Looking through the viewfinder of the gigantic Leica camera...
The latest 35mm Summilux has been on my wanted list for so long that sometimes I feel it's just a wish that will never come true. It doesn't help that during the lens shortage of the 2011 and 2012, people were selling them at $2000 above retail. However, lately we finally started to see some transactions in the normal range and even below retail. I simply could not hold myself back any longer when I came across a deal for a never-used copy at well below retail price. So here we are... I'm now a proud owner of this fabulous lens.
Upon receipt of the lens and testing it, I quickly noticed a problem. When focusing at near distance between 0.7 and 0.8 meter, the rangefinder patch stopped moving as I turn the focus ring. Since I've never experience this with any other lens, my first thought was "Oh man... I got a lemon!" However, since I bought it from a reputable seller, I wanted to make sure the problem isn't with my camera. Since a new Leica store has recently opened in Los Angeles, I decided to take my lens and camera in to test it with their bodies and lenses. The lens worked perfectly on their demo cameras! The manager explained that perhaps my camera is just barely out of the tolerance and I should send it in for a CLA. I guess that's the price of owning a mechanical precision equipment. The shots above were taken at the Leica store.
Afterwards, we headed to The Grove for lunch and gave me a chance to take some first shots with the lens. Since the problem only happens at the nearest focus distance, I was still able to use it without problems. It wasn't after getting home and loading the files in Lightroom did I realize how incredible the images were. The sharpness, the colors, the contrast... all perfect! As part of my workflow, I usually like to click on the "Auto" adjustment and see whether it improves the image, and with this lens, I almost always prefer the image straight out of the camera, that is just amazing. I get the same feeling that I get when I shoot with the 50'Lux... "Magic!"
Here are some more shots from today... and in case you're wondering, the f-stop number is wrong because I added a 0.6 (2-stop) ND filter.
Here are some more shots from today... and in case you're wondering, the f-stop number is wrong because I added a 0.6 (2-stop) ND filter.
RSS Feed
