Which is the most underrated Leica lens?

[don daniel]

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There are no underrated Leica lenses, but there are perhaps overrated ones. 😀

[rustyrus]

The Leica 50 1.2 Noctilux RE-issue. Its a joy to handle and the rendering for images is just so butter smooth. 

Its my favorite 50 by a land slide! 

[Bronco McBeast]

There are many. 
 

One of them is the Pancake Summaron-M 35mm f3.5 (M mount)

Extremely well made.

Super compact,

I end up using it any time the weather is bad, or if I fear getting stolent, or lost.

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[jaques]

hmmm, not even rated at all- as it doesn't have the Leica name- but it is leica Mount- so it's 'a leica lens': the Canon 100mm f2 LTM:😁

 

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Edited August 1, 2023 by jaques

[geesbert]

Elmar 50 M 2,8, the latest version. It is such a great lens, all the talk of looking too modern is just not true, it is sharp, has beautiful sharpness drop-off, Bokeh is as good as a 2,8 lens can be, it's tiny, it focusses down to 0,7m.

I sued it on every digital M ever produced, only with the earliest one could hit a baffle when collapsing, but a small O-ring could around the silver barrel prevented that. this is not necessary with modern M cameras.   

I modified mine by pulling it apart and using a lighter grease to reduce focus resistance and I got a focus tab installed (the one from the summicron 35mm king of bokeh)

 

I bought mine in London some 20 years ago for 350GBP.  Best value lens I ever bought (and I bought too many!)

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[nitroplait]

8 hours ago, geesbert said:

Elmar 50 M 2,8, the latest version. It is such a great lens, all the talk of looking too modern is just not true, it is sharp, has beautiful sharpness drop-off, Bokeh is as good as a 2,8 lens can be, it's tiny, it focusses down to 0,7m.

 

Absolutely! 

It is not possible for a 4 element lens to look "too modern". It is a great lens and a bargain - and not plagued  by the vintage problems of haze and coating scratches.

[mediumformula]

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17 hours ago, geesbert said:

Elmar 50 M 2,8, the latest version. It is such a great lens, all the talk of looking too modern is just not true, it is sharp, has beautiful sharpness drop-off, Bokeh is as good as a 2,8 lens can be, it's tiny, it focusses down to 0,7m.

I sued it on every digital M ever produced, only with the earliest one could hit a baffle when collapsing, but a small O-ring could around the silver barrel prevented that. this is not necessary with modern M cameras.   

I modified mine by pulling it apart and using a lighter grease to reduce focus resistance and I got a focus tab installed (the one from the summicron 35mm king of bokeh)

 

I bought mine in London some 20 years ago for 350GBP.  Best value lens I ever bought (and I bought too many!)

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Do you know an accurate weight on this lens?  Is it lighter than the 50 Summarit 2.5?

[otto.f]

6 hours ago, mediumformula said:

Do you know an accurate weight on this lens?  Is it lighter than the 50 Summarit 2.5?

Mine weighs 179gram, incl. hood and front cap. A bit heavier than the Summicron 35 iv, which has a plastic hood. But with both I seldom doubt leaving it at home for that weight. 

Edited August 2, 2023 by otto.f

[Ouroboros]

50mm elmar-m f2.8, or any other 50mm elmar for that matter.

 It’s what Leica cameras were made for.

 

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Edited August 2, 2023 by Ouroboros

[mediumformula]

On 8/1/2023 at 3:04 AM, geesbert said:

Elmar 50 M 2,8, the latest version. It is such a great lens, all the talk of looking too modern is just not true, it is sharp, has beautiful sharpness drop-off, Bokeh is as good as a 2,8 lens can be, it's tiny, it focusses down to 0,7m.

I sued it on every digital M ever produced, only with the earliest one could hit a baffle when collapsing, but a small O-ring could around the silver barrel prevented that. this is not necessary with modern M cameras.   

I modified mine by pulling it apart and using a lighter grease to reduce focus resistance and I got a focus tab installed (the one from the summicron 35mm king of bokeh)

 

I bought mine in London some 20 years ago for 350GBP.  Best value lens I ever bought (and I bought too many!)

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

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

How did you install the focus tab? 

[pedaes]

16 hours ago, mediumformula said:

Do you know an accurate weight on this lens?

The black is alloy, the chrome brass. 

The Red Book says 170 grams black and 245 grams chrome (last version).

Edited August 2, 2023 by pedaes

[geesbert]

On 8/2/2023 at 5:37 PM, mediumformula said:

How did you install the focus tab? 

I got it installed by Will van Manen (https://www.kamera-service.info/index.php/de/) years ago. I sourced the tab from Ebay and its curve suits the Elmar perfectly. 

IMO the Cron4 tab is the best Leica ever made, very grippy but no sharp edges in sight.

[microview]

On 7/23/2023 at 7:11 PM, rho said:

Summaron 35 2.8

Classy build, tiny, sharp in the center, glows lovely, still affordable 

+1. And you can disable the infinity lock with a tiny sliver from a match-stick.

[adan]

90mm Summicron v.2 Canadian (last of the large "stovepipe" versions).

Mostly because they ARE large and heavy (600g per my scales, 590g if the tripod socket is removed). And because of their age (minimum 47 years) which may mean haze or dust, or other "sample variations."

I avoided this lens like the plague for years, due to the weight. But have tried a few examples recently on my M10s, and find it has very well-sorted imaging that is actually a bit cleaner than the succeeding compact Sonnar-type 90mm v.3, at f/2.0.

Has a nice long focus throw for precision focusing at f/2 (180° or 112mm linear).

Has quite good resistance to flare from bright lights just outside the image area (as 90mms go). But less harsh (IMO) than the APO-Summicron.

Just got another today, and it will now be a keeper ("If you've tried the rest, now buy the BEST!"). Very late production (1975) so it has the modern small knurling, the "right-way-around" aperture ring, and clean glass.

I can accept the extra weight (unusually, for me), because it will be an occasional substitute for a 135 APO/75 Nokton duo totalling 797g - a net weight reduction of 200g.

Plus, it is yet another Walter Mandler lens (my favorites), and marked "Made in Canada."  

[UliWer]

I always underrated the old 1:4.5/13.5cm Elmar - as long as I didn't know it. I thought it was a lens design originally used for large format and somehow adapted for 35mm-film in the early years of the Leica but not really up to the standard needed for this format. Most old 13.5cm Elmars are uncoupled but I recently found a late example from 1935 which is coupled.

So I tested it against an early and a late version of the 13.5cm Hektor to find out how bad it really is. To my astonishment I had to try hard to see differences even with very strong crops. At f/4.5 I'd call both lenses equal - on far distances as well as in the near range, in the center as well as in the corners. Only at f/9 the Hektor shows a tiny bit more of critical details - but also much more chromatical aberrations whilst the Elmar shows none at all. 

So why did they replace the old Elmar with the Hektor in the early 30s? I think there was a rather profane reason for this: in these days price increases were unknown - and the Elmar was rather cheap: 132,-RM in 1935. The Hektor was 165,-RM. So by ditching the Elmar customers had to pay the much higher price of the Hektor  - which remained in the catalogue for almost 30 years. 

So one might get an idea which Leica lenses are underrated: the cheaper ones compared to the more expensive ones. This was true for the 1:3.5/50mm Elmar compared to the early 1:2.8 version, as well as for the late 50mm Elmar-M compared to the Summicron and of course the whole late Summarit series.