Dan Kerin

 Leica 35mm F1.4 Summilux Pre ASPH

Throughout the years Leica have made some very special lenses and this is one of them. The Leica 35mm f1.4 Summilux version 2, more often referred to as the 35mm Pre-ASPH was the successor to the original steel rim 35mm Summilux and had a very long production run from 1967 until 1995. Only 28,550 lenses were made in total which may seem a lot but considering these spans over three decades makes this a fairly uncommon lens. Being designed by the famed Dr Walter Mandler I was eager to see what this lens could do. The lens is very small and compact, especially for an f1.4 and only weighs 245g making it very well balanced on any Leica M camera. Having 7 single coated elements in 5 groups and 10 aperture blades this like with many Leica lenses has a simple design which helps keep the weight down and having 10 aperture blades will mean the out of focus areas will be buttery smooth. The lens does not have a filter thread and instead uses the Leica Series 7 filters. This was very fortunate when testing as my personal Leica 28mm Elmarit version 2 uses these filters and I had a couple laying around. The filter fits within the lens hood which can be unscrewed to replace and change filters when you need. I personally did not mind this as I had the hood and spare Series 7 filters but I can see why some may see this as a pain and eventually Leica moved away from the drop in Series filters and went back to using more traditional screw on filters.

Mounting this lens on my Leica for the first time it felt perfectly balanced. The size and weight is similar to that of a 35mm Summicron but with that extra stop meaning it is much more versatile for low light and isolating the subject. Having shot with a lot of lenses designed in the 60’s I knew that wide open at f1.4 it was not going to be the sharpest, but this was designed at a time where film speeds were still somewhat limited and gave the photographer the ability to photograph in lower light conditions albeit with the sacrifice of sharpness wide open. This is not to say this is a soft lens. Like many other lenses designed during this time period and especially lenses designed by Dr Walter Mandler, wide open the centre is sharp but there is significant fall off towards the edges. This combined with the heavy vignette wide open many would call this a bad lens by modern standards. I would disagree and say this is what Leica glass is all about.

I took this lens with me while visiting the Paris as well as on a couple of other trips and found myself really taking a liking to the lens. This lenses number one attribute it the form factor. I know Voigtlander make the 35mm f1.4 Nokton but this is still slightly smaller and does also weigh less. Having a 35mm f1.4 lens makes for a perfect jack of all trades, allowing you to photograph in a wide variety of lighting conditions and spaces. I feel like I did put this lens through its paces, and firstly I will address the performance wide open. When shooting this lens at f1.4 sharpness is very much reduced however you do get some very unique out of focus areas and smoothness which I can only really compare to the Canon 50mm f0.95 dream lens. In addition to this highlights have a tendency to bloom which in certain situations can be great while in other situations it can really detract from the style of the image. This will not be for everyone and even me who likes characterful lenses did sometimes wish I had just stopped down 1 stop to f2 where this lens is at its happiest. This being said it is great to have a lens which can render unworldly dreamy images then transform itself into being a perfectly performing lens, tack sharp with just a couple of stops adjustment.

When it was released this lens was really groundbreaking however in the modern age when you have manufactures such as Voigtlander making their 35mm f1.4 Nokton at a 1/3rd of the price and is sharper wide open it does beg the question why would you buy this lens. And its pretty simple, for the character. Not everyone will like this however it does give that unique look which not every lens can replicate and like why some people like to shoot with the Leica 90mm f2.2 Thambar, some might like the way this lens renders.