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


jonoslack

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10 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

Jono, 

I hope your meter is working properly. The first two M5's I looked at had dead meters and as far as I know, nobody can now repair these. There is a good new device to replace the unobtainable PX625 mercury cells. The M5 has no voltage regulator so needs a steady 1.35 Volts for accurate metering. Using the expensive Wein Zinc-Air cells is a pain and pricey as they run down even when not in use (they always seem to have gone flat when you come to use the camera), so I have found an adapter which takes the very much cheaper PR44 zinc-air hearing aid button cells. These seem to last longer than the larger Wein 625 cells and are a fraction of the price. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173228970297?hash=item2855405139:g:yGIAAOSwHU9eIPrD 

The alternative is to use a Small Battery Company MR-9 voltage regulated adapter which takes either SR43 or 44 silver oxide cells. However I have found these only seem to last about 5 to 7 years before the forward biased Schottky diode they use as a regulator dies or becomes erratic. At £29 each this gets a bit pricey for film cameras I only use infrequently (CL, SL2 & M5). 

Wilson

Thank you Wilson

The guy who's selling it assures me that the meter is working properly and has a new battery . . . . and the metering is correct. He's just done a degree in photography, so he probably has been using it successfully 🤞!

I think it's an interesting camera, and I like the rather odd looks - and if I don't like it I'm unlikely to lose money on it!

All the best

Jono

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5 hours ago, jonoslack said:

Thank you Wilson

The guy who's selling it assures me that the meter is working properly and has a new battery . . . . and the metering is correct. He's just done a degree in photography, so he probably has been using it successfully 🤞!

I think it's an interesting camera, and I like the rather odd looks - and if I don't like it I'm unlikely to lose money on it!

All the best

Jono

Hope we'll see some 35APO film photos from you soon, then!

Film is the reason why I (re bought) and keep the lens. It just looks so special. 

Cheers 

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6 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

The metering is really the USP of the M5, otherwise you might as well get the smaller, lighter and IMHO prettier M4-P, which unlike the M5, can also take a Motor-M or as in my case, the steam punk M4-2 winder. 

Wilson

Not in the opinion of Kenneth Wajda, in the short video I linked.  He talks about several preferable M5 aspects.

Jeff

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2 hours ago, Jeff S said:

Not in the opinion of Kenneth Wajda, in the short video I linked.  He talks about several preferable M5 aspects.

Jeff

With the winder M4-2 on my M4-P, I have more than enough to hold on to. I usually have one of the little Voigtlander VC2 meters on it, which is far more accurate than any of my Leica MR-4 meters. As I am usually taking reversal film, accurate metering is more important than with colour negative or B+W, when sunny 16 works just fine. Agfa Precisa, my favourite reversal film (I have considerable stocks of this in my freezer) is really quite narrow exposure latitude. The main reason I use my M5 is because it meters more reliably than either my CL or M7, particularly with a 28mm lens and is smaller and lighter than my R9 plus I don't have to remove it from my eye to meter, like I do with the M4-P. 

Wilson

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  • 1 month later...

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3 hours ago, OR120 said:

If you are going for an M5 - try and get the 3-lug

I had a look at these before buying a very nice 2 lug with a working accurate meter and RF. I decided the price premium for the 3 lug was not worth it. In France, where I bought my M5 in 2019, the premium was €200-300. The only thing I miss with the M5 is the absence of a motor/winder, given my physical problems in using a lever wind. I wonder if one was ever on the stocks but poor sales of the M5 decided Leica against production. 

Wilson

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14 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

The only thing I miss with the M5 is the absence of a motor/winder, given my physical problems in using a lever wind. I wonder if one was ever on the stocks....

I suspect the bottom rewind crank would have complicated a motor installation. Less-than-full-width motor, to allow access to the hand-crank? Motorized rewind? (Which would have made the 1971 M5 as up-to-date as the 1971 Nikon F2 - horrors!)

Not that Leica can't do complicated when it wants to (or even by accident). ;)

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Finally we can get straight lines in LR with the Apo 35! 🙌
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Leica HQ, Wetzlar, September 2021
M10M + Apo-Summicron-M 35

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I really love the look of the APO35 ! 

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Heres another one from today's walk

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/16/2021 at 2:00 AM, SoarFM said:

https://leicacamerausa.com/leica-apo-summicron-m-35-f-2-asph.html
 

At the moment of this posting, the lens is in stock and shipping at Leica USA online store😮

 

They must be making more. I put down my name on the Wash DC Leica Botique wait list on 11/09 and got a call today. Can’t wait to compare the lens to the Summicron V3 and V4 I recently acquired. For some reason I enjoy the rendering of the V4 more than the Summicron ASPH. 

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35 minutes ago, ymc226 said:

They must be making more. I put down my name on the Wash DC Leica Botique wait list on 11/09 and got a call today. Can’t wait to compare the lens to the Summicron V3 and V4 I recently acquired. For some reason I enjoy the rendering of the V4 more than the Summicron ASPH. 

I just shot with the 35 APO and it is the finest Leica lens I have ever shot with and I own all the significant M lenses from the past 50 years, and even sharper than my LHSA 50 APO. On my M10M it has incredible resolution, sharpness and the contrast is amazing as well as the fall off from focal point. Astonishing lens. I can't see using the close up focussing feature much but from .7 on out I can't fault it. 

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On 12/16/2021 at 5:00 AM, SoarFM said:

https://leicacamerausa.com/leica-apo-summicron-m-35-f-2-asph.html
 

At the moment of this posting, the lens is in stock and shipping at Leica USA online store😮

 

I see that B&H still is out of them as is Leica Store Miami, Bergen County Camera and Camera West.

Apparently the more hideous the price of a lens, the more demand there is for it.  Only Leica can pull that off. 

After seeing @Ktsa5239's 35 APO images (above), I can definitely see why.  😎

Edited by Herr Barnack
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6 hours ago, insideline said:

I just shot with the 35 APO and it is the finest Leica lens I have ever shot with and I own all the significant M lenses from the past 50 years, and even sharper than my LHSA 50 APO. On my M10M it has incredible resolution, sharpness and the contrast is amazing as well as the fall off from focal point. Astonishing lens. I can't see using the close up focussing feature much but from .7 on out I can't fault it. 

Found mine lovely on film or M10M. Can't stand it on colour digital. Takes all the charm of life away. 

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