LEICA SUMMILUX M 35mm ASPH.
Second generation with aspherical lenses
A review and Photo example SUMMILUX M 35mm F1.4 ASPH. Titan color.
Table of contents
Gallery
- Sample photo taken with the LEICA M10
- Sample photo taken with the LEICA M6 +FUJIFILM VALVIA50 +NIKON COOLSCAN-V
Review
1．Usage
The lens I’ll introduce is the second generation aspherical type, titanium color version.
The image has good resolution even at full aperture, vivid color, and flawless depiction with well-corrected distortion and curvature, giving it an atmosphere similar to the 50mm F1.4 ASPH. Looking at past photo data, it seems that I often took it out on rainy days, and I feel that this lens expresses the glossiness of rain well.
Among rangefinder lenses, the lens that was close to being the last one, the Summilux 35mm, also has a spherical type, and I was debating which one to keep, but I decided to keep the spherical type.
Compared to the spherical type, the aspherical type is superior, being usable from full aperture and with a minimum shooting distance of 0.7m. However, I was personally dissatisfied with the aspherical type because the lens body is large and the design is flat, and the helicoid feeling was not so good.
I have used this lens a lot, shooting with the M9/M/M-P/M10 and full-frame digital Leica, and the M6 and film, and I have a lot of attachment to it. The lens I had was an old model with a bayonet-type hood, and I had read information that the new model with a screw-in hood has a floating structure that improves close-up shots, but I have not used the new model so I do not know if this is true. The new model has been released in black and silver.
2．Overview
The Summilux 35mm F1.4 ASPH. is a Leica M mount lens with a focal length of 35mm that was produced from 1993 to 2010.
Because the mount shape is new, it is possible to officially modify it by adding a 6-bit code for lens recognition.
It has been released in three colors, black, silver, and titanium, and a total of nearly 20,000 units have been produced. From the list, it can be seen that the silver version is around 3,000 to 4,000, and the titanium version is around 1,000 to 2,000.
The lens is made up of a concave front lens, symmetrical with four elements in the front group and four in the rear group excluding the aspherical lens. New models after this lens have adopted a floating mechanism, which is said to improve image quality when shooting close up.
3．Differences
The Summilux M 35mm has evolved from spherical type (1960), hand-polished aspherical type (1988), aspherical type (1993), floating element type (2010), aspherical type, hood built-in, floating element type, aspherical type (2022).
The spherical type is introduced on a separate page, so here we will only describe the aspherical type.
The Summilux M 35mm Aspherical, which was first released as an aspherical type in 1998, is easy to understand because it is written as Aspherical on the lens nameplate. It is quite expensive even on the used market, so you will immediately know if you see one. In the early 2010s, I saw Summilux M with the ASPHERICAL marking at a price that I could just about afford, but after passing on two of them, it is now the 2020s and is no longer a price that I can afford. Even if you own one, it is difficult to decide the right time to sell it, so I try to think of the things I didn’t get as something that was never meant to be.
The second generation of aspherical lenses introduced here is available in three colors and has been manufactured for a long time.
In 2010, a lens was released that adopted a floating element in the lens group that adjusts the focus and changed the hood from a hook type to a screw-in type. It is said that the floating element improves the image quality when shooting close up, but the image quality changes even if the situation changes slightly, so it is difficult to recognize the difference unless you compare it with the same lighting in a studio.
The renewal in 2022 was major, and Leica has responded to the demands of the times, shortening the minimum shooting distance to 0.4m in consideration of use with mirrorless cameras, and changing the lens hood to the same mechanism as the Summilux-M 50mm ASPH., which is built-in and fixed by twisting after pulling it out. The number of aperture blades has also increased to 11. The lens configuration has not changed from the 2010 model, and it is thought that the mechanism has been brushed up due to the evolution of the lens coating and the change in the lens barrel. Since the 2020s, lens prices have been rising due to factors such as the depreciation of the Japanese currency, and the price of lenses in Japan in 2024 will be around 1 million yen.
Specification and Competitor
| Items | SUMMILUX ASPHERICAL | SUMMILUX ASPH.2nd | SUMMILUX ASPH.3rd | SUMMILUX ASPH.4th |
| focal length(mm) | 35 | ← | ← | ← |
| Maximum aperture | 1.4 | ← | ← | ← |
| Minimum aperture | 16 | ← | ← | ← |
| Leaf blade | 9 | ← | ← | 11 |
| Lens configuration | 5群9枚 | ← | ← | ← |
| Minimum distance(m) | 0.7 | ← | ← | 0.4 |
| レンズ長(mm) | – | 46.2 | 46 | 46 |
| レンズ最大径(mm) | – | 53 | 56 | 58 |
| フィルター径(mm) | E46 | ← | ← | ← |
| Floating element | なし | なし | あり | あり |
| Weight(g) | Black:300 | Black:250 Silver and Titan:415 | Black:320 | Black:338 Silver:338 |
| Release date | 1988 | 1993 | 2010 | 2022 |
| Production numbers | 1988-1993 4,000 | 1998-2005 18,404 | – | – |
| Item | Value | note |
| focal length(mm) | 35 | |
| Maximum aperture | 1.4 | |
| Minimum aperture | 16 | |
| Lens configuration | 5groups 9elements | |
| Leaf blade | 9 | |
| Minimum distance(m) | 0.7 | Camera distance meter interlocked in all areas |
| Lens length(mm) | 34.5 | Distance from mount flange |
| Lens max diameter(mm) | 53 | Focus lever excluded |
| Filter diameter(mm) | E46 | |
| Weight(g) | 250(Black) | 415(Silver,Titan) |
| Release date | 1994 | |
| List price(Yen) | – |
Reference links
- Leica Wiki 「35mm f/1.4 ASPH Summilux-M」
- SUMMILUX 35mm ASPH. 2022 Official Web-site
- SUMMILUX M 35mm ASPH. Using report(Japanese)
- SUMMILUX M 35mm ASPH. 2010 ver Specification PDF
- SUMMILUX M 35mm ASPH. 1993 ver Specification PDF
Update history
- 2024.11.6
- 2024.03.02:Update article
- 2022.09.17:First draft
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