Jono’s Review: Leica 35mm f1.4 Summilux V1 (Steel Rim)

[jonoslack]

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Introduction

Today Leica have announced two new Classic releases: The 35mm Summilux version I (often known as the 'steel rim') first released in 1961, and the Leica M6 classic, first released in 1984.

This article will concentrate mostly on the new lens, which I have been testing on and off for a little over a year. However, I held the M6 in my hands for the first time at the LSI Meeting in Dublin last week and fell immediately in love!

The New Leica M6

First of all, I haven't tested this camera, There isn't so much need to test a film camera, so I've not had one sent my way. I thought it was a great idea, but I didn't know the full details until visiting Dublin last weekend, where Stefan Daniel was carrying the new camera with the 35 Summilux V1.

Superficially the camera is a replica of the 1984 version of the M6, complete with the Leitz red spot and the engraving on the top plate. The shutter speed dial is also exactly as the original camera and the MP (smaller and in the other direction).

The original camera had a die-cast zinc top and brass bottom plate, but the new camera is machined out of solid brass. In addition it has the latest version of the 0.72 rangefinder. The viewfinder itself now has a red dot between the two arrows (as did the M7 and the M6TTL).

The paint is the same as the M11 (which is incredibly durable) but with a slightly smoother finish. This camera will brass, but it's going to take a long time!

Most of the rumours about the new camera suggested that it would be a limited edition, but this is not the case. Leica have completely revamped the supply chain for components so that they should be able to produce the cameras quickly, and be able to repair them for the foreseeable future.

This is Leica re-affirming their allegiance to film photography whilst every other manufacturer has abandoned it.

Leica Classic Lens remakes

Lots of photographers are discovering the charms of older lenses (and coincidentally their vices!). Collectors have long understood which lenses are interesting or scarce, so that prices for vintage lenses can be extremely high:

For instance a quick check on eBay finds copies of the Leica 35 Summilux (Steel Rim) in good condition on sale for as much as €30,000. The hood was an accessory and the OLLUX (12522) is now trading for around €2,500 (and considering how easily it falls off you would have to be very brave to use it!)

If you are a collector that's all well and good, but if you're a photographer, and you would like to use these classic lenses, then it's pretty hard to justify the cost. More than that, these lenses were at the cutting edge of technology in the fifties, sixties and seventies, and were extremely difficult to manufacture, so there was quite a large sample variation between different examples, added to which many have suffered misfortunes over the years.

Leica had the bright idea of remaking some of these iconic lenses: In most cases the original glass is no longer available, so they have carefully used equivalent modern glass and coatings with similar characteristics. Lens technology has come a long way in 60 years, so manufacturing is now much more straightforward, and the sample variation which plagued the lenses of the 60s should not be an issue.

So far they have produced the 28 f5.6 Summaron from the mid fifties, then came the 90mm f2.2 Thambar soft focus lens from the 30s, then, last year saw the introduction of the 50mm f1.2 Noctilux (which I wrote about here ).

This brings us to the newest lens in the range:

The Leica 35mm f1.4 Summilux version 1 (Steel Rim)

History

The 35mm f1.4 Summilux 1 was produced from 1961 to 1966 and came either with, or without goggles. The lens was produced in Silver Chrome finish and black anodised aluminium (Leica didn't use black chrome plating until 1971). The insides of the lens were brass in both cases. There were around 8,000 lenses made in total.

Lenses for the M3 cameras came with goggles (and focused down to 0.65m) those for the M2 came without goggles and focused only down to a metre.

The Leitz shipping records for the lenses did not indicate either their finish (black or silver) or their mount version (goggles or not). Lars Netopil has estimated the quantities of the different versions by interpolating from the number of M3 and M2 cameras sold during the period and come up with:

• 4400 chrome lenses with goggles
• 3360 chrome lenses without goggles
• 160 black lenses with goggles
• 80 black lenses without goggles

Because the M2 was the accepted camera for wide angle lenses Lars suspects that there might actually be around 200 black lenses without goggles.

The Classic Remake

The remake of the 35 Summilux is a lovely thing. The lens itself is made from brass and silver chrome like the original. It weighs only 200gm, and is not a great deal larger than the 28 Summaron. It handles so nicely on an M11, a great camera and lens combination you can hold in your hand all day.

