Just noticed this ... haven't had a chance to read all (yet).
Curious how this compares to the Vintage Line in Voigt's lineup. It seems to be in a similar vein to not be overly strong in its use of aspherical elements ... just a kiss enough to offer some correction / benefit, but not enough to make it fully corrected / modern looking. Which is where it seems that the Voigt Vintage line tries to land things, too.
EMH2025 wrote:
I already have E46 several screw in hoods, there are cheap black ones on amazon and other places like this one, and there are lot of other hoods available that are screw in for E46 that can be found by hunting around, easy fix, and then I can use a ND on film. The look of the supplied hood is really great but the two hoods are larger and use of filters with them is problematic. My hoods are more likely to stay home if I am using film, but digital I might well use them, they do look good.
The hood included with the Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux Steel Rim Reissue should work on the LLL since it's E46. Somehow I ended up with three of them. Leica kept sending them to me for no apparent reason.
Fred Miranda wrote:
The hood included with the Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux Steel Rim Reissue should work on the LLL since it's E46. Somehow I ended up with three of them. Leica kept sending them to me for no apparent reason.
Fred, I was thinking the same thing. You're referring to the screw on hood, not the clip on to be used w/o filter, right? The screw on variant is basically on my steel rim 100% of the time. If you have extras, it's a great solution as it's good looking and compact as hoods go. However, picking up an extra one a la carte is $270 so not a great option unless you already have one (or many in your case) lying around.
ZacP wrote:
Fred, I was thinking the same thing. You're referring to the screw on hood, not the clip on to be used w/o filter, right? The screw on variant is basically on my steel rim 100% of the time. If you have extras, it's a great solution as it's good looking and compact as hoods go. However, picking up an extra one a la carte is $270 so not a great option unless you already have one (or many in your case) lying around.
Yes, it's the screw on E46. During the initial hood design issue, Leica ended up sending me several of the revised ones. Definitely not worth buying separately, but if you own the reissue, the hood works nicely with it. It's beautifully made, ventilated, and very light. The only potential downside is that it shows "Leica Wetzlar" all over it, although some people may actually like that.
Got the chance to process all the photos I took with this lens, they can be seen here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCGh6n
There's many overlap with the unprocessed screenshots I posted before. Note while the quality is higher, the processing ranges from almost none to pretty extreme. Mild sharpening and vignette correction was done on all photos though.
Sadly the lens has now been rehomed to a wonderful new owner, but it was a joy to use.
ftllens wrote:
Got the chance to process all the photos I took with this lens, they can be seen here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCGh6n
There's many overlap with the unprocessed screenshots I posted before. Note while the quality is higher, the processing ranges from almost none to pretty extreme. Mild sharpening and vignette correction was done on all photos though.
Sadly the lens has now been rehomed to a wonderful new owner, but it was a joy to use.
Truly a spectacular set of images, not only showing the desirable optical characteristics of the LLL AA lens but demonstrating your photographic prowess in capturing such a diverse and wide range of photographic subjects of such interest. Lovely and well done. Thanks for posting a link to these!!
Interesting and nice looking images, very useful to see- thanks.
How did you find the imagery compared to the FLE, especially after you seasoned the images to your taste?
And did you shoot any images with both lenses to compare?
Finally for you would it be worth owning both lenses if budget weren’t an issue? Many thanks in advance for any thoughts…. ftllens wrote:
Got the chance to process all the photos I took with this lens, they can be seen here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCGh6n
There's many overlap with the unprocessed screenshots I posted before. Note while the quality is higher, the processing ranges from almost none to pretty extreme. Mild sharpening and vignette correction was done on all photos though.
Sadly the lens has now been rehomed to a wonderful new owner, but it was a joy to use.
DandA123 wrote:
Truly a spectacular set of images, not only showing the desirable optical characteristics of the LLL AA lens but demonstrating your photographic prowess in capturing such a diverse and wide range of photographic subjects of such interest. Lovely and well done. Thanks for posting a link to these!!
Thank you for the kind words, I tried to capture different types of situations though many ended up being environmental.
JohnKraus wrote:
Interesting and nice looking images, very useful to see- thanks.
How did you find the imagery compared to the FLE, especially after you seasoned the images to your taste?
And did you shoot any images with both lenses to compare?
Finally for you would it be worth owning both lenses if budget weren’t an issue? Many thanks in advance for any thoughts….
The LLL I prefer for portrait and more natural feeling scenary biased usage. The FLE I prefer for objects (especially near MFD) and critical scenes where you need better flare control. To me, they are same family but siblings of different generation (in terms of feel) vs fraternal twins of the same.
The LLL 11873 is the easier lens to make most scenes look more aesthetically pleasant due to how the falloff is tuned. The FLE actually requires more discipline to me because there's less gradient volume (SA tuning again) to "fill in" the frame. Something like how DoPs would choose vintage Cooke over Zeiss Supreme despite the unrestricted budget.
But I shot these on the M240 sensor, so I feel like the differences might feel more narrow in an AB test on the M10/M11/EV1s even though there would be telltale signs like the MFD clarity of the FLE and the unique flare pattern of the LLL. Though, I didn't shoot any frames side by side, there are definitely some scene situations where it would be very hard to tell a difference (something like neutral light, mid distance, no crazy flare source in frame).
