Is it a good idea to swap summilux 35 FLE with SR

[JoshuaR]

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As someone who traded my FLE for a New Steel Rim for reasons of both size and rendering, I have nothing to add to this excellent discussion except that you should consider whether a minimum focusing distance of 1 meter matters to you. You will have to lean back sometimes with the New Steel Rim.

I find that there are certain lenses I’m so happy with that I can stop trying out lenses in that focal length and just own one. In 35mm, the reissued Steel Rim is that lens. (In 28mm, it’s the Summicron ASPH v1; in 50mm, it’s the 50mm f/1.2 Noctilux reissue.) I went from owning four 35mm lenses (!) to just owning the Steel Rim reissue.

But, as @hansvons says, everyone has different requirements and many people prefer more modern renderings for perfectly good reasons.

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[Pika898]

Go for it, the size of the FLE has bothered me in the past as well. 

I’ll admit I have a love/hate relationship with steel rim though, I sold an earlier copy after I got bored of it’s rendering but picked it up again this weekend… 

[Derbyshire Man]

On 9/9/2024 at 1:37 PM, Sebastian S said:

I dare to disagree on that point, i did a veeery long research and i really wanted to save the money, but the nokton is only at first glimps similar to the preAsph summilux. There is a certain difference of the glow where the nokton looks more like a lens softness, mushy and cloudy, whereas the summilux has a dreamy but stil sharp "light spill" that is more visible on the lights, hard to describe, but after a while you can see the difference even without knowing which pic is made with which lens and i always liked the summilux ones much more

I’ve had both and I agree here. My 1977 summilux is very different in behaviour from the cv that I had.  

[aficionados]

Happy to report back that I just got the lens.

Initial impression is positive. No wobbly aperture ring (a tiniy bit play though if I shake it by holding the two tabs, but almost non existent), the focus ring is smooth with a tiny bit increasing resistance approaching inifity.

I took some pictures in door on the tripod, focus looks good, no back or front focusing either. So far so good. I need to take it out to have more test when the weather is better here.

Only complaint I have is the plastic lens cap. Why do they make it like this cheap snap-on style, why can't they use the normal pinch style that way it still can be used with a filter and/or the round hood on.

Maybe I shouldn't use a filter, in any case the steel rim looks sexy when it's naked. 😛

Edited September 11, 2024 by aficionados