LOMO Atoll Ultra-Wide 2.8/17

Review and Photo example the Atoll Ultra-Wide 2.8/17 (Lomography).

Gallery

Sample photos taken with the LEICA M-P typ240

Review

Atoll Ultra-Wide 17mm F2.8 is an original designed 17mm wide-angle lens manufactured in China by LOMO (Lomography).
Since the lens type is retrofocus, the lens barrel is large, but the distortion and peripheral light falloff are the same or better corrected than the Distagon-M 18mm and Super Elmar-M 18mm that I used previously. I don’t know if it was designed by LOMO or some Chinese manufacturer, but I feel that the lens has a high degree of perfection.
However, when shooting straight objects at certain shooting distances, you may notice strange waviness that appears to be at the limit of the correction. Even if you use image processing software to correct suspicious undulations, it cannot be corrected by simple distortion correction, and you will need to create a dedicated profile. I don’t know all the software, but I have never seen the profile of this lens in commercially available software.

As for operability, I think it’s a design issue, but since the diameter of the aperture ring is larger than the focus ring, your finger naturally rests on the aperture ring when operating the focus ring. And sometimes, when you think you’re turning the focus ring, you’re actually turning the aperture ring. Also, since the aperture doesn’t have a click stop, the depth of field becomes deep and it looks like it’s in focus, so I sometimes made a mistake and didn’t notice it.
Every time I make a mistake, I think it would be better if the focus ring and aperture ring were reversed. I think it’s a matter of awareness during operation or getting used to it, but if you’re not very conscious of it, you’ll make mistakes and you’ll never get used to it.
Since the aperture is almost always fixed at F5.6, I feel that there is no need for the aperture ring to be in such a prominent place.

It comes with a dedicated viewfinder, but I only use it with the EVF, so I’ve never used it.
Before the official release of this lens, funds were solicited through crowdfunding, and the lowest price for the Leica M mount lens was apparently 44,800 yen, but it is currently being sold for 59,800 yen. From my personal satisfaction level, I feel that the lowest price for crowdfunding is a fair price.

Specification

Item	Value	note
focal length(mm)	17
Maximum aperture	2.8	No click stops
Minimum aperture	22
Lens configuration	10groups 13elements	retrofocus-lens
Minimum distance(m)	0.25
Lens length(mm)	79
Lens max diameter(mm)	73
Filter diameter(mm)	–	Filters cannot be attached.
Weight(g)	482