Dan Kerin

 Leica 35mm F2 Summicron V2

So far 2024 has been a year where I have shot more 35mm lenses than ever before, and here is yet another one. The Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron version 2 had a very short production run from 1969 until 1971 which led to only 12,400 lenses being manufactured. The lens is extremely small measuring 33 x 51mm and has a simple design of six elements in four groups. The lens has 10 aperture blades and can yield some nice bokeh. Like the Leica 35mm f1.4 Summilux Pre ASPH it does not have a filter thread and uses the 12504 hood which allows for series 7 filters to be placed within. This is something to note if you are planning on using filters with this lens.

I had an upcoming holiday to Toulouse where I though using a small compact lightweight 35mm lens would be perfect. The lens pairs very well with any Leica M camera, not being too large that is overwhelms the body and also not being too small it is difficult to use. One of my first criticisms of this lens which became more and more apparent while using it is the location of the aperture control tab. For some reason unknown to me the design team at Leica decided to place the aperture control tab at the 10 ‘o’ clock position which means when you want to stop down you block the rangefinder due to this location. A big oversight on the behalf of the team at Leica and even more disappointing for me as it was a Dr Walter Mandler designed lens.

Other than this major design flaw (in my opinion) the lens is a great little lens. Wide open it is not as sharp as modern lenses but I don’t think this is why you would buy this lens. I found that at f/4 and above the lens is sharp enough and below this, though it is not tac sharp and while other lenses may be sharper this is a lens from the late 60’s/ early 70’s so keep this in mind. With 10 aperture blades it is possible to get some nice out of focus areas but your subject will need to be pretty close to do so. This can be achieved as this lens does have a minimum focus distance of 0.7m.

For me this is a hard lens to recommend for a number of reasons. Personally I love the rendition and styling of older lenses and having shot with the 35mm f2.8 Summaron I would personally go for one of them over this lens. Though it’s a stop slower its built better and performs the same if not better at f2.8. And if I was looking for a tac sharp modern 35mm lens I would go for the Leica 35mm f2 Summicron ASPH as they are only a couple of hundred pounds more at the time of writing this review.