LEITZ SUMMICRON C 40mm F2

Review and Photo example of the SUMMICRON C 40mm F2.

Gallery

The sample photo were taken with the LEICA M-P typ240

Review

The Summicron-C 40mm was a prime lens released for the Leica CL (film camera) in 1972.

Its focal length is 40mm, shorter than the conventional Leica 50mm. The focal length of 40mm was chosen because the CL film camera had a short baseline length, which indicates the distance between the distance window and the viewfinder window, to achieve a compact body, and it was thought that a 50mm lens would not be able to achieve the focusing accuracy required.

It is almost the same lens as the Rokkor 40mm for the CL, which was released by Minolta at the same time, but the filter diameter is different, so it seems that the molds for some parts are different.

The 40mm and 90mm are basically said to be lenses exclusive to the CL, because the helicoids of both lenses are single helicoids to reduce costs, and the rangefinder linkage cam is an inclined cam (if you search for inclined cams, you will find a lot of explanations, so if you are interested, it is worth looking into it). Because of this, it is said that focusing accuracy cannot be guaranteed with cameras other than the CL film camera, so I was a little wary when using it with the LEICA M digital, but fortunately with the body I had, it seemed to be within the range of error and I didn’t notice any particular problems.

Confusingly, the Rokkor 40mm for the Minolta CLE uses a standard parallel cam, so there are no problems with using it with a digital Leica.

I didn’t notice any problems when using this either, but the latest Summilux 50mm ASPH. and others apparently use an inclined cam, which is one level brighter at full aperture so there may be some cameras where this causes problems, but I never noticed any problems when using it.

Specification

Items	SUMMARIT	SUMMICRON C	ROKKOR for CL	ROKKOR for CLE
Focal length(mm)	40	←	←	←
Max aperture	2.4	2	←	←
Min aperture	16 *1	16	←	←
Lens Construction	6elements in 4groups	←	←	←
Leaf blade	12 *1	10	←	←
Min distance(m)	0.8 *1	0.8	0.8	←
Lens length(mm)	21 *1	23.5	22.5	24.5
Max diameter(mm)	49 *1	50	51	←
Filter Size(mm)	37 *1	39	40.5	←
Hood	Cylindrical screw-in hood (provided by Ms-Optics)	Rubber trumpet-shaped screw-in hood, 12518	Rubber trumpet-shaped screw-in hood	←
Helicoid and Cam	? and parallel cam	Single helicoid and tilt cam	←	Double helicoid and parallel cam
Release date	1995 *2	1972	1973	1981
Production number	120,000 *2	54,350-	–	–
Weight(g)	54 *1	120	125	105

*1: The numbers are for Ms-optics modified lenses.
*2: The numbers are for compact cameras, Leica MINILUX. It is estimated that several dozen Ms-Optics modified products were manufactured.