LEICA CAMERA 35mm/F2.0 WideAngle Summicron M Series Lens

If you own an M camera, this lens is for you. I use mine as the "normal" focal length for my M6 TTL .58 (the M4 has the 50mm). The size is great, making it pocketable - an asset when I am shooting stock in NYC. In typical German lens fashion, this baby is really sharp And, also in typical German lens fashion, it has great contrast - clearly evident with Velvia 50 (my only chrome, until they discontinue it.) Mechanically, it's first rate. It's a solid chunk of metal and glass and will probably be a lifetime purchase. Without going too deeply into the future of Leica as a company (too late to the digital party, I'm afraid) if you have a modern M, you could not find a better lens to stick on it. It is a beautiful lens with all the characteristics we buy Leica for. Admittedly, I wince when I look at the price but I smile when I look at the slides on my light box. If you make your living shooting film or are wealthy enough to not worry, try this lens out - it's a winner.

FYI: I did a test of the ASPH model against the prior lens and the difference was not visible to my eyes. Using the middle f-stops (f:5.6, f:8) I could not see any difference, even with a good 4X loupe. There may be a difference wide open, but I almost never shoot wide open with this lens so you will have to test for yourself.

Judging from the extravagant price of this lens, it is most likely a 35mm f2 ASPH Summicron lens, the latest version of the venerable line of 35mm f2 Summicron lenses which many photographers have adopted as their primary lens for Leica M rangefinder photography, where it excels especially in unobtrusive street photography. Previous versions of the 35mm f2 Summicron have been quite good, but this lens is better than its predecessors especially wide open at f2 due to the usage of an aspherical lens element and some other special glasses made by Leica. Only the 35mm f1.4 ASPH Summilux M lens rivals this splendid optic wide open, but judging from reports I have read, the 35mm f2 ASPH Summicron performs much better at f2 than does the 35mm f1.4 at f1.4. At f2 both lenses are excellent, though I'd give the nod to the 35mm f2 ASPH for better contrast and resolution. Historically this lens was among the first of Leica's new superlative lens designs for its M rangefinder camera system; it is still among the best.

Before I offer any comments, I'd suggest that Amazon clearly indicate whether or not this is the latest aspheric model. At that price, it had better be.

In any case, if it's the aspheric, I don't own it and can't review it. If it's a non-aspheric version, I can. Be that as it may, whatever I write can, I'm sure, be applied to the ASPH version which is supposed to be even better.

The model I own is a version IV. It's the one produced just before the aspheric version. If you don't know the difference, don't buy either one. Read up on the differences elsewhere. I'd suggest doing a Google on Erwin Puts and reading what he has to say about both versions. This man knows his Leicas.

In any case, the version I own has a high serial number and was actually made in Germany. Almost all of these lenses were made in Midland, Ontario, but manufacturing was shifted to Germany toward the end of production.

There's no difference in performance between the Canadian and German versions. Both are excellent optically and mechanically.

Having recently taken this lens (as well as 2 other Leica lenses (50mm and 90mm) on a cruise, I found the 35 attached to my camera about 90% of the time. It's just a very usable focal length for the kind of photography I do.

Like most other Leica lenses, this one shows beautiful gradation on color film. Similar colors are easily distinguished and smoothly seperated. I never found the images to be "harsh" even in the very contrasty tropical light. Oh, yeah. It's sharp too.

I've just made some 8.5x11 prints from a few of the negatives. There's no doubt in my mind that I could have easily gone to 16x20 with excellent results.

It would be hard to find a better 35mm lens for the M mount Leicas. Perhaps the ASPH Summicron and Summilux 35's are "better", but they'd have a hard time displacing the version IV Summicron from my kit.