Manix 2 LW Locking system

[Ramonade]

Yes, I was sure to receive a sortof green handled knife too based on these pictures ! Maybe it was more green before, and now they make it blue ?

[ladybug93]

it doesn't seem like the people taking stock photos of some of these products are very concerned with matching the color in the photo with the actual color. studio lighting can make colors look really different. i'd definitely trust the normal photos posted by users more than the stock photos.

also, wasn't this said to be a "mineral blue" color. it was always blue, but has some greenish tint to it. the color almost always looks different in each picture based on lighting, so it's hard to get a true representation. it seems like the brighter the lighting, the more green it looks (which explains why the studio lighting makes it look green), even though it's still a blue-green.

[JSumm]

The picture below that Reagenn posted is about the best representation I have ever seen of what it looks like in real person. It will look like this, then I take a picture of it and it is just blue. I cannot explain it. The more light it is exposed to in real person, the more green comes out. The darker and it looks more to the blue side.



Now, keep in mind, when Spyderco first started producing the Manix LW SPY27 they were closer to the blue used in the Native 5 LW SPY27. There was mention of it here on the forum, and I believe someone from Spyderco validated that. At some point they switched to the Mineral Blue. I will try to find the post and thread that it was mentioned in.

So if Robin's does not look like the above picture in real life, it is possible they gave him one of the original batches for the giveaway.

[JSumm]

Ok, well I looked. Maybe I made that up in my head. Here is the thread where it was discussed including an image from Instagram from Spyderco about the color.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=88309

[RustyIron]

it doesn't seem like the people taking stock photos of some of these products are very concerned with matching the color

When I commented upon the color, it wasn't my intention to start a controversy. I'm somewhat colorblind, so frankly, I couldn't tell you with any certainty what the color is. I thought it was blue. If you tell me it's green, I believe you.

You're right about the carelessness in reproducing accurate color. A while back I took over a newsletter for a small organization, with the intention of vastly improving the content. As in most things we run across in life, cost was a factor. Although it would have been less expensive to provide some subscriptions digitally, I couldn't live with the fact that my publication would be rendered on junky computer displays that didn't accurately reproduce the colors of the images that I spent hours creating.

The solution was sending the publication to a printer. But that posed its own challenges. No matter how painstakingly the digital file is created, and what color profiles are sent to the printer, it all comes down to the guy doing the printing. It was always hit and miss as to how good the color was going to be. Improving it was a struggle, and very rarely was the quality what I expected.

That little experiment taught me a few things. One of those things is that the unwashed masses don't see the subtleties that the expert reveres. This not only holds true with images and prose, but with knives. I've had knives where I didn't give the design a second thought, and then Sal makes a comment about a minute characteristic that I never would have considered, but which makes me step back and say, "Whoa! That's so obvious, yet I never would have thought of it!"

[James Y]

I only have one Manix 2, in G10, but I really like the CBBL lock. I also own several BM axis locks, all bought over 18 years ago. Although I've never had an axis lock omega spring break, I much prefer Spyderco's CBBL over the axis lock. It feels stronger and more durable.

It is stiffer than the axis lock, but I don't mind. I always use my thumb and index finger to slide the tabs back to unlock from both sides simultaneously. For the same reason I never unlocked my axis locks with only my thumb. I suspect that many of the broken axis lock omega springs were due to unlocking it one-sided (using only the thumb), creating uneven pressure on the omega springs. With the CBBL, I also unlock from both sides, because I want even pressure on the plastic tabs, to avoid putting all the pressure on one tab, and possibly breaking the tab off. The CBBL coil spring itself would probably be fine either way.

Jim

[RustyIron]

The picture below that Reagenn posted is about the best representation I have ever seen of what it looks like in real person. It will look like this, then I take a picture of it and it is just blue. I cannot explain it. The more light it is exposed to in real person, the more green comes out.

The color is going to look different depending on the display, software, and computer that that image is rendered upon. What you see is different than what I see. Photography also yields different results depending on hardware and software.

The biggest variable affecting color is the light source. My computer room has incandescent lights. If I take a picture here, it will be completely different than if I go down to the kitchen which has fluorescent lighting. Natural sunlight provides a broader spectrum. You can bet that the fancy-pants photographer who shoots for Spyderco's catalogs has expensive light sources that provide white light.

[JSumm]

The picture below that Reagenn posted is about the best representation I have ever seen of what it looks like in real person. It will look like this, then I take a picture of it and it is just blue. I cannot explain it. The more light it is exposed to in real person, the more green comes out.

The color is going to look different depending on the display, software, and computer that that image is rendered upon. What you see is different than what I see. Photography also yields different results depending on hardware and software.

The biggest variable affecting color is the light source. My computer room has incandescent lights. If I take a picture here, it will be completely different than if I go down to the kitchen which has fluorescent lighting. Natural sunlight provides a broader spectrum. You can bet that the fancy-pants photographer who shoots for Spyderco's catalogs has expensive light sources that provide white light.

That makes sense. Sharp Guy posted a pic in that thread I linked. It looked very close to real life. I think he mentioned some kind of true color bulbs.

