p.1 #5 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
I bought it from a shop in Bangkok that I found on Instagram. Was about $365 after card fees. Had them send it to my hotel in chiang Mai while here on vacation.
I've read they're as low as 200 bucks in China.
Also found a guy on Instagram (in China) making LEICA SUMMICRON front rings for it, to further improve the carbon copy look.
Desmolicious wrote:
I see it at $499 on ebay from Thailand.
Problem is importing it to the US will result in a whole bunch of extra charges due to tariffs.
p.1 #6 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
I don't know how happy I would be with the lens at the prices it would demand in the states due to tariffs. At <$400 it's a steal. Over 500 there's other options. Still, it gives the look and feel of the KOB for the most part, at a fraction of the cost.
p.1 #7 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
Just amazing to see how good these Chinese replica vintage M lenses are - not perfect - this one seems to have more blurred corners than the original Leica lens and comes with more flaring - but improved avoiding coma and center sharpness. And for a price tag below $500! If someone wants to take more artsy looking vintage like portraits for example, this lens would be a great 35 mm fit with great price/quality ratio. I am not getting this Mandler lens since I already own the original Leica 35/2.0 Vers. IV lens. But if I didn't have it, I would certainly consider!
p.1 #8 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
I haven't tried this one yet...there are so many Leica copies out there now. When a Leica-clone lens improves image quality significantly (less coma, higher contrast, and so on), I tend to lose interest since modern lenses already outperform these "replicas". But when a company like LLL aims to faithfully recreate both the look and optical character of Leica's vintage lenses, that's when it gets my attention. That approach feels more special to me.
For example, the LLL 35/2 Cron 8-element doesn't just look like the original, it also performs and renders almost exactly like shooting with the real Leica version.
p.1 #9 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
Fred Miranda wrote:
I haven't tried this one yet...there are so many Leica copies out there now. When a Leica-clone lens improves image quality significantly (less coma, higher contrast, and so on), I tend to lose interest since modern lenses already outperform these "replicas". But when a company like LLL aims to faithfully recreate both the look and optical character of Leica's vintage lenses, that's when it gets my attention. That approach feels more special to me.
For example, the LLL 35/2 Cron 8-element doesn't just look like the original, it also performs and renders almost exactly like shooting with the real Leica version....Show more →
LLL is a bit the outlier of the Chinese rebrand lens companies. LLL's lenses are very similar to the original but tend to copy also the much higher price tag a bit hard to justify for this lens brand IMO.
p.1 #10 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
retrofocus wrote:
LLL is a bit the outlier of the Chinese rebrand lens companies. LLL's lenses are very similar to the original but tend to copy also the much higher price tag a bit hard to justify for this lens brand IMO.
Yeah.
LLL used to be able to justify their price tags because they were the only player in town.
But now that others have jumped on their bandwagon, the prices seem too high.
I agree with Mr. Miranda - I don’t want these lenses to be ‘better’ than the original version. We already have much ‘better’ lenses! The whole point is to be the same but affordable.
p.1 #11 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
ISO1600 wrote:
I bought it from a shop in Bangkok that I found on Instagram. Was about $365 after card fees. Had them send it to my hotel in chiang Mai while here on vacation.
I've read they're as low as 200 bucks in China.
Also found a guy on Instagram (in China) making LEICA SUMMICRON front rings for it, to further improve the carbon copy look.
I am sure people would appreciate a link to that shop.
p.1 #14 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
retrofocus wrote:
This sums it up perfectly! Brings me back to hope for a Chinese branded EV-1 look-alike camera
Xpeng is going to release its humanoid robots next year. Way ahead of Tesla’s.
You don’t think ‘they’ can make a much better EV-1 that feels just like a real Leica for a fraction of the cost?
China has already shown they can do that with the lenses and I would say making an EVF camera would be much easier.
They already have all the tech, the only thing they need to do is crank out some brass bodies.
p.1 #15 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
Desmolicious wrote:
Xpeng is going to release its humanoid robots next year. Way ahead of Tesla’s.
You don’t think ‘they’ can make a much better EV-1 that feels just like a real Leica for a fraction of the cost?
China has already shown they can do that with the lenses and I would say making an EVF camera would be much easier.
They already have all the tech, the only thing they need to do is crank out some brass bodies.
+1. Voigtlander Bessa bodies were also made partially of plastic and alloy - they work fine to this day. If some company in China makes such camera for a fraction of the EV-1 cost even just with 24 MP FF sensor, I am convinced they will have a winner.
