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New edition of the Leica Summilux-M 1.4/35mm ASPH.


Ken Abrahams

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My current favorite lens is the Zeiss 35mm/1.4 Distagon. Sure it's a bit longer than this new lens, or all the previous Leica 35mm Summiluxi, but it's also optically superior in nearly every way, flatter field, no focus shift, far better corner resolution, better secondary color correction, though not quite apochromatic performance. And the Zeiss is still far smaller than any DSLR 35mm/1.4 lens. It was great on my Leica M9-P and M-P digital, and is even better on my new M11. The Leica only 35mm that intrigues me now is the 35mm/2 Apo Summicron ASPH. It's expensive, but it's got the closest focus of any M-mount 35mm, and looks to be optically superior to all the others too. I did recently get the Voigtländer 35mm/2 Apo Lanthar VM, and it's good but has significant focus shift, and is almost as large as the Zeiss 35mm/1.4 so there is not much advantage there. So the new 35mm Summilux will not be going on my camera ever.

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1 hour ago, Photoworks said:

the 11 blades only comes in effect when you stop down.

Actually, Summilux 35 FLE construction such that it has not totally round hole wide open. Aperture blades not completely hides wide open and it is not perfectly round - see on the lens through the front element. It does affect bokeh balls (you can see it in live view by slightly turning aperture wheel) and more aperture blades could potentially improve bokeh roundness wide open.

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The new FLE is splendid.. but I’ll probably keep my “old” FLE for the time being.

Here below on my M-A..

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1 hour ago, nikrasov said:

Actually, Summilux 35 FLE construction such that it has not totally round hole wide open. Aperture blades not completely hides wide open and it is not perfectly round - see on the lens through the front element. It does affect bokeh balls (you can see it in live view by slightly turning aperture wheel) and more aperture blades could potentially improve bokeh roundness wide open.

the new one is not round either , just a little more round.

Peter Karbe said in video yesterday that you have to stop down a bit to see a difference.

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2 hours ago, sdk said:

My current favorite lens is the Zeiss 35mm/1.4 Distagon. Sure it's a bit longer than this new lens, or all the previous Leica 35mm Summiluxi, but it's also optically superior in nearly every way, flatter field, no focus shift, far better corner resolution, better secondary color correction, though not quite apochromatic performance. And the Zeiss is still far smaller than any DSLR 35mm/1.4 lens. It was great on my Leica M9-P and M-P digital, and is even better on my new M11. The Leica only 35mm that intrigues me now is the 35mm/2 Apo Summicron ASPH. It's expensive, but it's got the closest focus of any M-mount 35mm, and looks to be optically superior to all the others too. I did recently get the Voigtländer 35mm/2 Apo Lanthar VM, and it's good but has significant focus shift, and is almost as large as the Zeiss 35mm/1.4 so there is not much advantage there. So the new 35mm Summilux will not be going on my camera ever.

2 hours ago, sdk said:

flatter field

that is actually the secret of the pop in many Leica lenses going back in time. The middle focus point has a area more out of focus directly behind the subject and normalized to the border of the frame. the focus field is more like a wave.

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3 hours ago, nikrasov said:

Actually, Summilux 35 FLE construction such that it has not totally round hole wide open. Aperture blades not completely hides wide open and it is not perfectly round - see on the lens through the front element. It does affect bokeh balls (you can see it in live view by slightly turning aperture wheel) and more aperture blades could potentially improve bokeh roundness wide open.

My FLE v1 lets me open the aperture slightly past the f1.4 setting. It's very slight... maybe call it f1.39 (joking) and it causes the blades to move completely out of the way. The aperture ring will hold the blades in this position and I believe it's a lens feature. I've seen a few other forum threads on this topic so I know it's not unique to my copy. It looks perfectly round to me when at this setting.

 

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28 minutes ago, Crem said:

My FLE v1 lets me open the aperture slightly past the f1.4 setting. It's very slight... maybe call it f1.39 (joking) and it causes the blades to move completely out of the way. The aperture ring will hold the blades in this position and I believe it's a lens feature. I've seen a few other forum threads on this topic so I know it's not unique to my copy. It looks perfectly round to me when at this setting.

