The TvO lens shade review

Thorsten von Overgaard, famous for his very, very, very extensive camera and lens reviews, started making exclusive lens shades for Leica lenses some time ago. I asked him if he could send me a shade for my Leica Summicron 35 ASPH to give it a try. And he did.

The shade comes in a neat little cardboard box, containing a pouch, a lens cloth, a filter adapter ring, two lens covers and the shade. Both the ring and shade are all-metal and quite sturdy. The lens covers are plastic and with no logos. The lens cloth features Thorsten’s mantra: “Always wear camera”, and I think it’s one of the best pieces of advice you could get. In fact, I recently bought an old Leica T to bring with me on my road bike.

A neat little box with a neat little lens hood.
A neat little box with a neat little lens hood.
TvO lens shade on Leica M9P
Hmm, what a beauty…

 

The lens shade attaches perfectly tight on my lens, though Thorsten recommends to use a tiny drop of glue to keep it in place. I found it stays in place without any glue. Also, in the manual Thorsten writes not to pick up the camera by the lens shade, because of the short thread and the risk of your camera dropping on the floor. I’ve done it quite a few times, without any dropping, but it’s a good idea not to make a habit of this.

The lens shade is designed to accommodate a standard E46 filter, but Thorsten included an adapter to use E39 filters as well. One lens cap is designed to fit the shade without the adapter and the other one with the adapter. Smart thinking.

tvo Lens shades Leica M9P

Of course, the main reason to buy this lens shade is for its looks. My version of the 35 Cron (the v5) has a cheap plastic lens hood that is said to be knocked off easily, but that never happened to me. It isn’t good looking though. And while the v6 has an all-metal lens hood that looks much better, it still doesn’t look as good as a vintage ventilated lens hood. Also, because of the ventilated design, you can see a bit more of your subject or scene through the viewfinder.

I once ordered a lens shade for my 35 Cron on Ali Express, for not much more than 5 or 6 euros. Compared to the 199 dollar TvO lens shade, this seems like a no brainer. But to be honest, my cheap ass Ali lens shade featured poorly fitting filter threads and it didn’t look as good as Thorsten’s does. I wouldn’t like to ruin the threads on my lens. Maybe I had a bad sample, yours may be better.

So is the TvO lens shade perfect? No, my only gripe is that there’s still too much ‘space’ between the lens and the hood. I’d prefer a design like the Leica 12452 hood, which is also included in the Summicron 35 black paint version. This hood is a clip on design and looks better in my opinion. The thing is, occasion 12452 hoods are often double the price of the TvO shade. And that’s a lot of money for a hood…

TvO lens shade review

My main gripe: too much space between lens and hood, but this is a bit nit picking.
My only gripe: too much space between lens and hood, but this is a bit nit picking.
This would be the ideal lens shade, but it is very, very costly.
This would be the ideal lens shade, but it is very, very costly.

 

You can check out the TvO lens shades here.

The Leica T is here

While everybody is queuing up for the Leica CL, I just received this lovely Leica T from Leica Store Lisse for only 600 euro, including VAT. In the search for the smallest camera possible that is compatible with M-lenses, I came across the first T.

When the Leica T was released, I never was really interested, but now that I need a camera for riding my road bike, I see why this is such a great little companion. The first few rides have been completed and I expect a review in a few weeks.

Welcome to the family.

Shot with Leica SL, 2 Broncolor Siros strobes and the Leica Elmarit-R 60/2.8 Macro.

Best of 2017 #10: John

‘One of the very few ‘family portraits’, because I always stand behind the camera. About one hour before sunset my wife and children were playing in the backyard of the farm where we stayed overnight. I noticed the long shadows, then I positioned myself in front of the sun and made this picture.’

‘I like the story behind this picture and the emotions in it… in a few years it will remind me of the fun summer holiday in Denmark 2017. With a picture like this, technical things such as sharpness, vignetting are not important.’

John, Leica M9, Voigtlander 50mm f1.7, out of the camera jpeg (cropped a little bit).

Best of 2017 #7: John

‘This picture was taken at Avoca Beach on the Central Coast of NSW,Australia on 29th January -the last day of the school summer holidays.It was very hot and teenagers were leaping off the headland into the cool ocean. It was their last free day before they were back to school the next day. I was using my Leica X Vario and I took a few shots before I struck lucky and captured the boy in mid air and the two girls framing the scene.’

John, Leica X Vario

Best of 2017 #6: Kristo

‘The photo is on Portra 160 with my Mamiya 6, while traveling California. I was at brunch at somebody’s house in Beverly Hills and while everyone else was chatting, I was exploring the morning light and the weird vibe of their tennis court.’

Kristo also included another picture. He says he is ‘notoriously bad at choices like that…’

I like them both.

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The best of 2017 #5: Steve

I took this photo of my new kitty, Kumi, with a Leica X2.   This is my best photo of 2017, because this resonates the most with my thought that photography at its best reflects who we are.  I picked up Kumi the day after my mom died, and I had to confine her to the master bedroom with the new cat tree I bought for her.  I had to use my flash, and I love how this photo captures Kumi reaching out to me and her beautiful, expressive face and eyes.