In praise of the Summicron-M 35 ASPH

[skinnfell]

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It seems the venerable Summicron-M 35mm 1:2 ASPH has gotten a kind of bad reputation, particularly in the shadow of the (in my opinion) relatively overrated v4. My friend has this one, and while it is also a very good lens and slightly smaller, the Asph runs circles around it in the corners. Bokeh looks to my eyes similar on both lenses - pretty good on the whole but sometimes a bit busy.

 

The 35/2 asph is one of the oldest designs in the stable, with the exception of the 50/2 of course. And as such it demands some respect.

 

I have had one of these for a long time, and while it is not my most used lens, whenever I take it out I always have a very pleasurable shooting experience, and I am usually quite pleased with the pictures afterwards. It probably has to do with subjective things, but matter of fact is that it handles absolutely beautifully, it is small, light and realitvely inexpensive (at least on the used market).

It is also very uniformly sharp and *almost* completely free of distortion and vignetting, something that is uncommon in other brands lenses and even in leica lenses. CA is not an issue at all.

 

Another thing I have discovered is that the sweet spot IMO, is actually f/11. At this aperture I get uniform crispness over the entire frame, and of course none of the aberrations and distortions you see in SLR lenses of the same focal.

 

I have enclosed a test shot to prove this, straight out of my back porch, handheld at f/11. i didn´t even take my slippers off. Sun is just out of the frame. I have also included center and corner crops. Minor ajustments and standard sharpening settings from LR3. I use my own color calibration.Unfortunately I had to use a rather heavy compression to get the forum to accept the files (damn you 302Kb limit!) so they are slightly muddier than original.

 

I am sure there are sharper lenses out there, but this looks pretty good to me.

 

This is a totally unscientific test, and even though leicas to very well on a tripod they are meant to be shot hand held.

 

Sure enough, it is not as sharp as the 28/2 and not as cheap as the 50/2, but it is one of those lenses that do extremely well in all the categories. In my opnion the only real drawback with the lens is the tendency for color flare which you dont notice until you get the picture into Post.

 

So dear internet, please stop bullying the 35/2 Asph :-)

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[wattsy]

So dear internet, please stop bullying the 35/2 Asph :-)

 

I'm not sure it gets such a bad rap. It's one of those lenses that most longer term Leica users have owned at one time or another (for my sins I've bought and sold this lens three times in 10 years) and I don't think anyone thinks it isn't anything other than a very fine lens.

 

 

In my opnion the only real drawback with the lens is the tendency for color flare

 

Yes, that is my only real complaint with this lens. IME it is quite prone to big blobs of flare in a way that the cheaper Summarit and more expensive Summilux aren't.

[honcho]

35 Summicron asph is the lens I use most on my MP. Wouldn't want to be without it.

[IWC Doppel]

It is a very good lens and technically better than the other Summicrons as we all know, my only reason for selling my copy was I preferred other 35's and for me I found nothing to hate, but nothing to really love.

 

In some ways older more characterful lenses have a charm that 'better' lenses might not. For me there was more charm with other 35's. However if you are after accuracy then you could fault most of the other 35's ahead of the ASPH, I am sure.

 

I was surprised this was not 'APO'd in September, the MTF's are bettered by other (most) current Summicrons. So at some point it will be a classic and perhaps come back into favour !

[!Nomad64]

So dear internet, please stop bullying the 35/2 Asph :-)

As far as I know the Asph is far from being bullied. The only remarks generally refer to harsh bokeh in favour of the hyperpraised v4 and to some minor focus shift.

Well, the bokeh of Summicron 35 in all versions might be harsh under some circumstances and the focus shift detected by Sean Reid seems to be not systematical but occurring from sample to sample.

 

Cheers,

Bruno

[gyoung]

Its the lens I use the most of all, its the best 35mm I gave ever owned (I have 7 35s at the moment, all of which get used, and experience of too many others to remember), with the original 8 element M3 version just a little behind. Together I have taken more pictures with those two than any other lenses (probably combined) over more than 40 years. Maybe the latest 1.4 Summilux is 'better', but I have never wished for anything faster than f/2.

There is quite a sentimental attachment!

 

Gerry