Only had time for some super quick snaps this afternoon – sorry for the boring images (edited to remove most of them now )
– This lens is smaller than I expected
– Love the matte black on brass
– Very nice build quality
– Nice heft including heavy brass front and rear caps
– Aperture ring feel is great; more satisfying/solid than my new 28 Cron M close focus
– Focus feel is smooth through entire range
– Infinity lock is much less fidgety to disengage than other lenses I've used with the lock.
– Great to have the knurling in addition to the focus tab. (Not sure why Leica has completely lost their mind with their new close focus M lenses and only given us a tab with a focus ring you can't grip or use at all – they had it right with this lens 69 years ago and now are taking away focus ring functionality, but I digress).
– Very sharp at f/2
– On the SL2-S: centrally sharp at f/2 infinity until you get closer to the edges; good corner sharpness by f/5.6 and optimal corners by f/8
Completely overcast day today, so just a quick indoor shot of a lamp in my living room showing MFD of 0.7m versus MFD with macro adapter, both at f/2. These shots are taken from the same position more or less. Both are shots of the bottom decorative dangly things (lol) on the same lamp. MFD of 0.7m is the far side of the bottom of the lamp, so some of the bokeh is foreground bokeh. Macro MFD of about 0.45m is the side of the lamp closest to me. Background is about 3m away on the right and 10m away on the left.
1:1 crop screenshots are from my MPB 16" set to the default resolution of 1728 x 1117, which is one step below the maximum available screen resolution. I prefer this to using the max resolution and zooming to 2:1. Sharpening in PS was left at the default DNG import setting. White balance and exposure was matched between shots best I could. Adobe Landscape profile was used, which I rarely like to use in LRC, but it just looked best here. Minor lifting of the shadows was done just to open them up a bit.
f/2 – MFD 0.7m
crop of previous – 1:1 screenshot from PS
f/2 – MFD with macro adapter ~0.45m (subject to sensor)
Thank you for sharing these beautiful samples. I have not had the chance to compare it to the Leica yet, but when I first tried the Leica, I was amazed at how sharp it was in the center. I had expected 'old lens' sharpness, but it delivered 'modern lens' sharpness instead.
I can also say that the LLL version is very similar mechanically to the Leica.
From your samples, it seems like LLL is staying true to their approach!
Thank you for sharing these beautiful samples. I have not had the chance to compare it to the Leica yet, but when I first tried the Leica, I was amazed at how sharp it was in the center. I had expected 'old lens' sharpness, but it delivered 'modern lens' sharpness instead.
I can also say that the LLL version is very similar mechanically to the Leica.
From your samples, it seems like LLL is staying true to their approach!
Thanks, Fred! It is pretty remarkable how well Leica designed this optic!
I feel like this lens will make a great 35/50 pairing with the LLL 35mm f/2 8-Element. So far, I feel like their contrast and color signatures match up well.
highdesertmesa wrote:
Thanks, Fred! It is pretty remarkable how well Leica designed this optic!
I feel like this lens will make a great 35/50 pairing with the LLL 35mm f/2 8-Element. So far, I feel like their contrast and color signatures match up well.
Indeed, two of my favorite lenses.
I previously tested the Voigtlander 50/2.2 Color-Skopar against the Leica 50/2 Summicron 'Rigid' at infinity, just to get a sense of what to expect:
I was a bit too optimistic about getting out with this lens this weekend. Even two weeks out from the flu, our household is still not back to 100%. Took a few quick shots this evening. These were edited a bit more including some vignette removal.
f/2 infinity – roofline at center bottom is sharp fading nicely to soft corners
f/2 focused on the wall at ~5m away
f/2 macro distance ~0.45m (1:1 crop with full image in inset frame)
highdesertmesa wrote:
I feel like this lens will make a great 35/50 pairing with the LLL 35mm f/2 8-Element. So far, I feel like their contrast and color signatures match up well.
Any thoughts about how the LLL Rigid compares against the original in respect to contrast and backlight flare control? It's perhaps the only real weakness of the original, but also adds to its charm...
for what it's worth, I have an excellent copy of the original summicron 50/2 rigid, and just happened to take it out yesterday. Here are a few images from it.
rscheffler wrote:
Any thoughts about how the LLL Rigid compares against the original in respect to contrast and backlight flare control? It's perhaps the only real weakness of the original, but also adds to its charm...
I've never owned the original, so we'll have to wait for Fred's comparison. Contrast and color saturation in normal lighting is as good as any modern Leica or Voigtlander lens I've used.
I haven't tested it shooting directly into the sun, but I did noticed some fairly severe veiling flare when shooting indoors toward a brightly backlit subject (backlit by a sun-filled window) at f/2. Not bad for an optical design this old in such a severe backlit situation. I've seen worse veiling flare from the Voigtlander 35 1.5 Nokton when the sun is just outside the frame.
First shot is exposed for the subject. Quite a lot of contrast loss here.
Second shot is exposed for the highlights and recovered in post and looks a bit better.
I would like to offer to Light Lens Lab to make a reproduction of a unique rare lens Som Berthiot Flor 55mm f1.5. It is not an everyday lens but it has very artistic painterly character.
I would like to offer to Light Lens Lab to make a reproduction of a unique rare lens Som Berthiot Flor 55mm f1.5. It is not an everyday lens but it has very artistic painterly character.
The weather was perfect today, so I had the chance to test the new LLL 50/2 Rigid against the Leica 50/2 Rigid at infinity, and the results were remarkably impressive!
I will include it in the review I plan to start later today or tomorrow.
Listopad44 wrote:
Any news? Could you tell me what diameter of the filter thread will the lens have? The original appears to have a 52mm filter thread.
Got pushed back due to our Film Development Annoucement
Just picked up an LLL 50/1.2 Noctilux Titanium from a fellow FM member and received it just now. The weather is miserable here in San Clemente, but I still took it out in light rain for a quick test. Snapped three shots and really like the rendering so far. (No post-processing, just used Adobe 'Color' profile)
Focus transitions are smoother than the Leica 50/1 Noct, but this also makes the extreme field curvature more noticeable. There is definitely some CA.
The build quality is impeccable. Perfect RF alignment, and the focusing ring is buttery smooth. Unlike my Leica 50/1 Noct, even after multiple CLAs.
Surprisingly, the Titanium version is not much heavier than the Black Aluminum. I just weighed it, and it is only 473 grams (lens only).
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