It comes with 2 different lens hoods; The original Ollux remade, and a round screw in hood. Leica have retained the 'fall off' characteristics of the original Ollux, so the screw in shade is very welcome! Unlike the original lens the remake has a 46mm screw thread for attaching filters, the round shade screws into this, and retains a thread inside, so you can attach filters with either shade (or with no shade).

As an object and a package the whole thing is irresistible; I would recommend you don't look at one if you aren't going to buy!

Image Quality

Erwin Puts in his book Leica M-lenses their soul and secrets (2002) wrote:

At full aperture this lens has low overall contrast with a modest definition of fine details and subject outlines. Stopping down, the improvement is commendable, becoming excellent around f/8. The overall performance characteristic should be put in the context of its age and small volume.

This is a perfect description, but perhaps doesn't cover the 'soul' angle enough.

Wide open the lens is dreamy and never quite sharp. Depending on the subject it can produce really interesting effects.

Stopping down, even to f2.8, makes the lens a great deal sharper, and by f5.6 in the centre it's really very sharp indeed. The edges of the frame are sharp by f4, but the furthest corners never quite make it.

The lens is also rather subject to flare - often in the form of a rainbow, which again can be fun to experiment with.

Clearly the point of buying this lens is for its 'look', not because it compares well with the latest 35 APO Summicron, and 'look' it delivers in spades.

The Bokeh (as with all lenses) depends very much on the subject; with very detailed backgrounds it can seem busy and 'nervous' but never nasty, more often it's sumptuous and creamy.

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Handling

Focusing is with a focusing tab, and it's really delightfully smooth and tactile with an infinity lock. I'm not personally a fan of the infinity lock,

Still, Leica have made it easy to escape and the release button is natural to use.

Like the original lens, you change aperture by holding the tabs for the lens hood, this is a bit fiddly, but the aperture ring feels lovely and it soon becomes second nature.

The small size is a bit of a revelation after using a modern 35mm Summilux; it's wonderfully tiny.

Desire

Perhaps this is the point at which I should confess that I have mostly been an advocate for Leica's modern lenses, especially the APO lenses which I see as having a real character of their own, detailed, gentle and with a lovely bokeh.

However, I own (and love) the little 28 Summaron, and when I tested the f1.2 Noctilux I was definitely impressed. I didn't buy one at the time - mostly because I like to shoot wide open in bright light and I had an M10 with a top speed of 1/4000th (I'm much too lazy to use Neutral Density filters).

Having tested this 35mm lens over an extended period it's been a long time since I've known I had to buy one.

A few months ago I got an email with some questions about the Noctilux f1.2 and couldn't remember the answers. On googling it I was referred back to my own article, and on reading it I promptly placed an order!

With the M11's hybrid/electronic shutter there is no need to use ND filters, and the new EVF makes critical focusing much easier. Of course these advantages are relevant for the new 35 Summilux classic as well.

So, although I still love the modern lenses, I now have a firm base in classic lenses with the 28 Summaron, the 35 Summilux and the 50 Noctilux (keep them coming!).

Conclusion

Leica has gradually grown its commitment to classic remakes, and today's announcement of the M6 and the 35 Summilux Steel Rim really brings it into clear focus. Leica are celebrating their heritage by producing exciting new tools for both analogue and digital photographers, made to modern manufacturing standards, but with designs from their illustrious past. One can imagine remakes of other classic lenses like the Mandler 75mm Summilux or the 21mm Super Angulon.

For photographers who actually want to use classic lenses the re-issue series is a wonderful opportunity. The 35 Summilux is not much more than 10% of the cost of a 60 year old version and has none of the problems of variance or deterioration, in addition they have the advantage of being properly 6 bit coded and corrected.

But the real point is that this lens is a delight to use, and produces lovely images on modern digital cameras as well as classic film Leicas.

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[sebben]

So did Stefan Daniel have a Steel Rim reissue or an Orginal? 

[shirubadanieru]

Thank you so much for the review! Had been waiting for this remake for ages. Now only the 35mm 8e, lux 50mm chrome and rigid cron 50mm left

Can’t wait to get my hands on one! 