I've had two copies of the FLE v1, and both behaved as you describe.

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The import duties from the UK to the US on the FLE II were $160, for those that asked me to check back in. I thought they'd be a bit less because I hadn't accounted for a couple discrete taxes and fees that I don't totally understand on top of the standard import duty, but my total spend is still just under $5k, well less than the lens would have cost me in the US (where I would have also had to pay substantially more in sales tax than I did in import duties).

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29 minutes ago, Jeremy Bunting said:

The import duties from the UK to the US on the FLE II were $160, for those that asked me to check back in. I thought they'd be a bit less because I hadn't accounted for a couple discrete taxes and fees that I don't totally understand on top of the standard import duty, but my total spend is still just under $5k, well less than the lens would have cost me in the US (where I would have also had to pay substantially more in sales tax than I did in import duties).

Thank you very much for disclosing that! That's far less than I would have imagined. I thought it would be 20% or something.

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41 minutes ago, Jeremy Bunting said:

, well less than the lens would have cost me in the US (where I would have also had to pay substantially more in sales tax than I did in import duties).

Well, technically, sales tax might still be owed, even if most don’t comply…

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-295?language=en_US
 

Jeff 

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1 hour ago, Jeremy Bunting said:

The import duties from the UK to the US on the FLE II were $160, for those that asked me to check back in. I thought they'd be a bit less because I hadn't accounted for a couple discrete taxes and fees that I don't totally understand on top of the standard import duty, but my total spend is still just under $5k, well less than the lens would have cost me in the US (where I would have also had to pay substantially more in sales tax than I did in import duties).

Having imported to the USA before I wouldn't be surprised if those fees were actually some sort of "handling" charge levied by Fedex/UPS/DHL as a small percentage for clearing the goods through customs and providing the paperwork. Obviously with a high value item the minor charge becomes a bit more significant in pure dollar terms but, as you say, a rounding error compared to US sales tax on the same item (though as Jeff S correctly writes you are still  in fact technically liable for the US state sales tax...)

 

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On 9/18/2022 at 11:24 AM, hdmesa said:

Like others said, the joke is that the person who made it is making fun of themselves because they are pretending to be dumb. It just came across the wrong way to you because perhaps culturally that’s not familiar to you.

There is an entire class of memes in the Internet where a person answers a question in a literal way that was not meant or by using an alternate meaning of a word.

(And someone will always post a real answer right afterward, anyway :))

Here are a few memes that explain the humor:

 

 

 

 

As for translation errors -

 

Edited by Herr Barnack
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21 hours ago, Photoworks said:

 

that is actually the secret of the pop in many Leica lenses going back in time. The middle focus point has a area more out of focus directly behind the subject and normalized to the border of the frame. the focus field is more like a wave.

A wavy field is probably fine for street photography and photojournalism, especially for centered subjects of interest, but a flat field or a predictable curved field is preferable for landscape and travel photography. And if you want precise focus on an off center subject with rangefinder focus, a flat field is what you want. Of course using an M11 or M10 with EVF focusing would also work for non-flatfield lenses. As landscapist who likes to hike with a light camera, I find the ZM 35mm/1.4 has been ideal. The Zeiss was great on the M-P typ 240, and is even better on my new M11, and the price is much more reasonable too. 

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1 hour ago, sdk said:

A wavy field is probably fine for street photography and photojournalism, especially for centered subjects of interest, but a flat field or a predictable curved field is preferable for landscape and travel photography. And if you want precise focus on an off center subject with rangefinder focus, a flat field is what you want. Of course using an M11 or M10 with EVF focusing would also work for non-flatfield lenses. As landscapist who likes to hike with a light camera, I find the ZM 35mm/1.4 has been ideal. The Zeiss was great on the M-P typ 240, and is even better on my new M11, and the price is much more reasonable too. 

