35 Lux Titanium vs Steel Rim Reissue?

[setuporg]

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Any thoughts on 11860 vs 11301?  I'm thinking of the color scheme, titanium works best on both silver and black bodies.

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[rcusick]

I own both.  The titanium to me is sharper.  The coating is somewhere to me between old and modern.  The build quality is also slightly better.  The titanium is 100 percent brass. 
 

The main difference with the reissue is modern coatings.  For some reason to me it does not completely work and is out of sorts with the original lens.  The lens seems too contrasty but less sharp than the original.   The one advantage of the reissue is the ability to use filters…

[ocean2059]

1 hour ago, rcusick said:

I own both.  The titanium to me is sharper.  The coating is somewhere to me between old and modern.  The build quality is also slightly better.  The titanium is 100 percent brass. 
 

The main difference with the reissue is modern coatings.  For some reason to me it does not completely work and is out of sorts with the original lens.  The lens seems too contrasty but less sharp than the original.   The one advantage of the reissue is the ability to use filters…

You comments are very interesting regarding the re-issue is being too contrasty but less sharp. I have a copy of v2 (made in Canada with 'late serial' number) and been thinking about the Ti and re-issue. My v2 copy is very good but I'm curious about latest color coating of M lenses.

Edited November 12, 2023 by ocean2059

[rcusick]

The coating on the titanium renders very similar to a 50mm summicron v4 - ie eighties and nineties coating - a bit cooler and lower contrast than modern coatings.  

Edited November 12, 2023 by rcusick

[grahamc]

Another vote for the titanium.    I briefly owned both but holding them side by side was enough to have the reissue listed as 'opened never used' 

EDIT: I should probably add some info to make this a bit more useful ..   the titanium was better built, feels more dense and jewel-like. The focus lock on the reissue feels like it fell out of a Xmas cracker compared to the mechanisms found on the older lens infinity-lock such as summicron 8e.  Also the narrower front of the titan (and other 2's of course) suits the lens much better than the E46 front of the reissue which I thought looks out of place .  Since I am extremely happy with the titan rendering ,  the reissue didn't even make it on the camera. 

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by grahamc

[lifeandmylens]

Nothing I can really add to the advice already given.   I've owned all versions of the pre asph 35 lux.  The steel rim, v2 Canada, v2 Germany, reissue and just recently the titanium.  My vote is another one for the titanium, for basically the same reasons as above.  

 

 

[jakontil]

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Great advices by all of the above, but finding one great copy here is a daunting task, long story short i keep the SR solely because i can put a filter on without the hood

i never use hood or lens cap, just filter on all my glasses hence my scenario