Red scale SUMMARON 28mm F5.6

A review and Photo example of the SUMMARON 28mm F5.6(L39 screw mount old version) with a digital camera.

Gallery
Review
Specification and more
Reference links

Gallery

The sample photos were taken with the LEICA M8.2, EPSON R-D1, and RICOH GXR.

Review

Overview
Usability
Summary

1．Overview

The SUMMARON 28mm F5.6 is a wide-angle lens with a Leica L39 screw mount released in 1954.
The official name is Ernst Leitz Gmbh Wetzler Summaron f=2.8cm 1:5.6
The mount is a screw (L39) mount, and when used with an M-mount camera, an L/M adapter is used.

The lens is made up of 6 elements in 4 groups, a Gaussian type, with the front and rear groups being laminated lenses.

The lens hood is a dedicated SOOBK, and filters can be used as either a 34mm screw-in or an A36 cover type.

2．Usability

The SUMMARON 28mm F5.6 is a popular lens with a compact and well-designed design and low specifications, but is also called the Red Summaron because of the red accents on the lettering.

The lens I owned was manufactured in Germany in 1961 for 1.67 million units. Perhaps because it is an old lens, the lens barrel was a little wobbly, the lens was cloudy, and there was oil on the aperture blades.

Although the lens has a simple structure of six glass elements, it depicts the focused parts such as cherry blossoms and cat fur in detail, as shown in the example. In contrast, the out-of-focus parts are blurred to a degree that you would not expect from an F5.6 lens.

With an aperture of F5.6, it is not a problem during the day, but the shutter speed decreases at dusk and at night, so camera shake is a concern. Be especially careful with digital cameras such as the LEICA M9 and EPSON R-D1, which do not require you to increase the ISO sensitivity too much.

The Summaron 28mm with its dedicated SOOBK hood that I purchased is quite rare, and the crepe paint of this era is very beautiful. The crepe paint seems durable, and although there are scratches all over the hood, there are no major scratches on the surface of the hood.

However, the hood I had came off when I pressed in the leaf spring and turned the screw that secures the hood to the lens in the direction that would loosen it. Normally, such screws are thought to be treated to prevent them from falling out to prevent them from getting lost, so the stopper at the bottom of the screw may have been damaged.

Just under 10,000 were manufactured, and the number of good ones has decreased over the years, and they have become less common on the used market in the 2020s. As a result, used prices are on the rise.

3．Summary

To sum up the SUMMARON 28mm F5.6, it depicts the focal point sharply from the widest aperture, and the bokeh is interesting considering the aperture value. It is a compact and easy-to-handle lens that matches well with small cameras and is suitable for snapshots under sunny skies.

Specification and Competitor

Comparing the SUMMARON 28mm F5.6 with the first ELMARIT 28mm F2.8, which was released next, you can see the size of the ELMARIT, which is two stops brighter. The sales periods overlapped, so both products must have been on the market at the time, and it is interesting to see how both lenses were received in the market at the time.

On November 2, 2016, LEICA released a reprint of the Summaron 28mm, with the lens mount changed to M mount.

The shape of the lens barrel is almost the same as the original, with the only changes being the knob shape of the focus ring and the finish of the hood. In particular, the crepe coating on the surface, which was a characteristic of the SOOBK hood, is no longer there, and it has a smooth finish.

Items	SUMMARON	ELMARIT 1st
Focal length(mm)	28	28
Max aperture	5.6	2.8
Min aperture	22	22
Lens Construction	8	8
Aperture blade	6 elements in 4 groups	9 elements in 6 groups
Min distance(m)	1.0	0.7
Lens length(mm)	18	42
Max diameter(mm)	49	52.5
Filter Size(mm)	34	48 Series 7
Lens hood	150	Square hook type hood 12501
Lens mount	SOOBK	LEICA M
Weight(g)	L39	242
Release date	1954-1971	1964-1966
Production numbers	9,169	3,200

Reference links

Update history

2024.07.18
2024.02.26:Update article
2022.04.22:First draft

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