I wanted to share a small side project I’ve been building called Glasschive.
Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time researching lenses online, especially Leica and M-mount glass, and I often found it surprisingly difficult to locate consistent, high-quality real-world sample images outside of traditional review sites and test charts.
The idea behind Glasschive is simple: create a clean archive of thoughtfully shot, full-resolution photographs organized by the lenses and cameras used to capture them. Less focus on technical measurements, more focus on rendering, atmosphere, color, depth, and overall character in real-world use.
There are no affiliate links, sponsored reviews, or monetized rankings. It’s simply an ongoing photography archive built out of genuine interest in cameras and lens rendering.
The site currently includes Leica, Voigtländer, Fujifilm, Contax, Thypoch, Sony (coming soon) and film photography, with contributions from a few photographers whose work I admire. There's more collaborations coming soon
I thought some people here might find it useful or enjoyable: Glasschive.com
Would genuinely love any feedback or suggestions from the FM community.
I think that this is a terrific project and will be a very nice resource for people who are interested in the specific equipment that you are showcasing.
One thing that I think might help to improve the site a little is that for each set of sample images, rather than clicking on an image to see if it full view and then having to click back out to get to the next image, having the set show up in a lightbox so that people can simply click to move forward and backward to the following or previous image would make things less cumbersome. Also, it would be helpful if the basic settings were also shown - at least the aperture value.
I really like the images that you are posting a lot. They are excellent representations of what can be achieved with specific pieces of gear.
Your site is exactly the kind of site that I typically look for when trying to find out information about lenses, in particular. Of course, I look here on FM, plus Flickr, and on reviews. You site will complement other resources very well. Thanks for putting it together.
glasschive wrote:
There are no affiliate links, sponsored reviews, or monetized rankings. It’s simply an ongoing photography archive built out of genuine interest in cameras and lens rendering.
Would genuinely love any feedback or suggestions from the FM community.
I think it's a great idea. A lot of times I search for images from a specific lens and end up on Flickr, but honestly I'm rarely satisfied because there is usually so much post processing involved that it masks the real rendering of the lens.
I would love to see a site like this, with images organized by lens as you did, and with minimal editing so people can actually analize the real differences and character of each lens, including color, contrast, rendering, and overall output.
I am also glad this isn't a profit driven site like most are today. I hope you keep it that way.
- i don't think the site properly conveys the intent. if intent is showing the capability of the lens, the photos should only have only corrections for exposure and maybe white balance.. most of these shots are overprocessed. it should also have proper EXIF.
- the photos themselves lack proper attribution and copyright is not properly embedded (some have info of photographer, some don't.. why?); for some images with credit, it's better to have it per photo..also the photos of the lenses themselves don't have any credit (did you take these photos of lenses? if not where did you get them?)
- needs proper search capabilities
- navigation leaves a lot to be desired. texts are too large, and photos are too large...it should have option to resize
dalegaspi wrote:
- i don't think the site properly conveys the intent. if intent is showing the capability of the lens, the photos should only have only corrections for exposure and maybe white balance.. most of these shots are overprocessed. it should also have proper EXIF.
- the photos themselves lack proper attribution and copyright is not properly embedded (some have info of photographer, some don't.. why?); for some images with credit, it's better to have it per photo..also the photos of the lenses themselves don't have any credit (did you take these photos of lenses? if not where did you get them?)
- needs proper search capabilities
- navigation leaves a lot to be desired. texts are too large, and photos are too large...it should have option to resize...Show more →
Thanks for the feedback. That's not the intent though. There are so many great websites/resources for what you're describing already and I wanted to approach this one a little differently as it's not a traditional review site.
I will add search etc once it's proven out a bit more and I have a lot more content.
