Leica 35mm APO-M - The Lens you only need?

[mdg1371]

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I have found that the 35mm APO is the least used of my 35’s- no faulting the image quality, it is superb. I just generally grab the steel rim, 8 element, cron IV, or lux asph pre-FLE for the specific look each brings.

 

[ldhrads]

I've been a 50mm guy most of my life, although I learned to use rangefinders on a 35mm lenses back in my old film days.  I got an aAPO 35/2.0 last year and have found it hard to remove from my M10-P. In fact on my last trip I took 3 other lenses which sat in the bag it's so versatile. That said, I'm not getting rid of any of the collection and still use plenty of other lenses for creativity sake!

 

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[Jeff S]

54 minutes ago, ldhrads said:

  I got an aAPO 35/2.0 last year and have found it hard to remove from my M10-P. 

 

DAG can repair that.

Jeff

[Huss]

On 5/14/2023 at 1:15 PM, Jan1985 said:

Just a question: When you own a 35mm APO-M, do you have the necessity to add another lens or is this the only lens you really need?

Not only is it not the only lens I really need, it is also not the only 35mm lens I really need.

For a 35mm lens it is too slow to cover all my needs.  It only opens up to f2.  As a film shooter there are many instances where that is not enough due to diminished light levels.

[otto.f]

I don’t think that the IQ available at 1.4 at the moment is higher than one stop higher ISO. Maybe at 1600-3200 there’s a nod in the graphic but the APO has a clarity and sharpness at 2.0 thus far unseen in Summicrons. 

[Jan1985]

That's AND with the high level contrast suggests a thinner DOF and more isolation of the subject. And Leica is able to realize with some kind of character and not in a clinical manner.

[pgk]

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On 5/15/2023 at 7:18 PM, Warton said:

I asked myself the similar question before I proposed to my wife.

I still don't know the answer.

Your wife does😉. She probably also knows whether you need another lens assuming that you have the 35 apo😆.

[chris_tribble]

Hmm.  I suppose I'm prejudiced as 35mm is probably my favourite FL.  I have Q2, M10-R and SL, and while I know that I'll never better the 35 SL APO  + SL2, I keep on returning to my venerable M 35 Summicron Asph on the M10-R.  I've been using nothing else for the last few weeks and know that if I was faced with having to chose only one camera and one lens, I think it would be this pair (despite the SL2 + VE 24-90 being a fantastic work-horse set up).  I know the M35 APO is a thing of wonder, but for my purposes the IQ from the Summicron Asph is better than sufficient and in terms price-performance is unbeatable IMHO.

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[RexGig0]

On 5/14/2023 at 3:15 PM, Jan1985 said:

Just a question: When you own a 35mm APO-M, do you have the necessity to add another lens or is this the only lens you really need?

I would feel limited, if a 35mm f/2 lens were my only lens. 35mm is a limitation, a maximum aperture of f/2 is a limitation. Whether I “need” to go beyond those limits could consume pages of writing.

If I owned an “ISO-invariant” camera, f/2 might be a sufficiently wide aperture, for letting light reach the sensor, but, I might still wish to use f/1.4 for creative reasons. I own older M cameras. Original M10, and, M Type 246 Monochrom. I often shoot in the evenings, especially during the long, hot summers, here in Texas. Sometimes, I need more light than an f/2 lens would allow.

I have long enjoyed the occasional use of 21mm lenses, and recently started liking to use the Elmar-M 24mm ASPH. Neither is anything close to 35mm. Neither can be achieved by  stepping backward, a few steps. Stepping backward is terrain-dependent, anyway. Terrain, which includes urban structures, is a limitation.

Some photographers might be satisfied to crop 35mm images, rather than carry 50mm, 75mm, and 90mm lenses. I am not. My chief reason for adding the Leica M system, in 2018, was to be able to use the Summilux-M 50mm ASPH. Its unique background blur, when shot at f/1.4, could not be faked, and I have since learned that this lens flares, in ways can be used, artistically.

I could continue, but think I have named sufficient reasons why I would “need’ more than just the one 35mm f/2 APO lens.

[RexGig0]

In my earlier reply post, I did not mean to imply that I am against the use of APO Summicron lenses, or that I do not like the renderings provided by modern lenses. I just finished photographing a quite congenial bee, of an uncommon native species, in the front yard garden, where it is resting on a Frostwood plant. I was using a Nikon D850, and a Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D, then a Nikkor 70-200mm f/4g, with Vibration Reduction in the latter lens. “Perfect,” modern lenses have their place. 

In late June, 2023, I did some “crunching” of numbers, to see if I could add a pre-owned APO Summicron-M 50mm ASPH. Camera West, a Leica dealer, had several listed. I determined that my budget could not quite accommodate spending $6K+ US on a pre-owned Leica 50 APO, so, obviously, the ~$9K US for a Leica 35 APO Summicron would not be practicable, either. It would be nice, someday, to eventually have both the 35mm and 50mm APO Summicron-M ASPH lenses.

Last year, I did buy an APO Summicron ASPH, though a 75mm. (Pre-owned, of course; every Leica-brand lens I have bought, thus far, has been pre-owned.) This being one of the earlier APO Leica lenses, it is not as modern, and not as optically perfect, as more-recent APO ASPH Leica lenses. Notably, however, its magnification, at Minimum Focusing Distance, is quite good, which lessens my perceived “need” for a Close-Focusing Leica lens. 

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by RexGig0