstanding of what midnight of Nov 21st is.
Titanium is already out-of-stock as of now Nov 21, 11:50AM EST.
I saw it's already been out-of-stock last night, around 12:05 AM on Nov 21.
I contacted LLL and had them change my Chrome Aluminum order to the Titanium version and they just invoiced me the difference so the process was super easy. Customer service was top notch. FOMO GAS strikes again.
The chrome and black aluminum versions look great and they are nice and light, but honestly, can you imagine what Leica would charge for a true Titanium edition of this lens? Not gray paint pretending to be titanium, the real thing. It would probably need its own payment plan.
I'm really looking forward to the review copy arriving. This is one Leica lens I have always been curious to spend some real time with.
Looking forward to the review.
I've been tempted to purchase -- but, I just offloaded some lenses to go towards the Hi-Fi (which makes photography seem inexpensive)
Fred Miranda wrote:
The chrome and black aluminum versions look great and they are nice and light, but honestly, can you imagine what Leica would charge for a true Titanium edition of this lens? Not gray paint pretending to be titanium, the real thing. It would probably need its own payment plan.
I'm really looking forward to the review copy arriving. This is one Leica lens I have always been curious to spend some real time with.
What's also curious (and a pleasant surprise as I recently purchased the AA) is that the other LLL titanium lenses currently available for purchase (the 8-Element and the 'Elcan') retail for more than the AA titanium (even though its base/aluminum model is more expensive than the others' base model).
I'm certainly not complaining, but the pricing strategy is interesting.
Fred Miranda wrote:
The chrome and black aluminum versions look great and they are nice and light, but honestly, can you imagine what Leica would charge for a true Titanium edition of this lens? Not gray paint pretending to be titanium, the real thing. It would probably need its own payment plan.
I'm really looking forward to the review copy arriving. This is one Leica lens I have always been curious to spend some real time with.
Just imagine the resale price for a Leica titanium limited edition, actually you dont’ have to imagine the resale price of a Leica 0.95 limited edition titanium is many many times the price of the normal expensive 0.95 at recent auction. So a Leica would be very expensive new and in resale value of titanium is around the bend of rational. On the other hand you could consider a Leica limited edition a good investment, the LLL is not likely to that. The Leica titanium once the resale limit is off could be a 401K investment ! as there are those who will pay for them.
I too am looking forward to getting the LLL 35mm and see if it bins into my highly used group of lenses or my special occassional use lenses, your review and my use will make my decision. Will it bump the 35 mm F2 LLL is the question for me as I like that lens.
I am looking forward to seeing what I can do with the LLL ver on my M11 and my MP since the original optics were designed in the film days, should be soon for the titanium version. I'll be interested in Fred's assessment. Maybe he can get a loaner of the original to put side by side.
Marcus Stein wrote:
...
I think it's a misunderstanding of what midnight of Nov 21st is.
Titanium is already out-of-stock as of now Nov 21, 11:50AM EST.
I saw it's already been out-of-stock last night, around 12:05 AM on Nov 21.
I had this same issue - was humming and hawing over whether to place the order, mostly trying to get a feel for reviews and LLL feedback, and when I went to place the order on Friday, it had already closed. I ended up ordering a black paint and sending an email to see if I could still secure a Titanium variant. I wish the wording were clearer on the actual deadline, or if there was timezone confusion, just render the deadline through some TZ-aware Javascript.
Edit: one thing I'd love to see a company like LLL do is work with Zeiss to resurrect the Contax G45 with modern coatings, optics, and a native housing that has a proper focusing tab. The Funleader is brilliant - I've owned two - but has its shortcomings: the donor optical blocks are a finite supply, the helicoid is very heavy, and it lacks a focusing tab.
mkuredjian wrote:
I had this same issue - was humming and hawing over whether to place the order, mostly trying to get a feel for reviews and LLL feedback, and when I went to place the order on Friday, it had already closed. I ended up ordering a black paint and sending an email to see if I could still secure a Titanium variant. I wish the wording were clearer on the actual deadline, or if there was timezone confusion, just render the deadline through some TZ-aware Javascript.
Edit: one thing I'd love to see a company like LLL do is work with Zeiss to resurrect the Contax G45 with modern coatings, optics, and a native housing that has a proper focusing tab. The Funleader is brilliant - I've owned two - but has its shortcomings: the donor optical blocks are a finite supply, the helicoid is very heavy, and it lacks a focusing tab. ...Show more →
I too am a big fan of the G45/2 I have the G system, I got it when it first appeared in the 1990s in Tokyo with a pile of cash so very Japanese style to pay with a pile of crisp 1000 yen notes (the yen then was like 1 cent- which also isn't a cent any more the Lincolns gone the way of the dodo), I never forgot that- I still have one of the notes now worth less than 1$ rather than 10 or so, I was living in Japan at the time and put it to good use touring the country and shooting so many rolls of film, it was good times. Later I adapted to Nikon Z and it was still good, when Funleader produced theirs I bought one with optics as I did not want to impair my other uses. It remains a really good lens, being designed for film it one I particularly like on my MP as it often does not displace the apo summicron off my M11P. If I am carrying 50s(ish) for both M11P and MP, that is often my paired lenses for both. My idea of a 50ish day out. You are right the Funleader helicoid is good but not excellent, it could be quite a bit better. it is curious that Zeiss never translated the lens over M mount in these years, I guess too close to their great 50 mm, but with all the re-issue and now homages going on Zeiss had years to have it re-emerge in M. My only thought is the great 21 and 45 of the G are just too close to Zeiss M offerings and they decided it would be internal brand competition and not put out versions since there have been rehousing well before Funleader (ms optics, skyllany, others) of both for many years and this must have attracted their attention and discussion, although I have never seen anything on the web as even a rumor.
Things got a little busy with the camera half case, but it shows an M Safari paired with the LLL 35mm f/1.4 Double Aspherical Titanium. Light Lens Lab posted it on their Instagram.
I'm so torn, this lens looks so different in all their photos.
During the presale, it looks yellow, in others it looks silver. Here, it looks gray.
What is it?
I reckon the grey is the most accurate with a very slight warm tint, judging by titanium lenses I've seen in the flesh in the past.
dumplinknet wrote:
I'm so torn, this lens looks so different in all their photos.
During the presale, it looks yellow, in others it looks silver. Here, it looks gray.
What is it?
We are going through several changes lately so please stay tuned for updates! We are also doing some things exciting (other than film projects) for 2026…
We are going through several changes lately so please stay tuned for updates! We are also doing some things exciting (other than film projects) for 2026…
I have imagined the titanium might look not that different than the barrel of my 1966 vintage Rigid on the M11P safari
that to my eye has a titanium like barrel. I'll see soon enough.The knobs of the safari are also not really bright chrome but more muted titanium-ish. I think it is going to look great. Since I am not that fussy about camera fashion it really doesn't matter, but nothing wrong with looking great.
