Thoughts on 35/1.4 Summilux ver. i

[rpsawin]

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I have a steel rimmed 35/1.4 Summilux ver. I lens and am going to use it on a M (typ 262) body. It's off to Leica for the required adjustments before I mount this lens onto the body. I am curious as to others experience with this lens.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[Ecar]

It's an exquisitely made lens. A pleasure to use - and to look at. From a construction perspective, this was Leitz at its best IMO. 

From an IQ perspective, don't expect it to be very sharp or free of optical aberrations, but rather use it for what it's good at: moody, dreamy pictures - particularly wide open.

Contrast is on the low end, so it really needs a hood (ideally the original OLLUX, which unfortunately has become hard to find and outrageously expensive on the used market).

[adan]

From f/2.0 on, it is a dead ringer for the 35 Summicron version 4 (1980-97). Or even slightly sharper. A perfectly compentent M-photographer's general-purpose 35mm.

At f/1.4 the difference is marked: a very romantic low-contrast lens with glows and halos, that is a "money aperture" for wedding photographers. Produces large flare circles with things like street lights at night, slightly off-center. Even with a lens hood.

Nevertheless, astounding image quality for the time of its creation (1960) and for many years after.

The contrast is moderate at any aperture, compared with most post-1990 Leica lenses. For me that is good - it is always easier to add contrast than try to save hot highlights or inky shadow detail. Rather cool bluish color rendering as well. As with most such double-gauss ultra-compact 35s, the corners stay a bit soft and streaky until about f/8-11 (coma and astigmatism). A people/journalism lens, but less so an architecture/landscape lens (unless stopped down that much).

For me the only downside was the 3-foot minimum focus distance - I just get too many good shots at 0.7 meter with a 35. I currently use the Voigtlander f/1.4 Nokton II, which has a slightly different fingerprint (less romance at f/1.4), and is slightly larger, but does get me down to 0.7m.

[rpsawin]

Thank you for your comments. This is in line with what I expected. I look forward  to getting this back from Leica.