Affordable 35mm Lens: LEICA SUMMARIT-M 35 mm f/2.5

Last updated on 2026-04-15

A review and sample photos of the LEICA SUMMARIT-M 35 mm f/2.5 used with the LEICA M9 digital rangefinder camera.

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Review
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Gallery

The following cameras were used to take the sample photos:

LEICA M9

1．Overview

The SUMMRIT M 35mm F2.5 is a wide-angle lens for the Leica M mount released in 2007. It was cheaper than the SUMMICRON M 35mm ASPH. and targeted at entry-level Leica users. It was part of the budget-friendly SUMMRIT lens line and was sold in three focal lengths: 35mm, 50mm, and 90mm.

The lens construction is simple, with six elements in four groups, but like the SUMMICRON M 35mm ASPH., it’s a computer-designed lens with a concave front element. It has nine aperture blades and a minimum focusing distance of 0.8m.

Sold after the release of the LEICA M8, all lenses feature 6-bit coding.

2．Usability

The SUMMRIT M 35mm F2.5 was developed around the same time as the LEICA M8, released in 2006, and is designed to be suitable for digital cameras. While the product name does not include the “ASPH.” designation, indicating the use of aspherical lenses, it uses the same lens configuration as the subsequent F2.4 version, so it is likely that this lens also uses aspherical lenses.

The lens configuration was designed with a minimum number of elements to reduce costs, and the resulting image is soft overall at full aperture, but tightens up as the aperture is narrowed, resulting in an image reminiscent of that of an old lens.

The sample images show the change in aperture from F2.5 to F8 at full aperture. The fourth image at F8 produces the most resolution.

Although not included in the sample images, a shot of trees reveals false colors at the edges of the trees, highlighting the flaws in the lens design. The false colors that occur at the edges of trees are also seen with other lenses, so it’s not an ideal shooting condition, but although it’s a cheap Leica lens, with a list price of ¥200,000, it’s unfortunate that its image quality behaves in the same way as lenses costing around ¥10,000.

The coupling range with the rangefinder is limited to 0.8m, so the minimum focusing distance is also 0.8m. Since its big brother, the Summicron, has a rangefinder coupling limit of 0.7m on M-series Leicas, is it a stretch to think that this was intentionally limited due to marketing rather than technical constraints to differentiate it as a lower-end lens?

If you mostly use it for landscape photography, 0.8m is fine, but when you want to get a little closer, 0.8m at a focal length of 35mm can make the surroundings’ reflections bothersome.

3．Summary

To sum up the SUMMRIT M 35mm F2.5, as mentioned above, the image quality is gentle at full aperture and changes as the aperture is stopped down, giving it the feel of an old lens. It’s important to keep in mind that the minimum focusing distance is 0.8m, so you can’t get close.

As a lens, its specifications are quite mediocre, and with this level of performance and image quality, you’d be more satisfied with a CARL ZEISS ZM or Voigtlander VM 35mm lens.

Specifications, considerations, etc.

When Leica planned this lens, it released the digital rangefinder camera LEICA M8 for around 100,000 yen more than the film M-series Leica, so it can be inferred that they were aiming to sell M-series Leicas to a more mass-market audience.

The SUMMARIT series was released at this time as the lens of choice for first-time users, but both the lens and camera were too expensive for the masses, and the wealthy Leica buyers perceived it as a mediocre lens, which did not lead to sales. Furthermore, when a remade lens was released seven years later, the price was raised by around 30%, highlighting the failure of Leica’s low-price strategy.

Until around the LEICA M typ240 in 2014, cameras were just about affordable for hobbyists, but since the LEICA M10 in 2017, due in part to the weak yen, the prices of cameras and lenses have continued to rise, making them unaffordable for hobbyists.

The SUMMARIT 35mm comes in both F2.5 and F2.4 versions, but from the lens construction, they appear to be identical, and when a repair shop disassembled both lenses, the lenses appeared to be identical. I heard this verbally, so there is no written source.

I suspect that although the SUMMARIT M 35mm F2.4 ASPH. has a newly designed exterior, it was essentially a lens made to dispose of surplus parts from the F2.5 version. This is because, while the F2.4 version is often seen on the used market, the F2.5 version is rarely seen, which suggests that the F2.5 version did not sell very well, although this may have something to do with timing.

As shown in the image below, when compared to the SUMMICRON M, which is half a stop brighter, it is clear that this lens was designed and manufactured with cost reduction in mind.

Compared to the SUMMICRON M’s flawless rendering even at wide open aperture, the image quality can be enjoyed by changing the aperture setting.

The lens construction diagrams are taken from materials distributed by each company, and the sizes have been adjusted by us, so they are not exact.

Items	SUMMARIT 11643	SUMMARIT 11606(Black) 11605(Silver)	SUMMICRON ASPH-old
Focal length(mm)	35(mm)	35(mm)	35(mm)
Max aperture	2.5	2.4	2
Min aperture	16	16	16
Aperture blade	9	9	8
Lens Construction	6 elements in 4 groups	6 elements in 4 groups	7 elements in 5 groups
Min distance(m)	0.8	0.8	0.7
Lens length(mm)	33.9	33.9	34.5
Max diameter(mm)	51.4	52	53
Filter Size(mm)	E39	E46	E39
Lens hood	12459	12440	Lens hood 12524/12526
Lens mount	M	M	M
Weight(g)	220	197	225(黒) 340(銀)
Release date	2007	2014.12	1996〜
Production numbers	?	?	–
Price(Yen/No-tax)	¥180,000	¥270,000

Reference links

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Affordable 35mm Lens: LEICA SUMMARIT-M 35 mm f/2.5

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