Review: The New Leica APO-Summicron-M 35mm F2 ASPH.

[jonoslack]

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1 hour ago, delta100 said:

My fear is that Leica Germany will shut down sales in the UK and sell only in Europe on all its photographic equipment. Leica Mayfair are only selling in stock items, who knows when more orders will arrive from Germany?

I don't think you need worry - deliveries should get sorted out okay. The problem (and it's big and bad and horrid) is shipping from Businesses to Customers - in either direction. From Business to Business seems to be reasonably okay.

 

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[jonoslack]

1 hour ago, wattsy said:

Odd 'zebra' pattern in the flare in these two photos, Jono. An artefact of the APO correction or some other phenomenon?

Hi Ian

I wondered who would be the first to comment (I might have guessed 🙂🙃). It's certainly a characteristic of the lens, but of course I'm not certain of the cause - I think most lenses have some kind of peculiarity if you shoot straight into the sun, strange things can happen. It doesn't concern me, and it's pretty consistent. The lens is actually pretty resistant to flare generally (better than the 50 I think). 

All the best

Jono

[jonoslack]

1 hour ago, steamboat said:

The game changer with this lens is the the .3M minimum focus. My 21mm f4.0 Super Angulon has a minimum focus of 12" which is very close to .3M. I've never understood why Leica didn't at least make that minimum focus part of the 21mm package. They made a 21mm f2.8 Elmarit pre-production that was 12" but it got dropped in production models. Anyway with LV on M's these days it would be great to have it more generally available. Thanks for your initial thoughts on the lens and your photographs.

I agree. they did it on the WATE all those years ago, but perhaps it's more obviously sensible with people using these lenses on the SL - and of course with live view. Anyway, I agree, it's great!

[Matlock]

9 minutes ago, jonoslack said:

I don't think you need worry - deliveries should get sorted out okay. The problem (and it's big and bad and horrid) is shipping from Businesses to Customers - in either direction. From Business to Business seems to be reasonably okay.

 

I have made purchases from Germany and Italy this year with no noticeable difference since before we left the EU. Maybe I was lucky.

[jonoslack]

51 minutes ago, Peter Branch said:

Dear Jono, at the risk of appearing pedantic, and I feel sure that you will have cleared your article with Leica's Marketing Department, I disagree that the term "APO" as used by Leica, and others, can be equated with the term "Apochromatic".

This is an old topic on this Forum but it does tend to get some people's blood pressure up.

"Apochromatic" is a long established technical term which means that the optical system in question brings three different wavelengths into focus on the same plane.  NB The images are not necessarily the same size!

This has many benefits in some situations and Leica first used it on a commercially available photographic lens with the 180mm f/3.4 Apo-Telyt-R in 1975.  This legendary lens was a true Apochromat with a near IR wavelength brought to the same focus as two wavelengths in the visible spectrum.  It was initially developed as a special purpose lens by the US Navy, Leica and Eastman Kodak for reconnaissance purposed.  At f/5.6 it was unsurpassed.

The problem is that for unavoidable technical reasons bringing three wavelengths to the same focus means that the uncorrected wavelengths have a tendency to be quite a lot out of focus. (It's all to do with inflexion points in the solution of a third order equation.)

More recently manufacturers including in particular Leica and Zeiss have started to produce photographic lenses which they call "APO".  It may be that some of them are Apochromatic but the term has been more widely used to describe photographic lenses with a very high degree of chromatic correction that minimises the deviation from the focal plane of a wide range of wavelengths without actually bringing a third wavelengths to the same focus as the normal two wavelengths.  This can be shown to have significant advantages.  Erwin Puts, and others, have published articles about this and demonstrated the effect with actual measurements.  (The Zeiss OPUS lenses are definitely not apochromatic but they are very good.)

Does it matter?  To me it does as I would prefer to use a modern APO lens rather than an any true apochromat.             

Hi There Peter

I don't ever clear stuff with Leica Marketing (they don't seem very interested in me), but the APO section in this review was cleared with Peter Karbe. I understand your distinction between the two, but I must confess I'm not certain whether this lens is Apochromatic in the true technical sense or not. 6 of the 10 elements are made with Apochromatic glass, but I quite understand that does not necessarily mean Apochromatic in the true sense.

What is happening is that it's correcting for colour aberrations, which increases contrast in focus, and I assume contributes to the look that the modern Leica APO lenses do all have in common. But even that isn't actually a given.

Personally, whilst I understand it matters to you and Erwin and others, I'm trying to give an overview, a 'feel' for the lens rather than getting into heady technical matters, which I don't personally feel are terribly important in evaluation of the performance of a lens (sorry, sacrilege!)

So - you don't appear pedantic, but I'm going to leave you to discuss the technicalities of these definitions with others!

All the best

Jono

[jonoslack]

59 minutes ago, wizard said:

It is actually the fifth. Don't forget the Apo-Telyt-M 3.4/135mm, which in fact may have been the first Apo-M lens (I am not quite sure when it was introduced).

Andy

Of course you're right (eek) modifications coming up!

