Dan Kerin

 Leica 28mm F/5.6 Summaron LTM

When it comes to lenses I am a huge fan of the 28mm focal length, and usually cant wait to get my hands on one for review. However this was not the case with this lens, even though a fellow photographer insisted I tried it. During the Leica screw mount era, Leica didn’t have many wide angle lenses and while the 28mm Hektor had been around since the mid 30’s it had a relatively simple design and was limited by being an F/6.3 and this when ISO 100 was considered to be a ‘fast’ film was extremely limiting. With the upcoming launch of the Leica IIIG, Leica revised their 28mm offering with the Summaron. This lens was produced from 1955 to 1963, when the 28mm Elmarit became a much better option. The lens has a simple design of 6 elements in 4 groups. What draws people to this lens is its size and weight. It only weighs 150g and measures 23mm x 50mm ! This means when paired on a Leica M or Screw mount camera it makes for a really small lightweight, pocketable setup.

I am a fan of old lenses and 28mm is my preferred focal length I wasn’t in a huge rush to test this lens. This is mainly due to the F/5.6 maximum aperture. I understand this is a factor people will consider if they choose to buy one of these lenses but its not for me. I was already seeing this as a huge challenge, as when possible I just try to shoot with 1 camera and 1 lens. Nevertheless, I put the challenges behind me and worked with what I had. All of the shots were taken using Kentmere 400 (either stock or pushed to 800) this was to allow me the most flexibility however I did find when going from outside to inside I struggled with retaining a usable shutter speed so only recommend using this lens outside on a sunny day or with a flash.

I found the small nature of the lens made it a little fiddly to use when selecting the aperture or focusing, especially when using the lens hood. This being said I ended up focusing at a set distance setting the aperture then just working within that range. This worked really well and it made me move and focus on composition. Sometimes setting limits like this can really help you think outside the box. Another reason for me setting the focus to a set distance was I noticed when paired with an M6 the focus tab would hit the frame selector arm. I didn’t notice this when using it on the M4 so this can just be put down to the frame selector arm being larger on the M6 to the M4. Other than these problems the lens is sharp and performs well. This is no surprise as being a wide-angle F/5.6 I wasn’t expecting it to be anything less.

A fellow photographer I know raves about the re – make of this lens and loved how small and compact it is. For me the size of Leica lenses has never really been an issue. While it is nice to have small lenses, I think there becomes a point where ergonomic and technical aspects have to be sacrificed to keep size down. If you want a super small setup then by all means go ahead and get this lens but for the same price there are many more lenses which will be much more versatile.