Lumix 1.8 - 35 S . Open for SL Summicron 35 too.

[jaapv]

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I just acquired a sample of this lens - the SL Summicron  35 is nearly identical, but reduces the f-stop to 2.0, presumably for a slight corner improvement, and has a very nice metal barrel and lens hood. but drops the practical MF/AF switch and is considerably more heavy. That said, the Lumix is made of good quality composite material and the focus ring feels high quality. IQ is said to be the same or very similar - and the price difference is more than 1500 Euro.  Both are weather sealed. I ditched the fugly Panasonic hood (admittedly with button lock) for a well-made Overgaard type metal hood  - 13.99  Euro on Amazon - which made the lens look quite nice.

The only fault I could find that the Lumix exhibits a small amount coma in the corners when stressed up to f 2.0. ( see the Intratuin image) I don't know about the Summicron; maybe somebody can test. 

Test shots deliberately low contrast subject and high-contrast night shot. 

All in all very pleased and a fine companion to my SL Summicron 50. 

All shots SL2S @ 2.0

Feel free to join in with your observations and images. 

[jaapv]

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[jaapv]

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[jaapv]

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[jaapv]

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[Olaf_ZG]

Thanks for this @jaapv. My f/l are covered with the original zooms, but recently I started looking for a fixed lens for the longer walks. The APO’s are great, but the Panasonic’s are so  lightweight as well as cheap, especially secondhand (which are plenty).

Both reasons makes the Panasonic a nice add on, cause I don’t have the intention to sell the zooms.

Curious about this thread.

[jaapv]

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Of course   I will open the 50 mm lens thread as well as they will be meant to compare the two versions of the lens. And showcase both.  I think it is an excellent example of the convergence of high- quality gear on varying levels which is exactly what Leica intended when they created rhe Alliance. 

[Filip Baraka]

Since I got the 35mm APO, I have traded my 35asph that I got in kit with SL2 for another lens. I have not used it that much, and the reasoning was that if I need a walk-around lens, I can buy Panasonic and have more or less the same IQ with the benefit of less weight, so for me, it made sense to go and do a trade-in. A few words on the Leica version: Build quality is excellent. CA was evident without software, especially at the corners, but well controlled with the C1 profile. The hood is nice and metal; I almost did not send it for a trade. 

I can see getting 35/50 from Panasonic in the future, especially if I do a bit more video work…

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[Archiver]

A Panasonic 35 appeared at my local secondhand dealer recently for a super price, but I had to pay some bills and missed it, unfortunately. The Summicron samples you've posted a very decent, so I'm still keen to get either the Panasonic or the Sigma 35/2.

[Archiver]

My secondhand SL2S came bundled with the Summicron 35 SL, and I'm quite impressed with it. Great build quality, smooth and well damped focus ring, and it's very sharp where it needs to be. The images don't have quite the same oomph as the Zeiss Distagon 35/1.4, but there's a considerable price difference between the Panasonic 35 and Zeiss, so that's understandable. There is a fair bit of distortion when shooting on the Panasonic S5, but this is completely corrected in camera with the SL2S. Photos to come.

[davidmknoble]

On 1/17/2025 at 4:17 PM, jaapv said:

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@jaapv, I think your daylight / landscape shots seemed excellent, especially with all the branches giving opportunities for CA and to test MTF’s in both directions.  I think that lens will perform great there, and likely in low light for center subjects.  If I zoom in on this shot, it seems like the coma comes in quite a bit on the upper left corner ( and presumably the same in all corners). 

I think that is common with lenses in the f/1.x range, so not unexpected, but I would not expect miracles on this part.  

The color, even if edited in post, is really natural.  Nice compare.

[Archiver]

Funny observation: the Summicron 35 SL has a fair bit of barrel distortion, but correction is baked into the raws with the Leica SL2-S and the Panasonic S1. But the later generation Panasonic S5 does not bake the corrections into the raw files. This appears to be the case with other Panasonic L mount lenses like the 24-105 and 50mm f1.8 - corrections are baked into the SL2-S and S1 raws, but not the S5. Strange. I have yet to try Sigma L mount lenses with any of these cameras, so I'm curious whether corrections are baked in or not.

