If Light Lens Lab really did reproduce the four-element design of the original Canadian-made Elcan, no one should be surprised that it has less optical correction than the six-element Summicron. That's what the extra elements are for! Still, it's interesting actually to SEE how much difference there is, so thanks for doing the comparison… now people know what they're giving up to get the Elcan's compact size.
Thanks James, I was surprised there was so much of a difference despite the older design. Some low element count lenses are well regarded like the 50mm Heliar.
I have both lenses also. I was more than impressed with the sharpness of the ELCAN even close to the corners (IE the centre of a quarter frame crop if that makes sense) It resolves more than well enough on the M9 monochrome for me and the size is great for it. Both are designed in the 70s I believe. Leica only updated the summicron lens formula when introducing the APO. The v5 “recipe” will be a classic for generations. Amazing how it handles high resolution digital sensors when it was designed for film
nice video, I changed my Summicron V5 to the apo Summicron 5 years ago. I wouldn’t do that again. The Summicron V5 is an underestimate lens, and it’s very small and light.
@@johnkasianowicz6536 I was buying the apo, cause a lot of photographers said that the app is the best 50 all time and so I wanted try it. But for me the look of the apo is one step to clean in comparison to the Summicron. For my M10R my favorite 50 is a 1973 Summilux. The apo works well for film.
Totally agreed that Summicron 50mm V5 is an excellent lens which delivers excellent pictures. However, the Apo verson produces ultimate quality but without Leica taste. People loves Leica because of its character not chasing highest quality.
Good video Matt Man that Summicron is great, even with the YT compression and what not, the images are beautiful (but you edit them) , it still a great Lens The LLL has so many flaws and the images (what people call these dreamy ) are not to my personal satisfaction. One can say it is a matter of price but if a lens, no matter how cheap, does not fulfil your own standard, every dollar/euro/pound is a waist of money. Again, good viedo and thanks for sharing
Actually, the comparison is good to know. Although, different lenses with different strengths do go hand-in hand when shooting for different purposes. I bought my v5 Cron three years ago when I got back into street photography. I love it..
Its funny. I do not even own a Leica camera nor probably will never own one. But I like these lenses. Fell in love with a Voightlander 35mm Nokton f1.4 for my Sony and just am fascinated by these Leica lenses. Another great video Matt. Thanks for doing these man.
Thanks, yes I’m toying with Nikon F cameras currently and you just don’t appreciate the little RF lenses until you look at other systems. Maybe an excuse for a video :)
If we lived in the same town I would loan you my Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS for testing. Alas I am in Calgary Alberta. So no dice. But highly recommend vintage Nikon lenses. AIS is good but AI and nonAI are fairly good as well for vintage. @@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom
A pleasant surprise to find you today. And thanks for the rigorous testing of these two lenses. I had been on the fence about the Elcan. And then I regretted being late to buying and missing out. But I see from your work that my retros will cover the retro look and while we may disagree slightly on the Skyllaney Bertele I am quite happy with mine. Another succinct review on your part. Thank you. Ooops, I see the Elcan is still available.
You are once again eerily spot-on with your timing of this, for me. I was looking at these very same lenses for my M10. I think either would have been great but I ended up with a very nice, apparently gently-used Summicron 50 mm v5 that had a recent CLA. The Elcan, with four elements in four groups, is quite optically different than the Summicron, with six elements in four groups, so, as you say near the end, it's not really intended to be a Summicron clone, but of an interesting lens that Leica made for the US military. (I do have a deposit down on the LLL 1966.)
Nice review Matt. It looks like the LLL Elcan 50 mm f/2 likely has a bit of spherical aberration (which I think can produce glow). How does its edge sharpness compare to that of the Summilux ASPH. The latter design is reasonably sharp at the center with a smooth, progressive out of focus transition towards the edges.
Just a brief ergonomic note - from your photos of the Light Lens Lab lens, it appears that the aperture ring rotates in the opposite direction to the Leica lens. When metering in the viewfinder, you need to remember to move the aperture ring in the opposite direction from the meter arrow LED. A minor inconvenience but distracting if switching between the LLL lens and Leitz (&Voightlander) lenses.
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom 1) 50g lighter because of the removable hood (in most cases and with most people you just slap on a hood and that's all but I prefer having a b+w 010 filter instead. Flare will happen so I don't care for the hood.), 2) slimmer than v5, 3) tab (personally I think you just have to shoot Leica with a tab) Even if you've never tried it, you know optically they're the same so that's that, but it's the experience of using the lens that's I think more better than v5.