Interesting.  I have to see if I can get my hands on one to test it.  I have been using the Voigtlander Nokton 35 mm 1.2 and love it fully open, it is softer and does not have the punch or contrast of the summicron but its a beautiful lens for portraits and the bokeh is pure cream.  I believe it is a 12 blade D.  I ordered the new FLE.  Even when I do landscape and travel I like the character.

 

At this point I am completely over equipped on lenses.  I am new to the system so I am indulging quite a bit, hoping I will eventually keep 3 to 5 lenses only and trade the others for an M11-M whenever it comes out.

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On 9/19/2022 at 10:31 AM, junix said:

The new FLE is splendid.. but I’ll probably keep my “old” FLE for the time being.

Here below on my M-A..


Great design.  Is up there with the 24mm Elmarit in the top ranking of  my Leica pageant beauty contest. ;)

 

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5 hours ago, sdk said:

A wavy field is probably fine for street photography and photojournalism, especially for centered subjects of interest, but a flat field or a predictable curved field is preferable for landscape and travel photography. And if you want precise focus on an off center subject with rangefinder focus, a flat field is what you want. Of course using an M11 or M10 with EVF focusing would also work for non-flatfield lenses. As landscapist who likes to hike with a light camera, I find the ZM 35mm/1.4 has been ideal. The Zeiss was great on the M-P typ 240, and is even better on my new M11, and the price is much more reasonable too. 

I am happy you found something you like, not everyone need to shoot Leica lenses.  Most landscape is probably done at faster then 1.4 f-stop. so that would not make much of a difference. 
Most companies of that lens is that it is sooo big, and block the ragenfinder.

Well I like the look of the summilux 35 FLE and bee using it for years to come.

 

The picture of the Queen is random, not sure what lens was used, but it seams on good timing with the passing.

 

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Edited by Photoworks
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Yes, if you are an RF-viewfinder-only user, any of the 35mm ASPH Summilux lenses will be better than the Distagon. I first got the ZF 355mm/1.4 when I was shooting M9-P and it was tricky. Framing involved wiggling the camera to see what was hidden and then recomposing. But with the later M-P and M11 and EVF I frame and compose in the EVF with all lenses and the length and protrusion of the Distagon into the optical finder is a problem that dropped away (cadit quaestio). The nice thing about the M11 is that the Visoflex EVF is really good enough to focus with too.

From Mount Katahdin in Maine two years ago, Distagon 35mm/1.4 on the Leica M-P with EVF framing (5 separate exposures).  And yes, F/11 probably which reduces the effects of optical differences in lenses.

Larger size viewable here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/steven_keirstead/50872140717/in/dateposted/

 

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

Edited by sdk
Clarity
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Summilux 35mm FLE v2 arrived just about 30 minutes ago. First impression: I love the built-in lens hood. However, unlike my APO 50, which came with a beautiful metal lens cap that fits over the lens hood, the Summilux 35mm FLE II comes with a crappy plastic cap (the one with the side tabs) that will only fit on the lens when the hood is retracted. This will likely result in me either leaving the cap off most of the time, or leaving the lens hood retracted most of the time. Plus these little plastic caps just feel cheap. For the price I would've appreciated a metal cap like the one that came with my APO 50.

Second impression--the click past 0.7m is very subtle. You hear it more than you feel it. Not a big deal, as I imagine I'll know when I want to focus closer than 0.7m since I'll need to switch to live view, and I like that the whole focus dial still feels smooth.

I haven't had a chance to take the lens out but I did snap a couple quick test shots in my apartment to try out the close focus. Image quality is lovely. It feels like the colors have a little more saturation and contrast than the FLE v1, but I could be imagining it. Close focus with the LCD screen on my M11 is pretty simple. I don't feel the need to run out and buy an EVF.

It's nice how much you can fit in the frame of a 35mm lens at 0.4m.

At f1.4, unedited except to straighten a touch. These were both shot about as close as I could get to the little devil. I used the focus peaking assistant.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremybunting/52371490062/in/dateposted-public/

And this one at f2.8:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremybunting/52372435871/in/dateposted-public/

 

Edited by Jeremy Bunting
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