[Crem]

1 hour ago, jonoslack said:

 

Leica have completely revamped the supply chain for components so that they should be able to produce the cameras quickly, and be able to repair them for the foreseeable future.

@jonoslack As always, great article & photos. Did you find anything out about the new M6 sharing internals with the MP? I'm curious if the two use the same circuit boards, light meter, etc. My hope is they share all the important internals for long term support reasons. I'm really glad Leica is committed to film + digital.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Crem

[scott kirkpatrick]

Great article, especially with three of your local hens and your lovely granddaughter as the lead-in picture.  I recognize several of the other pictures in the article as having previously been shown without full disclosure of their provenance.

 

But I have to ask about the handsome goat (no, not a joke).  Is he just a Cretan passer-by, or a member of your extended family, whom we can expect to see again?

[darkspark]

Thanks for the review, Jono! How do you like the 2 lens hoods? Do you prefer the circular hood more, or no hood at all?

The photos of the chicken/birds and the handrails near the end of the review seem quite soft. Would you say that the image is soft especially when the subject is close to the minimum focus distance?

[Habbable]

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I’m confused why their design prohibits filters on the steel rim? For me, the size of this lens was appealing, but with a hood (for filters) not so much.

[shirubadanieru]

@jonoslack I have a question if you are able to answer. Do you feel the rendering wide open ~ f2.8 is closer to the original steel rim or to the summilux 35mm v2 pre-asph? Have you heard anything from Leica themselves on this or what has been your experience?

[jonoslack]

1 hour ago, Crem said:

@jonoslack As always, great article & photos. Did you find anything out about the new M6 sharing internals with the MP? I'm curious if the two use the same circuit boards, light meter, etc. My hope is they share all the important internals for long term support reasons. I'm really glad Leica is committed to film + digital.

Hi There Crem

As I understand it . . the problem Leica have making the MP (and the M-A to a lesser extent) is that many of the parts were made by suppliers who no longer exist, so creating another camera with the same internals would be pretty stupid.

So the M6 is substantially different - I guess Leica are producing the printed circuit boards themselves in Portugal, but I don't know for sure.

I would have thought a more likely (and better) solution would be if they now changed the MP a little to take advantage of the modern supply chain for the M6. . . . but I don't know this. What I do know is that they shouldn't have too much trouble producing the M6 in substantial numbers and then being able to supply spares for many years to come.

best

Jono

 

[jonoslack]

11 minutes ago, scott kirkpatrick said:

Great article, especially with three of your local hens and your lovely granddaughter as the lead-in picture.  I recognize several of the other pictures in the article as having previously been shown without full disclosure of their provenance.

 

But I have to ask about the handsome goat (no, not a joke).  Is he just a Cretan passer-by, or a member of your extended family, whom we can expect to see again?

Hmm yes - actually some confusion about exif information on some of the images (because in the early days the camera didn't recognise the 6 bit coding, so that, for instance, the lead picture actually says it was taken with the 90 elmarit! (another uncoded lens I have). There is also the picture of the legs on a boat, which somehow got into the 35 CF article, but is actually take with the steel rim. (I expect some questions!).

The handsome goat is just a Cretan passer - by (I've managed to avoid them at home!).

best

Jono

[jonoslack]

8 minutes ago, Habbable said:

I’m confused why their design prohibits filters on the steel rim? For me, the size of this lens was appealing, but with a hood (for filters) not so much.

It doesn't now - you can put filters directly on to the lens (where the round lens hood screws in) . . . it was the original that needed the hood.

[LocalHero1953]

Thank you, Jono, and, as ever, the photographs in your review are the best and most enjoyable evidence in support of it.

I have the v2 of the Summilux from 1977. Although I'd be curious to know how it differs in performance from the v1, I will not be getting this new one, though I might have done if it had come out before I bought mine. The SL Summicrons (and Q2) are where I now go for bleeding edge modern performance, and my remaining M lenses are all old designs - the Summilux 35 v2, Summilux 50 v2 and Thambar-M - and I have a Summilux-M 75 on the way! It is the Summilux-M 35 v2 that is most in use though: on my M4 with Portra.

