LEICA SUMMILUX M 35mm 2nd

Compact large apature 35mm lens

A review and Photo example of the SUMMILUX M 35mm F1.4 Titan color.

Gallery

Sample photo taken with the HEXAR-RF + KODAK ELITE CHROME 100 +NIKON COOLSCAN-V.

Review

Usage
Overview
Differences

1．Usage

The lens is new and in good condition, so even when shot at full aperture F1.4, the center is well rendered, and although there is some vignetting around the edges, the image is not so out of focus that it is unusable. There is no difficulty in focusing with the double image alignment on the Digital M, Hexar RF, or Leica M6.

The minimum shooting distance is 1m, so you cannot get close to the subject, but I think it is a lens that can be enjoyed even with this restriction. With a mirrorless camera, you can get close by using the auxiliary helicoid, but it is not a lens that you should go that far to get close to.

At one time, I owned an old Summilux M 35mm with a stopper that was in poor condition, and the images shot with it were very out of focus around the edges. I’m sure there are people who like lenses like this, so I would have liked to have one on hand, but unfortunately I no longer have one.

I feel that the impression of the out-of-focus Summilux 35mm is based on descriptions of lenses like this.

The lens I own has the familiar “sh” mark (a mark for officially imported products by SiberHegner).
SiberHegner had been an official distributor of Leica products since 1974, but ceased to be an agent when Leica Japan was established in 2005.
You can still see lenses with this “sh” mark on the secondhand market, but the quality is the same whether they are officially imported or parallel imported, so I don’t think there is any special meaning to this mark.

I tried using it with a HASSELBLAD X2D with a medium-format digital sensor (44mm x 33mm), and found that the image circle was just at the limit of 35mm full-frame, as shown below, and was completely incompatible with medium-format digital sensors.

The lens I have was purchased secondhand in 2008, and was manufactured in 1992 with a serial number of 3.6 million.
When I got it, the demand for lenses for rangefinder cameras was extremely low before mirrorless cameras were widely used, and the price of this Summilux 35mm was unthinkable today. As an aside, a symbolic price was the large-aperture standard lens Noctilux, which was sold for around 200,000 yen. If you bought about three lenses, you could make a decent return if you sold them in the 2020s, but I don’t know whether a 5-fold return over 20 years is good or bad.

2．Overview

Approximately 28,000 units of the second-generation Summilux-M 35mm F1.4 were manufactured from 1967.
The titanium version was manufactured for three years from 1990 to 1992, and 4,500 units were manufactured during that time, including the black version. Since a certain percentage of these were titanium, it would be reasonable to assume that the number manufactured was about half that, or about 2,000 units.
This lens is available in titanium as an alternative to black, but not in silver. The first-generation Summilux was available in black and chrome finishes.
The lens is made up of 7 elements in 5 groups, and the 12504 hood is compatible with it. It can also be fitted with the IROOA hood used on the Summicron 35mm.
There is no thread on the front of the lens, and a Series 7 filter is inserted into the 12504 hood mentioned above.

3．Differences

The Summilux M 35mm was manufactured over a long period of 28 years, so there are many variations, such as those with glasses for the M3, those with focus lever stoppers, and different colors.

The glasses-attached lens is a lens for the Leica M3, and like the glasses-attached Summicron 35mm F2, it expands the 50mm viewfinder frame to 35mm with glasses. One of the advantages is that the minimum shooting distance is shortened to 0.65m.

In November 2022, Leica itself released a lens that reproduces the appearance of the original as the Classic Series Summilux 35mm. The Classic Series includes the Noctilux 50mm F1.2 and Summaron 28mm F5.6, and the third lens in the lineup is the spherical Summilux 35mm.

Like other Classic Series lenses, this is sold as a set with a hood and other items, and comes with a dedicated hood modeled after the OLLUX and 12504.

As of 2024, there seems to be a fair amount of stock of this product on the market, and it is often seen second-hand. The list price is 660,000 yen (including 10% consumption tax), so how the price will change in the future will depend on the number produced, but looking at the current situation, it seems that the price will gradually decrease for about 10 years, or it will remain flat at a little below the list price, so I don’t think it’s a product that will increase in price quickly, which is what scalpers love.

This Classic series will probably have no effect on the demographic that buys it, but it may be Leica’s response to the fact that Chinese manufacturers and others are easily and cheaply releasing lenses that imitate the structure of Leica’s old lenses for light users.

Specification

項目	ストッパー付き	眼鏡付きストッパー付き	2代目	眼鏡付き	復刻 11301 復刻スチールリム
焦点距離(mm)	35	35	35	35	35
最大絞り	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.4
最小絞り	16	16	16	16	16
レンズ構成	5群7枚	5群7枚	5群7枚	5群7枚	5群7枚
絞り羽根	10	10	10	10	10
最短撮影距離(m)	1.0	0.65	1.0	0.65	1.0
レンズ長(mm)	29?	29?	28（チタン色実測）	?	26
レンズ最大径(mm)	53	53	52（チタン色実測）	?	66.5 （ストッパー含む）
フィルター径(mm)	E41 – A46.5	E41 – A46.5	Series 6	Series 6	46
レンズフード	OLLUX	←	12504	12504	専用フード
重量(g)	245	195	222（チタン色実測）	?	200
リリース年	1960-1966	1960-1966	1967-	1967-	2022

Item	Value	note
focal length(mm)	35
Maximum aperture	1.4
Minimum aperture	16
Lens configuration	5groups 7elements
Leaf blade	10
Minimum distance(m)	1.0	Camera distance meter interlocked in all areas
Lens length(mm)	28.8	Distance from mount flange
Lens max diameter(mm)	51.5	Focus lever excluded
Filter diameter(mm)	–	Series 6 filter mounted inside the hood
Weight(g)	245
Release date	1967
List price(Yen)	–