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Lenses: Silver Vs Balck finish


piero

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Yes, brass can be chromed black.

 

Like it is on this SBLOO viewer

 

[ATTACH]114680[/ATTACH]

 

Then, brass made lenses in black color are possible. Brass lenses do weigh a lot more but, why not an edition of black brass made lenses? If the brass has advantages, and the final price is the same, why they use aluminium anodized for black lenses? is it a question of weigh alone?

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Why is it? Different glasses? Do it altere the optical formula?

 

I think James might be winding us up. I personally think the Leica fairy prefers the traditional chrome finish and touches only those with her magic wand.

 

Wilson

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Why is it? Different glasses? Do it altere the optical formula?

 

Yes, it is well known that the guys at Leica love chrome lenses and select the best glass for them, they also take much more care assembling them. The black lenses are made with the 2nd grade glass and sent off to Taiwan to be assembled by Panasonic on the digicam production lines.

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

 

Yes of course,

infact the 28 'Cron Asph I had been using for the past month performes beautifully.

But is interesting to note that both black 35 had a more loose feeling overall, compared to the chrome. Not to mention sharpness and contrast.

I don't care much about having a chrome lens on a black body, or maybe I do. But looking at the results...

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I prefer the feel and the smoothness of the chrome lenses, especially those made in the late LTM and early M period. To me they are more precise in their focus accuracy on the M8. I bought a new chrome 35 1.4 Summilux Asph last year that back focused so badly I had to return it. I have a 1954 chrome 85mm f1.5 Summarex that is dead on perfect on the M8. To me it's the most beautifully constructed lens that Leica ever made. I don't think there is any difference between the current chrome and black but do feel the fast, f1.4 and faster lenses are a problem for Leica to get right.

 

Len

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....I have a 1954 chrome 85mm f1.5 Summarex that is dead on perfect on the M8. To me it's the most beautifully constructed lens that Leica ever made.

Len

 

WOW !!! Happy to hear from another what me too am intimately convinced of... (maybe 1954 was a special year, mine is of the same vintage... :) ) : my strong feel, seriously, is "I'll discuss everything BUT the Summarex !" ... when I decided which 3 M8 pics to choose when Bill Parson "Anniversary Book" project did start, I admit that one of my first thoughts was "Anyhow, one of mine MUST be a Summarex-taken pic !".

It's OOT... but, to me the only comparable lens in term of visual/tactile fascination is the Super Angulon f 4... but in terms of performances... well not comparable to THE REX.

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Guest noah_addis

Can't speak of chrome lenses, but I have two black paint lenses, a 90 AA and a 35 'cron asph. Both seem to have smoother focus and aperture rings than my normal black lenses. The focus action is particularly nice. They are heavier though.

 

I bought the BP 90 AA brand new, with factory 6-bit coding, for $200 LESS than the price the same store was charging for the standard black version.

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The placebo effect may "affect" the silver lenses. Wilson is right regarding the 35lux ASPH (but there are many good black anodized copies too), anyway, even if I much prefer the silver lenses, I never had any bad experience black anodized ones.

To see differences between lensees i guess we should do accurate tests (something like Sean use to do), with tripod and many stuffs like that.

Unless you found a lemon, I guess it's hard to determine good/bad copies of the same lens just OOTB. The tolerances are so tight that I can't see how a new lens could be a bad performer, if not for a bad quality control at Leica factory.

 

These are just my 2cents...

 

btw

my new silver 28cron ASPH performs much better than the black 28cron ASPH I used to have!:D

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P.S.

...

 

I'm just one another of those silver addicted men: matter of fact my car is silver painted too, 'cause I believed that maybe in Germany they use to make better things when they're silver!:D :D :D

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precisely what it has been done.

:)

 

In this case, I don't think the silver/brass should have somehow interfered, probably the black one you did check must have been some kind of a "lemon".

 

The leather strap is the Luigi's deluxe strap.

Luigi Crescenzi @ Leicatime in Rome... a great artisan.

And he's a gentleman too!

Piero, you could easily find him at Leicatime Luigi Crescenzi : leica cameras leica compur mp elmar 250 reporter leicavit!

ciao

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Piero, anyway, have you got some of those shots to post here to see the differences between the lenses you tested?

I remember a thread like this one started just before last summer, but no one did post any picture. It would be nice and interesting to see how much a "bad" sample of a certain lens could show up.

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