I like to use camera/lenses based on pairings and the reason why I sold the LLL is solely due to the reason that the FLE I have is the M60 Edition and it felt wrong to not use it with the body. (I should add I primarily shoot and prefer 50mm, so for my case it made no sense to own 2 35 1.4s)
As for owning both, I think lenses are similar to headphones where you can get novelty compression, so it's better to rotate through them to cycle freshness. If budget isn't an issue, they are definitely unique from each other enough in both output and usage handling that it wouldn't be redundant.
I applied a small thin strip of painter's tape to the inside of the hood. It took about 3 minutes of trial and error to figure out how much was necessary. But yeah, hood rattle fixed. No biggie.
I've been thinking on the value of the lens. I think if you mainly shoot on a rangefinder - especially a film body, the LLL 11873 makes a ton of sense. My Leica 11874 from 2001 is sharper in the central portion of the frame with slightly more contrast/saturation/micro-contrast (also more coma) and less vignetting. The rendering between the two lenses is very similar, but there are differences - especially in the specular highlight rendering/shape and in flare tendencies (the way the 11874 flares and handles highlight bloom is truly wonderful...the LLL is no slouch, but it's different). The main reason that I would use the LLL 11873 on a film body is the lack of relevant focus shift. You can just use it and not worry. The 11874 has such a gobsmacking amount of focus shift (if the lens is calibrated for 1.4, it's usable at 1.4 and then again at f/5.6-16 when focusing with the rangefinder).
_jim_ wrote:
I applied a small thin strip of painter's tape to the inside of the hood. It took about 3 minutes of trial and error to figure out how much was necessary. But yeah, hood rattle fixed. No biggie.
I've been thinking on the value of the lens. I think if you mainly shoot on a rangefinder - especially a film body, the LLL 11873 makes a ton of sense. My Leica 11874 from 2001 is sharper in the central portion of the frame with slightly more contrast/saturation/micro-contrast (also more coma) and less vignetting. The rendering between the two lenses is very similar, but there are differences - especially in the specular highlight rendering/shape and in flare tendencies (the way the 11874 flares and handles highlight bloom is truly wonderful...the LLL is no slouch, but it's different). The main reason that I would use the LLL 11873 on a film body is the lack of relevant focus shift. You can just use it and not worry. The 11874 has such a gobsmacking amount of focus shift (if the lens is calibrated for 1.4, it's usable at 1.4 and then again at f/5.6-16 when focusing with the rangefinder). ...Show more →
Your characterization of Leica's 11874 mirrors my own experience. I love the lens and the way it drawers and handles highlights but that focus shift, even on digital rangefinder cameras, often was a nuisance if downright problematic. Having it calibrated for approx f2.2-2.8 didn't render focusing perfect, but it certainly helped alleviated some of the massive focus shift. It this regard (concerning focus shift), the LLL11873 certainly is superior.
I finally made it out today for the first time with this lens. Can’t believe it took me so long since it landed Monday. Took a walk around Philly with the M11-D, full-size 60MP files. No edits at all and no lens hood.
First impressions are really strong. The haptics are excellent, but more than that there’s something about how this lens draws that feels distinct across all of the frames. What really surprised me is that even stopped down, especially in the first three shots where differences usually start to disappear, it still looks and feels different from the FLE. Plenty sharp, but with a character that stands apart.
Curious what you all think.
LEICA M11-DSummilux-M 1:1.4/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/16.01/1000s1600 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11-DSummilux-M 1:1.4/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/16.01/1000s640 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11-DSummilux-M 1:1.4/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/16.01/1000s1600 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11-DSummilux-M 1:1.4/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/4.81/1000s800 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11-DSummilux-M 1:1.4/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/4.01/250s64 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11-DSummilux-M 1:1.4/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/1.41/16000s64 ISO-0.7 EV
I got mine today.
Initial quick test seems to suggest that the focus is spot on.
The serial number is 183/800. I saw lots of people having xxx/998, does that mean mine is from a completely different batch?
The hoods, both black and Ti, are kind of badly executed. It rattles like a bell on donkey's neck. I am a hood guy anyway.
The filter feels high quality too. But with the filter on, the cap doesn't stay on anymore.
The focus and aperture rings are smooth, I don't feel any resistance or inconsistence across the whole trip.
By the way, there is even a small brass soft release button included. I never use that thing anyway.
Marcus Stein wrote:
I got mine today.
Initial quick test seems to suggest that the focus is spot on.
The serial number is 183/800. I saw lots of people having xxx/998, does that mean mine is from a completely different batch?
The hoods, both black and Ti, are kind of badly executed. It rattles like a bell on donkey's neck. I am a hood guy anyway.
The filter feels high quality too. But with the filter on, the cap doesn't stay on anymore.
The focus and aperture rings are smooth, I don't feel any resistance or inconsistence across the whole trip.
By the way, there is even a small brass soft release button included. I never use that thing anyway....Show more →
Mine is 79/800.
This is pretty much a perfect modern Leica 35 f1.4. Mine focuses flawlessly from MFD to infinity. It’s surprising how easy it’s to focus with the focus tab with just the right resistance. No rattle. It’s better built than my FLE v1. I need to decide between keeping this or the steel rim. I absolutely love the steel rim glow at f1.4. Portraits look so smooth.
I think I have a shipment notification? UPS app notified me that there's a label created by, "Guangzhou Jieyida Technology", which Google AI seems to think is the company behind LLL. Timing seems correct, since I would've ordered around the end of November. Very curious to see what this lens can do!
