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Lenses: Silver Vs Balck finish


piero

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I have tested 3 35 Summicron Asph, two blacks one chrome. Chrome has much better contrast and resolution, focus ring is smooth and fermier than blacks. f-stop ring clicks in place with no hesitation.

Weird.

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Brass is easier to machine to tight tolerances than aluminium alloy. Aluminium alloys tend to be slightly "sticky" to machine in comparison to brass, which is possibly the easiest to machine of all common alloys. An additional factor is that brass does not heat up to the same extent as aluminium alloy when being machined. I am guessing that the end result of this is that there may be less variation in the brass bodies used for chrome lenses than the alloy bodies used for the anodised black ones (black painted lenses may use brass bodies).

 

If you search back through threads of about 18 months ago on the problems of back focus and focus shift on the 35 ASPH Summilux, I think you will find that the majority of complaints are on black lenses. A considerable number of owners of chrome versions of the same lens, including me, said how satisfied they were with the lens. When I spoke to someone at Solms earlier this year, they did say how difficult it was to get this particular lens 100% right. It might just be that the tiny tolerances involved, favour chrome/brass rather than anodised alloy for this lens. Reading the posts on this lens, made my mind up to go for the heavier chrome 35 Lux. I have not regretted that decision.

 

Wilson

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out of the box.

not a small difference I have noticed, in terms of sharpness.

I was wondering if the assembly is done by different people.

 

Could just be the difference between any two or three examples. Yours just happened to be one chrome, two black.

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Brass is easier to machine to tight tolerances than aluminium alloy. Aluminium alloys tend to be slightly "sticky" to machine in comparison to brass, which is possibly the easiest to machine of all common alloys. An additional factor is that brass does not heat up to the same extent as aluminium alloy when being machined. I am guessing that the end result of this is that there may be less variation in the brass bodies used for chrome lenses than the alloy bodies used for the anodised black ones (black painted lenses may use brass bodies).

 

If you search back through threads of about 18 months ago on the problems of back focus and focus shift on the 35 ASPH Summilux, I think you will find that the majority of complaints are on black lenses. A considerable number of owners of chrome versions of the same lens, including me, said how satisfied they were with the lens. When I spoke to someone at Solms earlier this year, they did say how difficult it was to get this particular lens 100% right. It might just be that the tiny tolerances involved, favour chrome/brass rather than anodised alloy for this lens. Reading the posts on this lens, made my mind up to go for the heavier chrome 35 Lux. I have not regretted that decision.

 

Wilson

 

This has been my thought too... even if the "glass pack" is the same, the machining of a brass mount is safer - leading to a more constant assembly.

Besides this... I simply like chromes a lot more ...:p

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Brass can be chromed in black, like the black top cover of the original M8 ?
Yes, brass can be chromed black.

 

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