A) Introduction
It’s saturday, I am having a nice cup of coffee and I am about to write a review of a lens that I have been shooting with for the past month: The venerable Leica M Summicron 35mm. This is probably the iconic Leica M lens. The 35mm Summicron has been made since 1958 and has gone through many changes since then, with numerous versions that make shopping for a used one a bit difficult at times.
The latest version the :
Leica Wide Angle 35mm f/2.0 Summicron M Aspherical Manual Focus Lens (6-Bit, Updated for Digital) – Black
Or:
Leica Wide Angle 35mm f/2.0 Summicron M Aspherical Manual Focus Lens (6-Bit, Updated for Digital) – Chrome
are both unbelievable $3000 dollar aspherical-6-bit-coded-wonder-lenses that represent the classic 35mm field of view on an M9 camera or classic normal 50mm-ish FOV on a crop camera like the M8. For those of us that don’t have 3,000 dollars to spend on a new lens may look to the used market to purchase a 35mm Summicron.
Like I said this lens has been out for a while, there are many version so it is not hard to find one on the used market. It is important to know the version of the lens you are buying, and it’s characteristics, in order to choose the one that works best for your style of photography and needs.
This review will look at the history of the lens, a photographic tour of the lens version of this review (The 7-Element, Made-in-Canda, Pre-ASPH), provide some sample photos, a subjective comparison to the Zeiss ZM Biogon 35mm, and finally provide a conclusion.
1) Bottom Line Review -
This is the Leica lens, not too wide, not too slow, not too big, and nearly impeccable handling. The combo of focal length, f/2 max aperture, and performance wide open makes this a lens ideal for any shooting situation.
Color and background rendering is top notch and bokeh is sublime. IMO if you had to have one lens for a Leica system, this is the lens to have.
2) History -
There is a lot of versions of this lens floating around on the used market and they are all called the same thing: Leica Summicron 35mm. (Summicron is a name that means f/2 if you are not familiar with the Leica naming conventions).
Even within a “version” there are several sub-version, and in terms of value, some versions command a premium so it is important to keep that in mind when shopping for a used lens.
The first version of the lens was introduced in 1958 and came in two subversions, one with “eyes” and one without… the version with “eyes” allowed the Leica M3 film camera (which had a huge magnifying viewfinder) to reduce the optics to frame the 35mm lens. The other subversion was a regular m-mount lens. This is an 8-element version of the lens and is known for having very high resolving power and medium contrast. The lens came in both black and chrome, with black versions commanding a higher premium on the used market.
The second version of the lens (introduced in 1969) is a 6-element lens which uses a series 7 filter in-hood (avoid these lenses for the M8, as series 7 UV/IR filters are annoying to find and most versions of the Summicron in V2 that you see on the used market do not come with the hood. This version’s aperture adjusts with a tab which is how to spot that you are dealing with a version 2 Summicron. This version trades improvements in macro-contrast for a lowered resolving power over the version I. This is still a great lens and can be had for about $800 on the used market.
A third version was introduced in the early 1970s, with a change in the optical formula and the use of a 39mm filter size. Performance and price between the second and third version is similar.
The forth version of this lens, the lens I am reviewing in this article, was introduced in 1979. This version added a seventh lens element, has a focusing tab (the thumb tab) and the aperture is adjusted with two knurled outcroppings. The performance in terms of resolution is improved over the other versions and is known for it’s background rendering or “bokeh”. The close focusing is .7 meters (which is the same as the rest of the versions) and the filter size is 39mm.
The newest version of this lens adds an aspherical element, and increases the contrast as well as the resolving power. This is a very very high-quality lens, and if you can afford one, by all means, buy it!
As you can see there are a lot of versions of this lens and the values are drastically different (from about $800 for a Version 2 or 3 vs 2,500 for a used Version 1 or used Aspherical). It is important to know what version you are buying, but all version are top performing!
2) Tour of the lens
Looking down the front, notice the focusing tab and 10-bladed aperture, (stopped down 1-stop).
Here it is stopped down a few stops. The Aperture remains very circular which causes a very high-quality background rendering quality or “bokeh”
Rear element stopped down to f/8 – also notice I have hand-coded the lens mount such that the 6-bit code on my M8 reads what lens this is.
Here is how it looks on the M8 with UV/IR filter. Notice how small it is even with the hood deployed. Very good match for the M8.
3) Sample Photos
Here is a set of sample photos taken with the 35mm Summicron on either the M8 or the Olympus E-P1. Notice the quality of the bokeh, the color, contrast and resolution of the lens all of which are very high. This is an easy review because there are no complaints. If you can’t take good pictures using this lens, you are doing something wrong…
Here is a test of the bokeh and quality of rendering bright points of light. Look at the color saturation and smooth blur circles (this is stopped down 1 stop).
Close to minium focusing distance; f/2. Notice the 3D rendering of the subject and creamy background.
Even at minimum focusing length and f/2, the 35mm lens allows for sufficient depth-of-field while rendering very high quality out-of-focus backgrounds.
Color and Contrast! Not much more to say!
An example taken with the Olympus E-P1 at ISO 3200. Focus is manual using the 10x multiplier on the screen.
Also a great focal length for indoor portraits. The 35mm focal length makes hand-holding at sub-optimal shutter speeds indoors possible.
3a) Flare Test
Flare resistance is pretty good. Here is an example shooting right into the sun stopped down to f/8.
Notice the little bit of flare. Here is a 100% of that:
Not too bad.
All and all, just a fun lens to get out with and makes some great pics!
4) Compared to the Zeiss ZM 35mm Biogon
The Zeiss ZM Biogon 35mm f/2 is a great lens, and can be had for about 1/2 the price of this used Summicron. I did a review of the Zeiss as well. I like both of them, but I feel that the photos with the Zeiss were missing something in the rendering of the backgrounds that the Summicron possessed. Also the Zeiss is far bigger and uses a non-standard 43mm filter. The Zeiss has a very sharp in-focus to out-of-focus depth of field, while the Summicron is a much more gradual transition. Both lenses are great, but I prefer the Summicron, for it’s overall better image quality, construction and smaller size.
5) Conclusion
Fantastic Lens. Get one if you need a Leica 35mm lens. I am sure that the Aspherical version is better, but I am not sure it is worth the $1000 dollar premium. Take the $1000 dollar difference and buy a 50mm Summicron or 28mm Elmarit. Either of these focal lengths would compliment the 35mm lens well. I would do a pros and cons of this lens, but I can see no cons. I suspect the value of this lens will increase in the near future, so buy one while the cost is reasonable (~$1400 on the used market).
I give this lens a solid 9.5/10 with the only deduction being that I know that If I had a Aspherical version, I would give that a 10/10.
Thanks for reading!
6) Plug
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