Light Lens Lab Elcan 50mm f2 Review

[Smudgerer]

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I guess we get what we pay for. I recently bought the LLL 35 / f2 Collapsible to use on my chrome M2 and for less than €1K with shipping, lens-hood, leather case, LTM-M adapter and a 35mm OVF, I could not be happier with the deal and the lens itself. Is it a Leica lens in build quality? Perhaps not but neither was I expecting it to be, it was however a lot better than most of the 40+ year old Summicon collapsible lenses that I had been looking at to buy for this past year where "good examples" are going for about the same price as the new LLL 35, so...............

Edited November 10, 2023 by Smudgerer

[markc2]

So given the price of the LLL Elcan, and if you were worried about quality control, what 50mm 800.00 Leica M lens would you buy?

I'm about to buy my first lens and this was up there. On their website the picture of the train in the mountains is what sold me on the lens so far. 

 

Mark

 

 

[costa43]

I think LLL are fantastic, replicating some of Leica's most 'interesting' lenses to a very good standard is a massive win for us all. I'd like to own them all but I'm hesitant until they set up a EU/UK distribution channel where things like QC can be managed and import duty/VAT can be avoided. I can live with the duty cost but if I need to send it back then it's a faff.

Edited March 7, 2024 by costa43

[Leicaboy Norway]

On 12/26/2021 at 12:14 PM, shirubadanieru said:

Thanks Adan for sure the summicron V4/V5 are far superior if you want sharpness, especially wide open.

Did you try both?

I have this lll lens and a summicron-m 50 v 5

I've shot both wide open in my living room zooming into books in the shelves a far bit away. To me when zooming in 10x on my camera they seem equally sharp... 

Maybe I'm far off but it certainly seems so.

 

Weird thing is the biggest difference for me is that the summicron is so much easier to hit focus with. But I've taken some amazing images with the lll. 

[69xchange]

Center sharpness is excellent on LLL Elcan at wide open, but corner sharpness is really bad. It’s suppose to mimic vintage lenses w/ aberrations so there’s no surprise.

[markc2]

• So how would you compare it if anyone has experience, with a 50mm Leica summicron of an older vintage, would there be more similarities than differences?
  
  I was looking at an old 50mm Leica Summarit 5cm 50mm f1.5 I am "assuming" that the LLL would be a lot more modern looking and sharper than that lens?

Edited March 11, 2024 by markc2

[shirubadanieru]

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23 hours ago, Leicaboy Norway said:

Did you try both?

I have this lll lens and a summicron-m 50 v 5

I've shot both wide open in my living room zooming into books in the shelves a far bit away. To me when zooming in 10x on my camera they seem equally sharp... 

Maybe I'm far off but it certainly seems so.

 

Weird thing is the biggest difference for me is that the summicron is so much easier to hit focus with. But I've taken some amazing images with the lll. 

I didn’t have both at the same time but I have owned and used all versions of the Summicron 50mm lenses. The v5 would be sharp across the whole frame, whereas the LLL would be sharper (but with a bit more glow in highlights) mostly in the center wide open. This behavior is similar to the Rigid Summicron (v2), which by the way is my favorite summicron from a rendering PoV. 

[shirubadanieru]

7 hours ago, markc2 said:

• So how would you compare it if anyone has experience, with a 50mm Leica summicron of an older vintage, would there be more similarities than differences?
  
  I was looking at an old 50mm Leica Summarit 5cm 50mm f1.5 I am "assuming" that the LLL would be a lot more modern looking and sharper than that lens?

Summicron Rigid 50mm is the closest to this lens in rendering. Much sharper and well behaved than the summarit 5cm f1.5 and the summicron collapsible. 

[TomB_tx]

11 hours ago, markc2 said:

• So how would you compare it if anyone has experience, with a 50mm Leica summicron of an older vintage, would there be more similarities than differences?
  
  I was looking at an old 50mm Leica Summarit 5cm 50mm f1.5 I am "assuming" that the LLL would be a lot more modern looking and sharper than that lens?

The Summarit is "clearly" a vintage looking lens - pretty soft wide open, low contrast, etc. "dreamy" images. However by f4 the image is much improved, better contrast and sharpness. Center is very good, still some softness on edges, but very usable pictures. Also the lens is VERY prone to veiling flare. especially at wide apertures: use a hood. The Summarit is a coated Xenon pre-war design that Leitz used to try an combat the Contax with its Sonnar f1.5. (I have both, and the Sonnar is quite superior wide open.) I've just been experimenting with my Summarit on M10 to verify its performance. It's just being sent of for CLA because the focus action is sticky and dry. (Reported that metal used in the helicoid was soft and sometimes needs to be honed.)

The Elcan should have general characteristics like the Summicron v3, but with fewer elements the edges would be less corrected.

[markc2]

22 minutes ago, TomB_tx said:

The Summarit is "clearly" a vintage looking lens - pretty soft wide open, low contrast, etc. "dreamy" images. However by f4 the image is much improved, better contrast and sharpness. Center is very good, still some softness on edges, but very usable pictures. Also the lens is VERY prone to veiling flare. especially at wide apertures: use a hood. The Summarit is a coated Xenon pre-war design that Leitz used to try an combat the Contax with its Sonnar f1.5. (I have both, and the Sonnar is quite superior wide open.) I've just been experimenting with my Summarit on M10 to verify its performance. It's just being sent of for CLA because the focus action is sticky and dry. (Reported that metal used in the helicoid was soft and sometimes needs to be honed.)

The Elcan should have general characteristics like the Summicron v3, but with fewer elements the edges would be less corrected.

I can get to try a Summarit 1.5 and a version 3 Summicron locally, it seems they both have some haze in them. I've been doing some more reading and it seems the V4 is a very nice version of the Summicron. 

[TomB_tx]

2 minutes ago, markc2 said:

I can get to try a Summarit 1.5 and a version 3 Summicron locally, it seems they both have some haze in them. I've been doing some more reading and it seems the V4 is a very nice version of the Summicron. 

Summicron V4 is nice. Optics are identical to the current V5 although coatings used may be different I have both v3 & v5, and most pictures can't tell which I used. v4-5 has a bit more brilliance wide open. The v3 was my most used lens for over 40 years, and once on digital I bought the v5 out of curiosity, not need. I ordered the v3 from the camera shop where I worked in college, and was expecting the then-current "Rigid" (v2), but they were just phasing in the v3. After comparing images with a v2 I kept the v3.

The V4 has the advantage of the finger tab on the focus ring, if you like that style. (I do - one reason I now use a Summarit 2.5.)