[mmradman]

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1 hour ago, delta100 said:

My fear is that Leica Germany will shut down sales in the UK and sell only in Europe on all its photographic equipment. Leica Mayfair are only selling in stock items, who knows when more orders will arrive from Germany?

maybe trade Lens for Vaccines...

With resepct to minimum focus distance, unrelated to this thread i just happen to compare R 35 [0.5m] with M 35 [0.7m] lens focused at minimum distance on the EVF camera last night.  There is a siginifican difference in image those extra 20cm make.  Difference between 07 and 03. would be even larger. 

Perhaps new M lens with reduced minmum focus distance points to future M cameras better suited to focusing such lenses [did anyone mention EVF].

Edited March 4, 2021 by mmradman

[UliWer]

vor 10 Minuten schrieb mmradman:

Perhaps new M lens with reduced minmum focus distance points to future M cameras better suited to focusing such lenses.

I should not be too optimistic in this regard. They would certainly not change the position of the viewfinder for an M. But then parallax will set a strict limit on how close you can focus. If you look at the frame's position in your viewfinder if you focus to 0.7m you might imagine where it would be at 0.3m. Liveview is an appropriate solution for the rare cases when you want to go very close.  

[mmradman]

48 minutes ago, UliWer said:

I should not be too optimistic in this regard. They would certainly not change the position of the viewfinder for an M. But then parallax will set a strict limit on how close you can focus. If you look at the frame's position in your viewfinder if you focus to 0.7m you might imagine where it would be at 0.3m. Liveview is an appropriate solution for the rare cases when you want to go very close.  

Sure thing RF minimum focus limit and all that, we knew that for sometime now, I definitely don’t require refresher.

My point is why bother developing M lens with 0.3m minimum focus distance unless it is future proofing for things to come. If new APO 35mm M was 0.7 meters no one would object.

[Knipsknecht]

vor 6 Minuten schrieb mmradman:

[...] My point is why bother developing M lens with 0.3m minimum focus distance unless it is future proofing for things to come. 

... it could just mean creating more opportunities for using live view and a hopefully better new Visoflex to come.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Knipsknecht

[mikeamosau]

Beautiful photos Jono.

Your name is cursed in my household as your reviews often drive me into a purchase of another lens/camera. 

[wattsy]

2 hours ago, jonoslack said:

I wondered who would be the first to comment (I might have guessed 🙂🙃). It's certainly a characteristic of the lens, but of course I'm not certain of the cause - I think most lenses have some kind of peculiarity if you shoot straight into the sun, strange things can happen.

Thanks Jono. It's true what you say, but this is a particularly peculiar peculiarity. My guess is it is something to do with the APO quality of the lens but I don't know enough about optics to speculate what exactly might be going on. 

Edited March 4, 2021 by wattsy

[1400700226]

Wow, this looks amazing! Is it possible to share some RAW samples? I checked some on official site, just want more😂

[Herr Barnack]

@jonoslack - Is it true that with the initial shipment of 35mm APO lenses, Leica is also sending this sign and asking dealers to prominently display it?

 

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by Herr Barnack

[Daniel C.1975]

Hi Jono, 

 

thanks for the great review - again   . 

 

The beach picture with the clouds is phantasmic plastic with an unearthy pop. 

 

Cheers

Daniel

[darylgo]

Hi Jono,

Leica appears to be keeping you busy with new equipment, I'm hearing there is much more to be released, these are exciting times.  

[budjames]

7 hours ago, Herr Barnack said:

Like the 50 APO, the image quality is utterly staggering.  Leica has blown up the world of photography.

I will be able to judge for my soon. My Leica store has me first on the waiting list.

‘I already own the APO Summicron 50mm which is the sharpest lens I have ever owned. It works great on my M10P, M10R and SL2.

Regards,

Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.

[farnz]

8 hours ago, jonoslack said:

Hi Ian

I wondered who would be the first to comment (I might have guessed 🙂🙃). It's certainly a characteristic of the lens, but of course I'm not certain of the cause - I think most lenses have some kind of peculiarity if you shoot straight into the sun, strange things can happen. It doesn't concern me, and it's pretty consistent. The lens is actually pretty resistant to flare generally (better than the 50 I think). 

All the best

Jono

Hi Jono,

Superb review as always and from just the right perspective imho.

I suggest calling the prismatic colour banding effect in flare when the sun is in shot "The Dark Side of the Sun" effect. 

Pete.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[richfx]

Thanks, Jono. Another bright, shiny object from Leica - how nice. I shoot with the 35 Cron ASPH and 35 Lux ASPH FLE on an M10. Did you notice a considerable difference with the 35 Cron APO versus those two lenses? If so, where specifically?

[budjames]

18 minutes ago, Priaptor said:

How do you like the 50 APO on the SL2 compared to APO SL lenses? Curious to find out how the the 35 will perform on the SL2 as well. 

The only SL prime i own is the Summicron 35. It is a fantastic lens. The APO Summicron M 50 works great with the M to SL adapter. I’ve made prints from both with excellent results.

Since I own the M10-R, I use my M lenses on this camera. The M APO 35 and 50 will be my new travel kit.

Regards,

Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.