35mm: Summilux FLE or APO-Summicron?

[costa43]

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It’s not just about what can be measured. The APO lenses tend to have better colour tonality and separation, especially on higher resolution sensors. They also tend to have smoother transitions from in focus to out of focus areas in my experience.

FWIW if sharpness (especially centre) is your primary goal then the Zeiss 35mm f2.8 beats them both. 

Edited April 6 by costa43

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[RMF]

6 hours ago, odoomi said:

Thought I might reactivate this thread. I am a lucky owner of an FLE - and have the opportunity to purchase the 35 Apo for a quite good price right now (but would still be way more than I ever spent on a lens). So I am just doing the comparison for myself and trying to decide with which lens I should go on (owning both is out of the question cost wise!). 

One aspect which nobody is talking about is the following: the Apo has a strange distortion pattern at the edges - straight lines get drawn out of the frame in a curvy line. The FLE has also some pincushion distortion, but no where near the same as the Apo. For me, this looks like lens correction overshoot (a better word would be artificial?) and really makes me think if the Apo is really as flawless as everybody says. 

Am I nitpicking on that regard? Will this ever be an issue in real world use? 

Talking sharpness - the FLE is also quite sharp and contrasty with wonderful colors overall - even though towards the edges, the Apo has clearly the advantage. But again, would this ever be an issue in real word use? 

For me, the FLE is a wonderful lens, the Apo as well... however: I do not see the huge difference everybody is talking about. 

I am wrong and am I looking for the wrong things? 

Have a great Sunday! 

Andreas 

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I’m fortunate to have both the 35APO and the FLE (currently the FLE v2). I bought the FLE (v2) at the first opportunity when it was offered to me and finally came in to stock at Leica Miami. Used it consistently and traveled frequently with it, until few months later after buying it an APO became available at Leica USA’s site and I jumped at the chance to get one. Both are wonderful lenses and I too found slight differences in flatness of field and contrast as others have already pointed out (so not going into details there). What truly sets them apart for me is the haptics; the APO is the most beautifully designed lens with perfect compact design, wonderful lens hood which is rugged and functional, combine that with its optical rendering and it’s a winner in my book; its really the only lens I really need. The FLE v2 feels large and heavy in comparison and I honestly don’t like the implementation of close focus (for some reason the APO just feels better) also not a fan of the integrated hood for durability. Now that I have an APO, I rarely if ever use my FLE v2 nowadays, I guess the obvious advantage is the FLE allows the option for that one additional stop so if that is what you need, then that’s pretty much the choice to go with. I keep telling myself that I would sell the 35 FLEv2 since I never use it… but I do like redundant backups ☺️ and honestly can’t imagine a world where I don’t own a 35 FLE (I’m sure some will understand) 😃.  You can’t really go wrong with either lenses, just don’t get both.
 

 

 

 

Edited April 6 by RMF

[odoomi]

vor 5 Stunden schrieb lct:

Strange that a software is required to correct such a huge distortion. Not sure i would keep such a lens personally. YMMV.

The really strange thing is that the #2 software on the planet for RAW images does not have a lens profile for one of the most hyped Leica lenses of the last 3 years... jeez... 

[lct]

19 hours ago, odoomi said:

The really strange thing is that the #2 software on the planet for RAW images does not have a lens profile for one of the most hyped Leica lenses of the last 3 years... jeez... 

I've never used such profiles, so i don't really know. To me, a good lens shouldn't need a profile to correct distortion. The Summicron 35/2 v1 from the 60s has almost no distortion, same for the v4 of it or the Summilux 35/1.4 v2, so i'd expect better results with modern Leica lenses, i must say.

Edited April 7 by lct

[Lee S]

On 4/6/2025 at 7:18 PM, RMF said:

What truly sets them apart for me is the haptics; the APO is the most beautifully designed lens with perfect compact design, wonderful lens hood which is rugged and functional, combine that with its optical rendering and it’s a winner in my book;

I absolutely agree with this, haptics are fantastic and its perfect size to allow you to support the camera by the lens.

Despite its sharpness it’s the easiest lens I’ve used to nail focus via rangefinder and live view with focus peaking.

Why?

1) Zero focus shift means it’s accurate regardless of aperture.

2) High contrast and sharpness makes focus peaking clearer.

Regarding distortion, can’t say I’ve ever noticed any, but I also own the 35mm Nokton Classic which is a distortion monster. My family has never said ‘that’s a good photo BUT look at that distortion’

[odoomi]

Am 7.4.2025 um 22:31 schrieb Lee S:

I absolutely agree with this, haptics are fantastic and its perfect size to allow you to support the camera by the lens.

Despite its sharpness it’s the easiest lens I’ve used to nail focus via rangefinder and live view with focus peaking.

