LEICA SUMMILUX R 35mm

R mount, wide-angle, large aperture, big three

A review and photo examples of Summilux R 35mm.

Gallery

Sample photos by LEICA SL typ601

Sample photos by HASSELBLAD X2D

Review

The Summilux R 35mm is a Leica R mount lens with a focal length of 35mm released in 1983.
Approximately 6,500 bottles were manufactured until 2003, when records remain.
Production of the Summicron R 35mm began in 1970, so it can be said that this lens, released in 1983, was finally released.
The M-type spherical Summilux was released in 1967, and the small number of hand-polished aspherical Summilux was released in 1988.
The fact that the Summilux R was released during that time seems to me to be proof that Leica was putting a lot of effort into the single-lens reflex camera system.

The Summilux R 35mm has a filter diameter of 67mm and has 10 lenses in 9 groups housed in a lens barrel, making it quite heavy. This lens is a large lens, approximately the same size as the Summilux R 80mm.
The built-in hood doesn’t cover a very large area even when pulled out, but the lens itself has sufficient backlight resistance, so I don’t see any problems with it.
Also, since it is a 35mm single-lens reflex lens, it has a long back focus and a large lens aperture, so it is good that there is little vignetting.

When using this Summilux R 35mm, I feel that the old M Summilux has a more craft-like construction, and this Summilux R feels more mechanical, probably because the release years are different and the mount is different in the first place. The Summilux R 35mm’s depiction has a good balance of sharpness and softness and is very sharp.

I first got the 3-cam version and was using it with a Fujifilm X-PRO1 and a METABONES speed booster. Since I couldn’t fully enjoy the lens’s original depiction with a focal reducer, I got a LEICA M typ240 and started using it there.
Later, after getting a LEICA SL, I was able to get one with a ROM terminal, so I sold the 3CAM as part of the funds. The cameras with ROM terminal and 3CAM were different, but as far as I can see from the data I have, the atmosphere of the images taken tends to be the same, and I don’t think there is a big difference between the two.

I used the LEICA SL TYP601 the most with the ROM terminal, but I also used it a little with the DMR.
With the CANON EOS1DsMkIII, the protrusion of the rear element of the lens seemed to interfere with the camera’s sensor, so when the lens was attached, the EOS displayed an error and was unable to take pictures.

When I used it with HASSELBLAD X1DII and X2D, the four corners were cut off to a certain extent. Originally, it covers a width of up to 36mm, so when you remove the vignetting from the shooting results, you can calculate the usable limit of the 44×33 of a digital medium format sensor to the Leica version’s 3:2, which is about 41.2 x 27.5mm. became. Hasselblad’s traditional 1:1 fully covers 33 x 33mm.

Specification and Competitor

Item	Value	note
focal length(mm)	35
Maximum aperture	1.4
Minimum aperture	16
Lens configuration	10-elements 9-groups
Leaf blade	10
Minimum distance(m)	0.5
Lens length(mm)	75	Distance from mount frange
Lens max diameter(mm)	76
Filter diameter(mm)	67
Weight(g)	685
Release date	1983 *1
Production numbers	6,492 *1

*1:Values are quoted from LEICA Wiki

Reference links

Leica Wiki 「SUMMILUX-R 1.4/35-ROM」

Update history

2024.02.13:Update article
2023.12.07:Photo example add
2022.12.11:First draft

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