Great comparison! Would love to see how the 50 cron compares to the 50 lux! And maybe also to the Voigtlander 50 apo? I’m guessing the CV Apo will be the sharpest, but by how much..? 😁
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom Matt, thanks for the tip. What is your thought on the Voigtlander Nokton 50mm F1.5 II? I guess I am looking for a lens that is sharp enough, but with character, which is my main purpose of using a Leica. As my photography style is modern/abstract/narrative. Cheers.
You really need to try the collapsable modern 50mm Elmar M f2.8. the one from the mid 2000s. Its a fantastic lens that I would say is on par with the summicron.
Great video. Thank you for posting. Would it be possible for you to include the 50mm Canon f1.4 LTM lens in your comparisons - head to head with the Leica lenses with sharpness, contrast, rendering investigation like you did here? Cheers from Canada
The v5 optical design is from 1979, so not so sure it can be labeled as modern : p it is just that good! Elcan is great but annoying aperture that goes in opposite direction.
It did on the original Elcan, too, of course. I wonder why? I'm guessing some sort of design compromise, with Leica going for something simple and robust for the military.
Elcan look really great... Actually for 50mm I m using the old Zeiss Sonnar f1,5 LTM which is smaller than the 50 summicron but focus @1m and soft rendering... a very good lens with some flair and some "character" 🙂 - love the oe @7;24... 🙂
So what did you decide to keep? I get the impression this was a thinking out process for you, sharing with us. The Midland Canada Elcan was an alternative - not a Summicron - special ordered and exclusively designed/made for the US Military and to be included with the M4 KE-7A camera in that government order. The most important design feature [I believe I remember] for the Military was compactness, and lower cost! Seems strange that a government contracted lens would have a cost saving factor, but that is what I heard. We have so many great M-series mount lenses to choose from these days, so I can only imagine that Light Lens Lab wanted to make a reproduction of an unusual rare lens [as they seem to do] for hopefully sales. I do not know what glass types were used in the original, but modern lens coatings should make it better in contrast/flare than the original. It still will be behind in general imagine quality to the Summicron, as that has always been the ‘beard and butter’ of Leitz design. If compactness is the desired main feature I’d probably go with the newest M-Elmar with its collapsible mount, even if it is only an f2/8 speed, but is very sharp across the frame and good contrast. For me, the v3 Summicron is still compact, very good optically ‘Classic’ with flat field, very well build, focuses to .7m without the DR eyes, and because it is overlooked a Leica good value lens.
If the Chinese have faithfully copied the optical design of the Elcan, then the results are not surprising. Erwin Puts speaks very highly of the Summicron V5 calling it a modern classic and the best Summicron without paying the eye watering prices of Leicas ASPH or APO lenses. Elcan is a much older formula than the 1994 design of the Summicron. Modern OPtical formulas also take into account of the availabilty of image editting software and the eir ability to bring out every single detail out of the recorded medium. I think it is safe to say that Elcan was designed with Film in mind as theer was no news of digital back then.
Hi Matt, sell Summicron Version 5 and get version 4. No lens hood integrated but with focus tab and a Little smaller. And a Summicron does Not Need a lens hood.
I can't get myself to find interest in anything LLL. They're just too expensive for what they offer. I'd rather buy a Voigtländer lens for "character" or just stick with Leica. Thypoch on the other hand has my interest. They're not copying anyone, what they are doing is unique and they try to go high value proposition, with the product and the brand marketing.
The Summicron V is a real classic, almost a Monument of lens design . The LLL is not bad either, but a complete different approach to photography. I wish I could get a Summicron with the build quality of the LLL 😂
I enjoy your reviews of the Chinese made lenses and they bring a great value for money spent. But so far I just can't seem to bring myself to purchase one...however to each their own. Something about Chinese coming to Western nations and telling us what to do. However I do own a number of Voigtlander lenses and that probably would chap a ww2 vet off.
What a ridiculous video. If you're calling it a 'copy,' the least you could do is compare it to what it's actually imitating-the original Elcan, which can cost around $30,000 if you're lucky enough to find one at auction. The 4-element Elcan lens has a completely different design than the Summicron. By comparing the two, you're essentially comparing a chicken to a duck!