[t_air_ee]

7 minutes ago, jonoslack said:

It doesn't now - you can put filters directly on to the lens (where the round lens hood screws in) . . . it was the original that needed the hood.

The E46 filter thread is a game changer in my mind. Been shooting a 1969 V2 for a year, but the obscure filter size makes it frustrating in practice.

Thank you for the thoughtful piece. 

[Crem]

22 minutes ago, jonoslack said:

Hi There Crem

As I understand it . . the problem Leica have making the MP (and the M-A to a lesser extent) is that many of the parts were made by suppliers who no longer exist, so creating another camera with the same internals would be pretty stupid.

So the M6 is substantially different - I guess Leica are producing the printed circuit boards themselves in Portugal, but I don't know for sure.

I would have thought a more likely (and better) solution would be if they now changed the MP a little to take advantage of the modern supply chain for the M6. . . . but I don't know this. What I do know is that they shouldn't have too much trouble producing the M6 in substantial numbers and then being able to supply spares for many years to come.

best

Jono

 

Much appreciated @jonoslack! As an engineer myself I have been skeptical that the new M6 is an MP on the inside for the exact reason you mentioned (electronics specifically). It just doesn't make sense to be stuck with boards designed in 2003 purely from a supply chain point of view. I'm glad you helped clear up that rumor! Hopefully this also means they have lots of spares to keep my MP running for many years ago come. 🙏

  -Chad

Edited October 20, 2022 by Crem

[blaze]

I bought a mint original boxed with Ollux hood for £830. I sold it for £830 . Biggest mistake I ever made. Just ordered ( hopefully ) the new version , I’m excited again 👍

[jonoslack]

2 minutes ago, blaze said:

I bought a mint original boxed with Ollux hood for £830. I sold it for £830 . Biggest mistake I ever made. Just ordered ( hopefully ) the new version , I’m excited again 👍

I'm sure that you'll love it! (and that must have been a little while ago!)

[Habbable]

24 minutes ago, jonoslack said:

It doesn't now - you can put filters directly on to the lens (where the round lens hood screws in) . . . it was the original that needed the hood.

Thank you for your response!
 

I was told over the phone by a Leica dealer that the only way to use filters is inside the hood. On this reissue lens, the steel rim appears to have threads, but can you relay whether these are cosmetic or can actually take a filter? 

[jonoslack]

2 hours ago, sebben said:

So did Stefan Daniel have a Steel Rim reissue or an Orginal? 

Stefan had an M6 reissue and the Steel Rim reissue - but I could hardly confirm it could I!

All the best

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[scott kirkpatrick]

Having had a little exposure to product planning, I wondered about recreating an older product vs. refreshing the last of an old line (the MP-r vs newM6 decision).  At IBM, I don't think offering a "360 reissue" would attract anything but laughter.  Thanks to Moore's Law, my cheap Android phone has far more power than the 360s I used in the 1970s or the Cray-1 I envied then.  But to provide the right setting for some charming lenses, it makes perfect sense to go back to a legendary film Leica, the first with an internal exposure meter.  And redoing the internals not only to replace vanished suppliers, but to keep the costs to where the product will be profitable.  Frankly, wouldn't any of us prefer to rock an M6 with the nice angled rewind knob over a patched-up later film Leica that looks no different than the digital ones?

Edited October 20, 2022 by scott kirkpatrick

[hdmesa]

38 minutes ago, jonoslack said:

Hi There Crem

As I understand it . . the problem Leica have making the MP (and the M-A to a lesser extent) is that many of the parts were made by suppliers who no longer exist, so creating another camera with the same internals would be pretty stupid.

So the M6 is substantially different - I guess Leica are producing the printed circuit boards themselves in Portugal, but I don't know for sure.

I would have thought a more likely (and better) solution would be if they now changed the MP a little to take advantage of the modern supply chain for the M6. . . . but I don't know this. What I do know is that they shouldn't have too much trouble producing the M6 in substantial numbers and then being able to supply spares for many years to come.

best

Jono

 

Do you think this means an older M6 with a dead meter would accept the new M6 meter board?