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What version 35/1.4 Summilux

danlindberg

Well-known member
Serial number: 3570628

Could anyone advice on how old, what version and optical pros & cons of this lens. It would be used with a M9.

Thanks :)
 
It is a pre-aspherical built in 1991.
This is a lens that either you love or you hate, it is a matter of personal taste; compared with the most recent production of aspherical Summiluxes it is definitely less sharp, in particular in the corners, and has less contrast, but the bokeh is simply wonderful.
I have it and I have also the current aspherical version: I will keep both.
Cheers,
Ario
 

danlindberg

Well-known member
Excellent! Thanks for info.

I am a sharpness freak so I will think long and hard before buying. I can buy a brandnew 35 summarit for less and maybe that is a better choice for me...
 
Excellent! Thanks for info.

I am a sharpness freak so I will think long and hard before buying. I can buy a brandnew 35 summarit for less and maybe that is a better choice for me...
I would rather look for a good second hand Summicron instead or for a Zeiss Biogon.
 

ampguy

Member
I like this era, it is a late v2, low to no focus shift, nor distortion, and no infinity lock on the tab. Great lens!
 
For me it's not love OR hate, as Ario suggested; it's love/hate at the same time.

Negative: It's prone to unpredictable flaring – a certain angle of light from the side, outside the frame – that can destroy the whole image. In this respect it's not fully reliable, but you can look at the LCD to see if you got the shot or not.

Positive: Its famous 'Leica glow' (see #1 below; first 2 pix are wide open, 3d @ f2.4). The glow is a kind of aberration at widest aperture that can be quite beautiful. Even more flattering to people than to exercise balls. Soft at wide apertures, but turns into a normal lens, rather like a Summicron v4, by f4 or so.

The thumbnails look contrasty, but that's not the lens; it's gentle – low contrast, fairly low saturation. Open the images, & the contrast is more like a print would be.

Kirk

PS: I advertised my copy for sale a week ago, but nobody bought it. And in retrospect I'm glad they didn't, because I have a new version arriving soon & I'm afraid it'll look too 'clinical' to me.
 
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danlindberg

Well-known member
Thanks for very useful information!

I like the purple ball a lot :)

However, I am going to save up for the latest 35 cron. That's probably the longterm best solution for me.
 
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01af

Guest
I am a sharpness freak so I will think long and hard before buying. I can buy a brandnew Summarit 35 mm for less and maybe that is a better choice for me ...
If you don't insist in Summilux speed then the Summarit-M 35 mm 1:2.5 definitely is a very good choice. I got mine as a cheap stop-gap while waiting for a Summilux and planned to get rid of it as soon as the Summilux arrives. But boy, this little sucker has grown on me in no time ... and I am a sharpness freak, too! This lens leaves nothing to be desired—with the possible exception of lens speed, of course, depending on your requirements. Its particular strengths are small size, unobtrusive look (makes an M9 look like grandpa's point-and-shoot), very beautiful bokeh, and—last not least—extremely low flare in backlight situations. In terms of sharpness, it's just as good as any other current Leica M 35 mm lens.

I definitely will keep mine.
 
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