[ladybug93]

in every single picture i've seen of this knife, the color is different from every other picture of it. do you all that have one notice the color looking different to your eye in different lighting situations? does it look more blue inside and more green in direct sunlight?

i will say that i was a little disappointed when i saw the color of this one in the catalogue. it looks better in some pictures than others to me, but ultimately i didn't need another m2lw and was hoping spyderco would release spy27 in a g10 manix, so i never got this one. however, regardless of the color, i've found that, once i get a knife in my hands and put it to use, i care far less about the color. if i really wanted a m2lw based on the steel available, i'd be happy to have it in just about any color.

[Ramonade]

To Jeff's credit, now my eyes are telling me that this knife is green xD
My father is a photographer, and he only does surexposition pictures (flashes everywhere, not one spot with shade). I'll ask him to take this one in picture so that we can reference to it later on.

[JSumm]

in every single picture i've seen of this knife, the color is different from every other picture of it. do you all that have one notice the color looking different to your eye in different lighting situations? does it look more blue inside and more green in direct sunlight?

i will say that i was a little disappointed when i saw the color of this one in the catalogue. it looks better in some pictures than others to me, but ultimately i didn't need another m2lw and was hoping spyderco would release spy27 in a g10 manix, so i never got this one. however, regardless of the color, i've found that, once i get a knife in my hands and put it to use, i care far less about the color. if i really wanted a m2lw based on the steel available, i'd be happy to have it in just about any color.

Yes 100%. Sunlight more green. Darker space more blue. This knife is frickin magic.

[JSumm]

Reagenn, I sure hope you got some good information. It is a great knife, and I do not think you will regret it. Just give it time to break in from the lock release. Don't give up on it. You should love it. And again, welcome to the forum.

[Reagenn]

Reagenn, I sure hope you got some good information. It is a great knife, and I do not think you will regret it. Just give it time to break in from the lock release. Don't give up on it. You should love it. And again, welcome to the forum.

Thanks Jeff, I've certainly enjoyed everyone's opinion and take on the M2. I'll be picking up one soon and will post back my review.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to help out a new member. Much appreciated.

[JSumm]

Reagenn, I sure hope you got some good information. It is a great knife, and I do not think you will regret it. Just give it time to break in from the lock release. Don't give up on it. You should love it. And again, welcome to the forum.

Thanks Jeff, I've certainly enjoyed everyone's opinion and take on the M2. I'll be picking up one soon and will post back my review.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to help out a new member. Much appreciated.

Well, if you get my favorite SPY27 version, hit us back and let us know what color it is.

[Ramonade]

Another thing I remembered !
The SPY27 Manix LW was experiencing lock stick on the first 50 to 100 openings. But now it is as smooth as my first one. Makes you love it even more, it grows on you and grows better the more you use it.

[Sharp Guy]

The picture below that Reagenn posted is about the best representation I have ever seen of what it looks like in real person. It will look like this, then I take a picture of it and it is just blue. I cannot explain it. The more light it is exposed to in real person, the more green comes out. The darker and it looks more to the blue side

It's how your phone is processing the picture. You can easily edit it to look closer what you see it in real life. I do it all the time. Problem is the devices that other people are viewing it on may change how it looks to them. I'll edit a picture on my PC and make it to where I think it looks good. Then I'll look at it on my phone or tablet and it looks oversaturated to me. Or I'll edit it on my phone and move it to my PC and it looks bland. I've calibrated my PC to be as close to color correct as possible but it'll never match my phone or tablet. So now I try to adjust so it looks as good as possible on all my devices. I don't generally do this with knife pictures but I have when I want the color of the handle to look as close as possible to the real deal

[Sharp Guy]

That makes sense. Sharp Guy posted a pic in that thread I linked. It looked very close to real life. I think he mentioned some kind of true color bulbs.

I just saw that you mentioned this. Yes, my workbench is a fancy workstation that has dust extraction and color correct lighting for dental laboratories. Even though it has color correct lighting I still needed to tweak that picture because, as I mentioned above, my phone messed with the color.

[ladybug93]

The picture below that Reagenn posted is about the best representation I have ever seen of what it looks like in real person. It will look like this, then I take a picture of it and it is just blue. I cannot explain it. The more light it is exposed to in real person, the more green comes out. The darker and it looks more to the blue side

It's how your phone is processing the picture. You can easily edit it to look closer what you see it in real life. I do it all the time. Problem is the devices that other people are viewing it on may change how it looks to them. I'll edit a picture on my PC and make it to where I think it looks good. Then I'll look at it on my phone or tablet and it looks oversaturated to me. Or I'll edit it on my phone and move it to my PC and it looks bland. I've calibrated my PC to be as close to color correct as possible but it'll never match my phone or tablet. So now I try to adjust so it looks as good as possible on all my devices. I don't generally do this with knife pictures but I have when I want the color of the handle to look as close as possible to the real deal

i've noticed this in my photography too. it's a huge pain when trying to order prints especially, but also when showing work to clients or posting on a website. you'll never control all the factors.

as far as closely representing the colors of our knives goes, i've been frustrated sometimes in my own pictures over the variation i can see in the brown m2lw. i just had to stop caring about it being perfect and worry more about the other colors in the image or the effect i'm going for. people seem to like seeing that one, so it must be alright.

if life is too short to care about what color a knife actually is, it's definitely too short to worry about how it looks in pictures you post on a forum. (not too short to worry about how the color looks when it's your job to properly represent a product for stock photo purposes though.)

[JSumm]

I just like to think that I have a Hypercolor Manix LW.

[Reagenn]

Kinda like this one, wish I could've gotten in on the limited run.