What is the Leica's supplier of the new UVa II Filters: HOYA or MARUMI?

[wizard]

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vor 23 Minuten schrieb jdlaing:

They made the glass block that Leica used to make the elements.

I was told that HOYA made the lens element, not just the glass block, using a special production technique. And it was due to that special production technique, which was not available, or at least not fully available to the other company, that the alternative source lens elements did not perform as well as the original ones from HOYA. It might be that the final coating process was done by Leica, but HOYA was mentioned to me as the supplier of the lens element.

[lct]

33 minutes ago, frame-it said:

the box is made in Germany

Leica has two box suppliers then 

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Edited September 4, 2019 by lct

[jaapv]

39 minutes ago, wizard said:

I was told that HOYA made the lens element, not just the glass block, using a special production technique. And it was due to that special production technique, which was not available, or at least not fully available to the other company, that the alternative source lens elements did not perform as well as the original ones from HOYA. It might be that the final coating process was done by Leica, but HOYA was mentioned to me as the supplier of the lens element.

Correct Leica ( and not just Leica) uses pre-pressed blanks. Leica does the precision grinding and polishing, centering, coating and assembly.

 

I think you are referring to the WATE. Hoya stopped supplying the blanks, as they took the glass from the catalog. Leica sourced another supplier, who was unable to meet the tolerances. As these elements - it was the front one-ere a. extremely expensive and b. no more available, Leica had to discontinue the lens.

[Jeff S]

It’s difficult to know, without insider information, the specifics of glass used, even individual elements, within a Leica lens.  Timing can sometimes be critical as well, as Karbe describes in an old Shutterbug interview regarding the development of the current 50 M Summilux ASPH.  An excerpt...

“For example, the glass I chose for lens element 3 is of crucial importance in minimizing the secondary color aberration. This glass, formerly made at the Leitz glass laboratory, was for a long time offered by another supplier who had taken over its production. But they had stopped making it, so I had to “encourage” another German glassmaker to literally reinvent this glass type. Today this glass is extremely expensive. Indeed, the material for this lens element alone costs as much as the glass used in all the other lens elements of the Summilux 50mm f/1.4 ASPH! In short, optical design software, as useful as it can be, will not help in choosing the appropriate glass types, especially those used to minimize secondary chromatic aberration.”
Read more at https://www.shutterbug.com/content/leica-lens-saga-interview-peter-karbe-page-2#UG8U5ZRmR1dxAt4x.99

Jeff

[jdlaing]

1 hour ago, wizard said:

I was told that HOYA made the lens element, not just the glass block, using a special production technique. And it was due to that special production technique, which was not available, or at least not fully available to the other company, that the alternative source lens elements did not perform as well as the original ones from HOYA. It might be that the final coating process was done by Leica, but HOYA was mentioned to me as the supplier of the lens element.

It was the glass formula that was the issue.

[250swb]

The first question to ask is 'why buy Leica filters anyway?' They are made by another company so go direct and buy them cheaper, and there isn't much difference between the high end filters anyway nowadays, and who knows they may actually be better than Leica's specification? But it was Marumi who made the IR filters which seemed to go down well, in the sense you didn't have much of a choice. But I have a couple of Marumi UV filters and there is just something about them, they the most beautiful looking pieces of glass which I know is a strange thing to say about a bit of clear glass.

[lct]

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I don't use filters generally but i used to and still do with my M8.2 for IR cutting. Besides better flare resistance compared to cheaper ones (Rocolax in my case), i did not see significant differences actually but Leica filters have an internal filter thread allowing to stack other filters or a screw-in hood on them. Here on a 90/4 macro together with a rubber hood for Elmar-C 90/4. Also the glass of some Leica filters can be replaced manually w/o damaging the filter mount (pic). Otherwise some Leica lenses or hoods need special filters like those of the 50/1.4 v2, let alone Series 5.5 or 7 that can be difficult to find elsewhere. FWIW.

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Edited September 5, 2019 by lct

[pedaes]

1 hour ago, 250swb said:

The first question to ask is 'why buy Leica filters anyway?' 

They make them in silver to match silver lenses.. Agree that if that is not a consideration, B+W and the other top makes will save you money. 

Edited September 5, 2019 by pedaes

[jaapv]

With the UV/IR filters the B+W 486 are superior, as they have better coatings and a more precise transmission spectrum. The only other filters we need for digital cameras (except the Monochroms) are protection filters, which Leica doesn't even supply. The B+W 007 and Heliopan Protective are superior quality. Not only have they extra-thin glass and sit closer to the front element to reduce aberrations, the glass is high-impact resistant and multi-Nano coated, which is scratch resistant and easy to clean - even dirt-repellent.

The only reason to use Leica filters - which are certainly not bad, but equally certainly not the best- is to match the style of the lens. Leica's filter offerings are limited anyway, mostly UV and the occasional polarisation filter, in the most current Leica lens sizes.

 

[lct]

Lensrentals doesn't seem to agree here: https://tinyurl.com/y3966lvp

[jaapv]

Yes. Nice. Roger produces excellent articles.

Light transmission is completely irrelevant when it is in the 99%+ range (as Roger says himself) The glass in the lens itself absorbs considerably more, resulting in sometimes half a stop difference between the T-stop and the f-stop.

He does address distortion, which is important, but not the position of the filter (closer to the lens) and reflections or flare-resistance.

The thing that should have been tested for protective filters is the impact-resistance and coating quality. A clean nano-coating will produce far less flare than an imperfectly-cleaned standard coating.

[pedaes]

2 minutes ago, jaapv said:

 

. A clean nano-coating will produce far less flare than an imperfectly-cleaned standard coating.

Or vice-versa

[jaapv]

Yes - but the point is that a nanocoated filter will pick up far less dirt and is easier to keep perfectly clean - especially in the field.