Quick question re chrome / silver lenses

[Big John]

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Hi all,

 

Don't worry, this is not going to be a 'should I get chrome or black lens, which is harder wearing, which shows finger prints......'. Am deciding between silver/chrome and black 35mm lens, initially to use with SL but will probably get an M10 later in the year.

 

Question is whether the colour of the silver/chromes is standard across Leica - i.e. do the silver/chrome lenses match the chrome M10?

 

Thanks.

[luigi bertolotti]

By personal experience, modern (*) silver M lenses do match fine my silver M240... don't think that for M10 is different...

 

(*) in the sense that things are a bit different for some of my old lenses.... but some are really OLD...  , as an example, my Summilux 50 of 1961 matches fine... so as the Tele Elmarit 90 of 1964... Summaron 35 (1958), Elmar 50 RS (1953) are a bit more on the "gray" side... 

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[mdg1371]

The chrome on brass match fine, I have no experience with the anodized ones, but I would be highly surprised if they didn't..

[Paulus]

Hi all,

 

Don't worry, this is not going to be a 'should I get chrome or black lens, which is harder wearing, which shows finger prints......'. Am deciding between silver/chrome and black 35mm lens, initially to use with SL but will probably get an M10 later in the year.

 

Question is whether the colour of the silver/chromes is standard across Leica - i.e. do the silver/chrome lenses match the chrome M10?

 

Thanks.

 

No , there are differences. New lenses and new bodies are different from the old.

[Jeff S]

Bodies differ; the silver on my M10 is lighter/brighter than on my M8.2. I stick with black lenses, but have had black and silver M bodies over the years.

 

Jeff

[michaelwj]

Hi all,

 

Question is whether the colour of the silver/chromes is standard across Leica - i.e. do the silver/chrome lenses match the chrome M10?

 

Thanks.

 

 

On the other hand, the black lenses are not the same black as the bodies...

[M11 for me]

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Be aware that the silver/chrom are heavier than the black ones. 

 

I have a 50mm Lux in silver and it is exactly the same colour than the M10 in silver.

[gpwhite]

I think this is why Leica offered the Lenny Kravitz set.

Nothing matched anything

[Big John]

Thanks all. Looking at 35mm cron and black and silver chrome are same weight.

[luigi bertolotti]

Thanks all. Looking at 35mm cron and black and silver chrome are same weight.

 

Official Leica doc declares 255g for the black and 340g for the chrome.

 

And 335g/460g for same variants of the Summilux 50 asph ... I  like a lot chrome lenses... but as for my  Elmarit M 90 I confess that I should have thought better on the weight factor before taking it (in chrome) : 560g vs. 410g isn't a little difference...    .

 

The problem of weight arises not from the surface finishing in itself, but from the underlying metal : aluminium for black, brass for chromes.  This is not true for all Leica lenses : some silver finished lenses have the same weight of the black counterparts , being made with the same metal base (Summarits, for instance, and the Summicron 28, too)

Edited May 8, 2017 by luigi bertolotti

[Budfox]

The Chromes are definitely heavier, though I have seen some Leica specs that don't report the difference.

[michaelwj]

Newer chrome ones aren't brass and so weigh the same. They're silver anodised aluminium.

[Budfox]

The only way to know is either:

 

- buy both, weigh and home, return the heavier one; or

- scrap off a piece of metal from an inconspicuous part of a store sample lens and send to a metallurgist for testing.

[luigi bertolotti]

The only way to know is either:

 

- buy both, weigh and home, return the heavier one; or

- scrap off a piece of metal from an inconspicuous part of a store sample lens and send to a metallurgist for testing.

THAT'S THE WAY !!!

[luigi bertolotti]

Newer chrome ones aren't brass and so weigh the same. They're silver anodised aluminium.

... Jokes apart... it's exactly like this : I think that the last-introduced standard-listed chrome lenses  made with brass have been the Summilux asph (still made like this) and the Macro Elmar 90 1st version (no more made)

Edited May 11, 2017 by luigi bertolotti

[Stein K S]

Hi

 

I have a number of silver lenses (6 to be exact) all produced between 1996 and 2008). And one clear observation is that they differ quite a bit in the way they "shine". However, in comparison my M6 from 1998 is by far the most shiny looking piece of chrome.

 

That said; they all fit soooo nice still

 

PS: the new M10 seems to be in the " matte" end of chrome variants and more simular to my never chrome lenses...

Edited May 12, 2017 by Stein K S