How are these results shoking?? Click bate?? As you also mention the elcan is a fairly good copy of the original which is an older (vintage) lens. Sharpness increasing over the years is kind of given... So the old lens is softer. That's why you buy this... again why do you find the results "shocking" 🤷🏻♂️
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If Light Lens Lab really did reproduce the four-element design of the original Canadian-made Elcan, no one should be surprised that it has less optical correction than the six-element Summicron. That's what the extra elements are for! Still, it's interesting actually to SEE how much difference there is, so thanks for doing the comparison… now people know what they're giving up to get the Elcan's compact size.
Thanks James, I was surprised there was so much of a difference despite the older design. Some low element count lenses are well regarded like the 50mm Heliar.
I have both lenses also. I was more than impressed with the sharpness of the ELCAN even close to the corners (IE the centre of a quarter frame crop if that makes sense)
It resolves more than well enough on the M9 monochrome for me and the size is great for it.
Both are designed in the 70s I believe. Leica only updated the summicron lens formula when introducing the APO. The v5 “recipe” will be a classic for generations. Amazing how it handles high resolution digital sensors when it was designed for film
Thanks Paul, yes I love the small size of the Elcan too! That said I was surprised how sharp the v5 was!
nice video,
I changed my Summicron V5 to the apo Summicron 5 years ago. I wouldn’t do that again. The Summicron V5 is an underestimate lens, and it’s very small and light.
Did you find the APO version objectionable, or just that the non APO one was sufficiently good to not warrant paying a lot more for the APO?
Thanks! Yes I have the Voigtlander APO 50 but the Cron is smaller.. maybe a video to do
@@johnkasianowicz6536 I was buying the apo, cause a lot of photographers said that the app is the best 50 all time and so I wanted try it. But for me the look of the apo is one step to clean in comparison to the Summicron. For my M10R my favorite 50 is a 1973 Summilux. The apo works well for film.
Totally agreed that Summicron 50mm V5 is an excellent lens which delivers excellent pictures. However, the Apo verson produces ultimate quality but without Leica taste. People loves Leica because of its character not chasing highest quality.
Good video Matt
Man that Summicron is great, even with the YT compression and what not, the images are beautiful (but you edit them) , it still a great Lens
The LLL has so many flaws and the images (what people call these dreamy ) are not to my personal satisfaction.
One can say it is a matter of price but if a lens, no matter how cheap, does not fulfil your own standard, every dollar/euro/pound is a waist of money.
Again, good viedo and thanks for sharing
Thanks Rob, all comparison photos were RAWs so it’s that good out of camera!
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom wow . Good job
Actually, the comparison is good to know. Although, different lenses with different strengths do go hand-in hand when shooting for different purposes. I bought my v5 Cron three years ago when I got back into street photography. I love it..
Thanks, yes it’s great to know for when I need sharpness across the frame.
Its funny. I do not even own a Leica camera nor probably will never own one. But I like these lenses. Fell in love with a Voightlander 35mm Nokton f1.4 for my Sony and just am fascinated by these Leica lenses. Another great video Matt. Thanks for doing these man.
Thanks, yes I’m toying with Nikon F cameras currently and you just don’t appreciate the little RF lenses until you look at other systems. Maybe an excuse for a video :)
If we lived in the same town I would loan you my Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS for testing. Alas I am in Calgary Alberta. So no dice. But highly recommend vintage Nikon lenses. AIS is good but AI and nonAI are fairly good as well for vintage. @@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom
A pleasant surprise to find you today. And thanks for the rigorous testing of these two lenses. I had been on the fence about the Elcan. And then I regretted being late to buying and missing out. But I see from your work that my retros will cover the retro look and while we may disagree slightly on the Skyllaney Bertele I am quite happy with mine. Another succinct review on your part. Thank you.
Ooops, I see the Elcan is still available.
Thanks Sandy, the Bertele is great there are just cheaper options. Yes Elcan back in stock. I got the LTM when they did!
You are once again eerily spot-on with your timing of this, for me. I was looking at these very same lenses for my M10. I think either would have been great but I ended up with a very nice, apparently gently-used Summicron 50 mm v5 that had a recent CLA. The Elcan, with four elements in four groups, is quite optically different than the Summicron, with six elements in four groups, so, as you say near the end, it's not really intended to be a Summicron clone, but of an interesting lens that Leica made for the US military.
(I do have a deposit down on the LLL 1966.)
Thanks! Yes both great!
Nice!!
Nice review Matt.
It looks like the LLL Elcan 50 mm f/2 likely has a bit of spherical aberration (which I think can produce glow). How does its edge sharpness compare to that of the Summilux ASPH. The latter design is reasonably sharp at the center with a smooth, progressive out of focus transition towards the edges.