Why?

1) Zero focus shift means it’s accurate regardless of aperture.

2) High contrast and sharpness makes focus peaking clearer.

Regarding distortion, can’t say I’ve ever noticed any, but I also own the 35mm Nokton Classic which is a distortion monster. My family has never said ‘that’s a good photo BUT look at that distortion’

The thing is, whoever uses Lightroom will never see the above mentioned distortion cause it is automatically corrected. Anybody else - including analog - will see it and it looks really bad. 

I am still undecided what I should do. I fully agree to the above statements that this lens is a step up to the FLE in terms of sharpness and detail in the image. However, I would need to switch from CaptureOne to Lightroom which is a hard thing to do when you have 250k images on the drive developed with C1. And after all - the FLE keeps to be a very fine lens...

So I keeps to be undecided right now... 

Andreas 

[Lee S]

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10 hours ago, odoomi said:

The thing is, whoever uses Lightroom will never see the above mentioned distortion cause it is automatically corrected. Anybody else - including analog - will see it and it looks really bad. 

I am still undecided what I should do. I fully agree to the above statements that this lens is a step up to the FLE in terms of sharpness and detail in the image. However, I would need to switch from CaptureOne to Lightroom which is a hard thing to do when you have 250k images on the drive developed with C1. And after all - the FLE keeps to be a very fine lens...

So I keeps to be undecided right now... 

Andreas 

Terrible no distortion correction in C1 for this lens.

Are you particular about distortion for your photography? As mentioned before I use the KoD (King of Distortion) on film and uncoded on digital. I can see it mostly if it’s a straight shot of the ocean or a large building but it’s never bothered me and with a few clicks it can be fixed.

I think Leica Q3 and Q43 also have a lot of distortion correct lion automatically applied. 

 

[lct]

Easy to correct distortion out of the Nokton 35/1.4 SC v2.
With Photoshop here.
• Before distortion correction
• After distortion correction

[la1402]

I own both. After adding the APO, the FLE v2 stays home always. I much prefer the smaller size, smoother bokeh and even closer MFD. I’ll sell the FLE once the market gets better. 

[emlokto]

On 4/6/2025 at 2:18 PM, RMF said:

I’m fortunate to have both the 35APO and the FLE (currently the FLE v2). I bought the FLE (v2) at the first opportunity when it was offered to me and finally came in to stock at Leica Miami. Used it consistently and traveled frequently with it, until few months later after buying it an APO became available at Leica USA’s site and I jumped at the chance to get one. Both are wonderful lenses and I too found slight differences in flatness of field and contrast as others have already pointed out (so not going into details there). What truly sets them apart for me is the haptics; the APO is the most beautifully designed lens with perfect compact design, wonderful lens hood which is rugged and functional, combine that with its optical rendering and it’s a winner in my book; its really the only lens I really need. The FLE v2 feels large and heavy in comparison and I honestly don’t like the implementation of close focus (for some reason the APO just feels better) also not a fan of the integrated hood for durability. Now that I have an APO, I rarely if ever use my FLE v2 nowadays, I guess the obvious advantage is the FLE allows the option for that one additional stop so if that is what you need, then that’s pretty much the choice to go with. I keep telling myself that I would sell the 35 FLEv2 since I never use it… but I do like redundant backups ☺️ and honestly can’t imagine a world where I don’t own a 35 FLE (I’m sure some will understand) 😃.  You can’t really go wrong with either lenses, just don’t get both.

I can't stress enough how accurate this is.

The biggest annoyance with the FLEv2 is how wobbly the cheap cap is, especially when you use a filter. I'm now stuck between going filterless or continuing to be annoyed about it. I actually like the integrated lens hood. However, the weight and balance seem off on the lens. It's less an issue on my M7, but somehow just sits awkwardly on the M11-P (I have no rational reason for this, it's just the way it feels).

The 50mm Summilux Close Focus has similar properties, and yet, I find the balance just fine and it's quite enjoyable to use. I haven't really figured out why the FLEv2 bothers me so much, but it honestly does. Photos, though, are certainly "magical" when the light hits it just right. 

Then, yes, the APO 35mm. I find everything about it absolutely perfect. It's an incredible lens to handle. There are definitely times where the sharper image and contrast aren't as appreciated, but thus far haven't been in a situation where I thought it wasn't enough at F2 and I do shoot in situations that don't have ideal light. The APO is still new to me, so might hit its limitations at some point, but not yet anyway. 

I do think that with images like food photography, the FLEv2 is better. You don't necessarily need that extra detail. But in contrast, the close focus isn't quite enough when you're sitting at a dining room table. You still need to move back a little to get the plate into focus. Perhaps a tangent use-case, but still. 

Anyway, so glad I got the APO.