[Chris Nebard]

I’m a user of the Sigma 35 i Contemporaries and, while the 35 f2 is supposed to show slight pincushion distortion under the right conditions, I’ve never noticed it in real life use. It’s a native L-Mount of course, as is the Panasonic, and recognised by the SL2-S. Whether this means it corrects any minor distortion etc, I’ve no idea. I’ve used it for four years now for both personal and commercial use - in fact, I have wedding and a hi-fi marketing event coming up and I’ll be using it at both. It’s a cracking lens. 

The options for L-Mount are excellent. Enjoy whichever you choose 👍

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Edited May 20 by Chris Nebard

[Babylonia]

vor 10 Stunden schrieb Archiver:

Funny observation: the Summicron 35 SL has a fair bit of barrel distortion, but correction is baked into the raws with the Leica SL2-S and the Panasonic S1. But the later generation Panasonic S5 does not bake the corrections into the raw files. This appears to be the case with other Panasonic L mount lenses like the 24-105 and 50mm f1.8 - corrections are baked into the SL2-S and S1 raws, but not the S5. Strange. I have yet to try Sigma L mount lenses with any of these cameras, so I'm curious whether corrections are baked in or not.

Did you have done firmware upgrades to the latest versions, as well for camera firmware, as also for the lenses itself?
It could be a difference.

But also the choice of which RAW edit software is used, can make a difference. And which version of the software.
Where one is using the data within the EXIF data, other editors make use of a database of lenses within the software.
(Maybe different outputs as for e.g. difficult moustache types of lens distortion correction ??).

[Archiver]

On 5/20/2025 at 9:10 PM, Babylonia said:

Did you have done firmware upgrades to the latest versions, as well for camera firmware, as also for the lenses itself?
It could be a difference.

But also the choice of which RAW edit software is used, can make a difference. And which version of the software.
Where one is using the data within the EXIF data, other editors make use of a database of lenses within the software.
(Maybe different outputs as for e.g. difficult moustache types of lens distortion correction ??).

The S1 and SL2-S have the latest firmware, but I'm updating the firmware of the S5 from 2.7 to 2.8 right now; thank you for reminding me. I'm also updating the 24-105 firmware from 1.3 to 2.0, so we shall see if anything changes.

I've been using Lightroom 4.4 since it was released, and was not able to purchase a copy of LR6 before it was discontinued. I'm unsure if this is a Lightroom issue or a camera/lens issue at this point, but we shall see after all firmware has been updated.

[Archiver]

@Babylonia I updated the firmware in the Panasonic S5 and tried the Summicron 35 SL again. No dice. The lens corrections don't carry into Lightroom 4. It will have to stick with the SL2-S and S1 for now.

[jaapv]

As an aside: I would ditch LR4 by now. Or even LR 6. I have been reworking old files and it is astonishing how much the results have improved over the years. Not just with Adobe products, but also other mainstream programs, and yes, I am talking simple, basic processing here, not features that you may not need.There is absolutely no comparison. 

[Archiver]

17 hours ago, jaapv said:

As an aside: I would ditch LR4 by now. Or even LR 6. I have been reworking old files and it is astonishing how much the results have improved over the years. Not just with Adobe products, but also other mainstream programs, and yes, I am talking simple, basic processing here, not features that you may not need.There is absolutely no comparison. 

Are there any non-Adobe processing programs you would recommend? I went through a period of trying others like Raw Therapee and Capture One, and Raw Therapee just couldn't give me the look that I wanted at all, everything was washed out and lifeless. Capture One was decent but costs quite a bit for a standalone license. I recall working with some M9 files, and they didn't react the same in Capture One or Raw Therapee, either. The exposure adjustments in particular just didn't work as well.

Edited May 26 by Archiver

[jaapv]

ON1 is ideal if you want a simple basic workflow and all tools you need for more extensive editing if needed.  A Lightroom replacement and my first recommendation. Fantastic offer until May 30. 

Affinity is more of a Photoshop competitor.

DXO PureRaw is a newcomer with a lot of potential

https://www.on1.com

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/

https://www.dxo.com/dxo-pureraw/

You cannot go wrong with any of these three, and there are many more editors out there, but I have no personal experience. 

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[Jeff S]

My understanding is that DXO cannot directly process Monochrom files.  And last I inquired, a customer rep admitted that they were slow to acquire and support Leica gear in general.  Maybe things have changed.

I find LR Classic to be a terrific software now, and works wonders even with old files.  The Photo Plan bundle with Photoshop at about 10 bucks a month is a bargain, although my need for Photoshop is now minimal.