Thanks John, the Cron is smoother vs the Lux for me and the Elcan looks like a vintage Cron which makes sense.
Just a brief ergonomic note - from your photos of the Light Lens Lab lens, it appears that the aperture ring rotates in the opposite direction to the Leica lens. When metering in the viewfinder, you need to remember to move the aperture ring in the opposite direction from the meter arrow LED. A minor inconvenience but distracting if switching between
the LLL lens and Leitz (&Voightlander) lenses.
Thanks, yes great spot. Correct! I don’t change the aperture too much when rushing so it’s fine for me.
Gotta love this content! I love my LLL Elcan it is an amazing portrait lens.
Thanks, yes I love the Elcan too!
I'd go with the v4 Summicron for all the reasons over the v5.
Thanks, I’ve not tried the v4 yet
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaComOptically the same as the v5. Some people prefer the v4 focus tab.
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom
1) 50g lighter because of the removable hood (in most cases and with most people you just slap on a hood and that's all but I prefer having a b+w 010 filter instead. Flare will happen so I don't care for the hood.),
2) slimmer than v5,
3) tab (personally I think you just have to shoot Leica with a tab)
Even if you've never tried it, you know optically they're the same so that's that, but it's the experience of using the lens that's I think more better than v5.
Great comparison! Would love to see how the 50 cron compares to the 50 lux! And maybe also to the Voigtlander 50 apo? I’m guessing the CV Apo will be the sharpest, but by how much..? 😁
Thanks Hidde! Yes good call vs. APO. Added to the list!
have you tryed Olympus epl7 or ep5?? hats your opinion about it??
Sorry i've not, only old Oly film cameras. ..( did do a M43 video with one Oly but I forget which one)
Matt, I would assume the Summicron can do justice on the M11-P with it's 60 MP resolution? I am opting not to consider the APO because of the price.
The v5 is sharp yes but if you want performance get the Voigtlander APO if on a budget. That’s what I got for my sharpest 50.
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom Matt, thanks for the tip. What is your thought on the Voigtlander Nokton 50mm F1.5 II? I guess I am looking for a lens that is sharp enough, but with character, which is my main purpose of using a Leica. As my photography style is modern/abstract/narrative. Cheers.
You really need to try the collapsable modern 50mm Elmar M f2.8. the one from the mid 2000s. Its a fantastic lens that I would say is on par with the summicron.
Thanks Robert, interesting! I have the older 2.8
Great video. Thank you for posting. Would it be possible for you to include the 50mm Canon f1.4 LTM lens in your comparisons - head to head with the Leica lenses with sharpness, contrast, rendering investigation like you did here? Cheers from Canada
Thanks! I’m not sure when but I’ll add it to the list for you!
The v5 optical design is from 1979, so not so sure it can be labeled as modern : p it is just that good! Elcan is great but annoying aperture that goes in opposite direction.
It did on the original Elcan, too, of course. I wonder why? I'm guessing some sort of design compromise, with Leica going for something simple and robust for the military.
Thanks! Haha maybe I’m getting old, it feels modern haha, yes to aperture for those that don’t like that.
Elcan look really great... Actually for 50mm I m using the old Zeiss Sonnar f1,5 LTM which is smaller than the 50 summicron but focus @1m and soft rendering...
a very good lens with some flair and some "character" 🙂 - love the oe @7;24... 🙂
Yes! I use the Sonnar too as you know but with adapter on mine it’s bigger and 0.7m is useful. Sonnar sharper at f2.
Couldn’t you tell me couple of hours earlier now I’m stuck with the Elcan in Lisbon 😂
Lol, still great, at f8 it’s basically the same sharpness.
Matt: Any comments concerning the multiple sites which document M11 freezing? I'm totally unsure now whether to commit to a M11.😢
I totally believe it. All Leica M freeze now and again. My M10 has and M240. Just drop the battery out and carry on.
I have the LLL but the things that bugs me most about m is that aperture ring turns in the opposite direction than regular Leica lenses.
Ah yes others notice this but I never do somehow.
