A replica of the Leica 35mm 2.0 Summicron from the 1960s was actually Light Lens Lab’s first project. This lens was also known as “eight element” because of its optical design consisting of 8 elements in 6 groups, and this is the name Light Lens Lab picked for it. Let’s have a closer look!
This lens will be reviewed on the 42mp Sony A7rII and the 24mp Leica M10.
Continue reading Review: Light Lens Lab 35mm 2.0 Eight Element
Modern Voigtländer branded lenses are made by Cosina in Japan. These are all manual focus lenses but except for the M-mount lenses they all feature electronic contacts to communicate with your camera. This is an overview of ~50 of their lenses with my opinion summarized in one sentence to give you an overview and starting point before delving into our in-depth reviews.
The one sentence reviews are a new concept I am testing here, please tell me in the comment section what you think of it.
Continue reading Lens Reviews in one Sentence – Part 1: Voigtländer
In 2022 Leica started updating some of their f/1.4 Summilux-M lenses. The first lens to receive this treatment was the Leica 35mm 1.4 Summilux-M Asph (now often referred to as “FLE MK II”). While the optical design seems to have remained mostly the same, the new lens features a different casing design and also focuses much closer. It is public knowledge: I was not a big fan of the first generation of this lens, so let’s find out if the seemingly minor update was enough to sway the scale!
Continue reading Review: Leica 35mm 1.4 Summilux-M Asph FLE MK II
Not counting special editions Cosina released ten different 50mm rangefinder lenses by now. This Voigtländer 50mm 1.1 Nokton was the first super fast one, featuring an all spherical design similar to the Leica 50mm 1.0 Noctilux. Despite its appealing f/1.1 maximum aperture, this has never been one of Cosina’s more popular lenses – which is clearly reflected by its used price, as you can often find it for ~$500. For a lens this fast that is not a bad price, reason enough to have a closer look at this lens myself.
This lens will be reviewed on the 42mp Sony A7rII and the 24mp Leica M10.
Continue reading Review: Voigtländer 50mm 1.1 Nokton – Better than its reputation?
The Zeiss ZM 21mm 4.5 C-Biogon is the widest of the three “Classic” designs in Zeiss’ ZM line up. It has long been discontinued and it wasn’t in production for a long time, so it is a bit rare and rather expensive on the used market. I always wondered how it would compare to the similarly compact yet newer Voigtländer VM 21mm 3.5 Color-Skopar and now we will finally find out.
Lens is being tested on 42mp Sony A7rII and 24mp Leica M10
