Dan Kerin

 Leica 35mm F/2 Summicron ASPH II

The Leica 35mm Summicron ASPH II is a current production M mount lens (2026) manufactured by Leica, and replaced the previous generation ASPH lens which had been in production since 1996. Like the previous generation ASPH Summicron this lens is an entry point into the Leica eco system for those looking to buy new direct from Leica. To say this is an ‘entry’ level lens is an understatement. Like the previous generation it performs exceedingly well and does have a few minor improvements. From reading the technical details, I could only find 3 differences between this lens and the previous generation. Both lenses share the same seven elements in five group design and have the fantastically small 39mm filter thread diameter. Both lenses come in chrome or black and both are very small when mounted on the camera without the hood, making it a great every day carry lens. Moving onto the improvements. The version II has 11 aperture blades compared to eight on the first generation. Having been fortunate to test both I personally did not see a huge difference however some people have reported the bokeh to be smoother on the version II. The next difference is the hood, on the first generation it was a basic plastic styled one which I always felt was rather cheap of Leica. On the version II they have replaced this with a metal screw on designed on which pairs lovely with the lens but does make it much longer which does detract from the overall compactness of the lens. Finally, the version II comes 6-bit coded for those using it on a digital Leica camera.

Enough of the technicalities and onto how it feels and performs in the real world. When paired on a Leica M mount camera the lens feels well balanced and being only 36mm in length does make for a very small compact setup. When you add the hood, this does go up to 54mm and you do notice the additional length. When it comes to the hood, I very much doubt it is actually required as the lens has great coatings anyway, but I am a big fan of how the hood looks on this lens. There is a sleek elegance to it, especially on the chrome variant I was testing. Now why are we talking about the hood so much? On the previous version people did complain about the cheapness of the style of hood used and now it seems people are still complaining as this hood some say is too big. Guess Leica are fighting a losing battle here.

While in Japan I leaned towards the 50mm focal length more which mean this lens was somewhat underused. If you have been a long-time reader, you know I prefer a 28mm or a 50mm and for me I have never really gelled with the 35mm focal length. But there were situations where having a wider lens did allow me to get the shot I wanted. Overall, I was happy with the performance but did notice that this was not as sharp as the 50mm Summilux ASPH I was testing at the same time. I think when using this lens in a normal environment like you see with the black and white shots the performance is excellent, but when pushing the lens to its limits and shooting wide open in low light situations it is not as sharp as the 50mm Summilux ASPH. That being noted I hugely underestimated how little available light would be in Tokyo at night so maybe that is a failure on my behalf.

Is this lens for you? If you are buying new direct from Leica and don’t want to splash out on a APO Summicron or a larger Summilux then it’s a great option, however things become a little more complicated when you are looking on the used market. Having tested both the version I and version II Summicron ASPH, personally I did not notice much between them. One could argue that’s because I was shoot on film and in the real world instead of shooting on a digital M and using a test chart. Optically the lenses are the same only having the differences I mentioned above. I did really enjoy shooting with this lens and I did get some great shots, but I would argue the previous generation would have served me just as well and when generally being £400 - £600 cheaper I think the older version is a better value for money lens.