So what did you decide to keep? I get the impression this was a thinking out process for you, sharing with us. The Midland Canada Elcan was an alternative - not a Summicron - special ordered and exclusively designed/made for the US Military and to be included with the M4 KE-7A camera in that government order. The most important design feature [I believe I remember] for the Military was compactness, and lower cost! Seems strange that a government contracted lens would have a cost saving factor, but that is what I heard. We have so many great M-series mount lenses to choose from these days, so I can only imagine that Light Lens Lab wanted to make a reproduction of an unusual rare lens [as they seem to do] for hopefully sales. I do not know what glass types were used in the original, but modern lens coatings should make it better in contrast/flare than the original. It still will be behind in general imagine quality to the Summicron, as that has always been the ‘beard and butter’ of Leitz design. If compactness is the desired main feature I’d probably go with the newest M-Elmar with its collapsible mount, even if it is only an f2/8 speed, but is very sharp across the frame and good contrast. For me, the v3 Summicron is still compact, very good optically ‘Classic’ with flat field, very well build, focuses to .7m without the DR eyes, and because it is overlooked a Leica good value lens.
Thanks, I’ll keep both. Elcan most the time, Cron for street I think (especially if at
Summicron vs 7Artisans 50mm f/1.1 for your style of shooting?
Thanks. Wow that would be apples vs potatoes haha. Even more different than this video. I’ll note it though and I do want to do 7A vs TTA 0.95.
If the Chinese have faithfully copied the optical design of the Elcan, then the results are not surprising. Erwin Puts speaks very highly of the Summicron V5 calling it a modern classic and the best Summicron without paying the eye watering prices of Leicas ASPH or APO lenses. Elcan is a much older formula than the 1994 design of the Summicron. Modern OPtical formulas also take into account of the availabilty of image editting software and the eir ability to bring out every single detail out of the recorded medium. I think it is safe to say that Elcan was designed with Film in mind as theer was no news of digital back then.
Thanks, yes all great points!
LLL Elcan or Voigtlander 50mm f1.5 v2?
Elcan for me. I skipped the Nokton 1.5 (see video)
Hi Matt, sell Summicron Version 5 and get version 4. No lens hood integrated but with focus tab and a Little smaller. And a Summicron does Not Need a lens hood.
Thanks Kurt , great shout, I’ll check it.
The 50mm Summicron v5 is my all time fa lens. Stays on my Monochrom 90% of the time.
Great! It performer better than expected for me. Impressive!
I can't get myself to find interest in anything LLL. They're just too expensive for what they offer. I'd rather buy a Voigtländer lens for "character" or just stick with Leica.
Thypoch on the other hand has my interest. They're not copying anyone, what they are doing is unique and they try to go high value proposition, with the product and the brand marketing.
Yes fair point. I only judge lenses on performance and I like LLL and Voigtlander for their size.
😊
Thanks!
The Summicron V is a real classic, almost a Monument of lens design . The LLL is not bad either, but a complete different approach to photography. I wish I could get a Summicron with the build quality of the LLL 😂
Get the cron in silver (brass)
Thanks Steve, I think this recent copy of the v5 is much better than my first copy. Love the Elcan size though!
It always amazes me how bitingly sharp my old Summicron is. It still beats a whole lot of brand new lenses, even though its older than me!
Yes the old DR is sharp too, just lower contrast. Good lenses!
Love your content,extremely informative but please upgrade your microphone.
Sorry it’s a good mic but I was in a corner handling the lenses so it sounded like a cupboard for most of it. Apologies.
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom Thankyou for such videos:)
I enjoy your reviews of the Chinese made lenses and they bring a great value for money spent. But so far I just can't seem to bring myself to purchase one...however to each their own. Something about Chinese coming to Western nations and telling us what to do. However I do own a number of Voigtlander lenses and that probably would chap a ww2 vet off.
And so, probably, would a Leica. :)
It’s over for Japan and Germany. Cameras are Chinese now
Thanks, yes Voigtlander are great too. You know I use those a lot too.
What a ridiculous video. If you're calling it a 'copy,' the least you could do is compare it to what it's actually imitating-the original Elcan, which can cost around $30,000 if you're lucky enough to find one at auction. The 4-element Elcan lens has a completely different design than the Summicron. By comparing the two, you're essentially comparing a chicken to a duck!
@@vinnietius thanks for your thoughts. The title does explain was the video is about and yes sorry I didn’t have £30K spare to find the original.
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom thanks for the effort!
How are these results shoking?? Click bate?? As you also mention the elcan is a fairly good copy of the original which is an older (vintage) lens. Sharpness increasing over the years is kind of given... So the old lens is softer. That's why you buy this... again why do you find the results "shocking" 🤷🏻♂️
Such an unhelpful comment 😂
Fair question, no not click bait. I was genuinely amazed at the difference as I’ve never noticed the ‘flaws’ on the Elcan.
What a surprise (not)!
@@AlexanderJBerg Yes that's true 😂