Review of the Lenses for the Leica M-series cameras
Is this article useful to you? If you think so,
please consider a voluntary donation.
Contribute via Paypal
Theater photographs made with Leica M6
Jump ahead to:
35mm f/2.0 Summicron ASPH.
In its guise of the street photography camera extraordinaire, the Leica M series is almost always paired with a 35mm lens. The small, lightweight 35mm Summicron is probably the 35mm lens of preference for such photographers, and the version I own is this lens in its most recent, aspheric incarnation.
Just as there's a lid for every pot, I believe that there's a lens hood of every lens. The 35mm Summicron ASPH comes with a custom, rectangular lens hood which has a matching, rectangular lens cap. I'm a fan of rectangular lens hoods, and given the relatively small size of this one, I think it's startlingly effective. Made out of flexible plastic, it adeptly cushions the lens and camera from bumps and knocks. Without the hood, the 35mm Summicron ASPH blocks only the very smallest portion of the lower right corner of the viewfinder. The lenshood, which lacks any sort of cutout, increases this occlusion only very slightly.
Rapid focusing is aided by the tab on the focus ring. With a rangefinder camera, it's worth the effort to pre-set the focus before lifting the camera to your eye. With 35mm Summicron, this is aided by being able to feel the position of this tab; the tab also makes it easier to manipulate what would otherwise be a very small focus ring on a very small lens. Like most of the Leica M lens line, the 35mm Summicron ASPH will focus down to .7 meters.
Optical performance is staggeringly good. The 35mm Summicron ASPH offers outstanding resolution, excellent contrast, and great resistance to flare. Theater photography with wide angle lenses can be challenging because of the difficult lighting, but the resistance to flare and excellent contrast of this lens make such situations less of a struggle to retain shadow contrast. Like all the Leica M lenses, the 35mm Summicron ASPH has a pleasing, smooth and coherent out of focus rendition. Out of focus specular highlights are not distractingly portrayed, and out of focus objects retain recognizability even when well out of the focus plane.
50mm f/2.0 Summicron
When I first used an M6 I had access to 35mm and 90mm lenses. When I bought my own M6, my first purchases were the 35mm and 90mm lenses. Prior to that, I'd never been a big fan of 50mm lenses, which I always felt were either not wide enough or not long enough depending on the situation. But in the first week I started to want something longer than the 35 and wider than the 90, and I succumbed to the (relatively) low price of the 50mm Summicron and snapped one up. That impulsive purchase is arguably one of the best photographic buying decisions I've ever made.
The 50mm Summicron has been through numerous changes (both in mechanical design and lens formulation) over the years. The version I own is the most recent - the one with the built-in telescoping lens shade.
Mechanically, the 50mm Summicron is unremarkable for a Leica lens. There's the usual silky smooth focus, the clear focus scale, depth of field, and aperture markings. The focus ring is reasonably sized but has no tab. To my dismay, the lens hood is rigid and telescopes. This makes it impossible to lose but diminishes the protection the hood offers the lens and camera. Regardless of whether the lens shade is extended or retracted, none of the 50mm field in the viewfinder is occluded. Closest focus is .7 meters.
The 50mm Summicron is surprisingly small and lightweight. The combination of this lens and an M series body is inconspicuous and unintimidating. Balance and handling of the combination of the lens and an M6 body is excellent.
The optical performance of the 50mm f/2.0 Summicron is the stuff of legends, and I'm of the opinion that, if anything, the legend understates the breathtaking excellence of this lens. In every regard - resolution, contrast, flare resistance, out of focus rendition, tonality - the 50mm Summicron has dramatically raised my expectations of what is possible in the world of 35mm photography. Given that it's not the fastest Leica lens I own, nor the shortest nor longest, it surprises me slightly when I consider that the 50mm Summicron is the lens that is most often on a body, and probably accounts for about half of the images I make with my Leicas.
Given that the lens is one of the least expensive in the Leica M lens lineup, it's hard to imagine a better value.
90mm f/2.0 Summicron
The biggest problem suffered by the 90mm f/2.0 Summicron-M is that it suffers in comparison to the other lenses in the Leica M lens lineup.
Like every lens in the Leica M series, the 90mm Summicron has been through several revisions of both the mechanical design and the optical formulation. The version I own is NOT the most recent, aspheric design, but its predecessor. Although the newer aspheric lens is widely reputed to be an improvement, I've not used one and can't comment on it from direct experience.
For a Leica M system lens, the 90mm Summicron is relatively large and heavy. Like all Leica M lenses, the focus is smooth, the markings are clear, and quality of build is excellent. The version I have is equipped with a built-in, telescoping lens hood which provides good (but not excellent) shielding. With the hood retracted, the lens occludes the 90mm field of view in the viewfinder very slightly, just nicking the corner. With the hood extended, the viewfinder is occluded slightly more, but not by a large amount.
If I were to pick one Leica lens which I felt failed to live up to the standard of the other lenses, the 90mm f/2.0 Summicron would be it. While I still consider it to be an excellent lens, it is not as sharp or contrasty as the 35mm ASPH Summicron or the 50mm Summicron, and lacks the beautiful out of focus rendition of the other lenses. The performance drops off wide open more than the other M series lenses I own. Flare resistance is very good, and the close focus distance is one meter.
In use, I find the 90mm field of view to be inconveniently small in the normal magnification M6 bodies I use. The 90mm lens would be far more useable on the high magnification M6-HM and M6-HM TTL bodies.
75mm f/1.4 Summilux
Like the 50mm Summicron, the 75mm f/1.4 Summilux deservedly falls into the legendary category. Part of the problem with the 90mm Summicron is that its performance simply pales in comparison to the incredible 75mm Summilux.
The lenses in the Leica M lineup have all been through multiple mechanical and optical incarnations, and the version I own is the most recent, made in Germany with a built in telescoping lens shade. The Canadian version of the same optical design was listed as heavier by Leica, but one person told me that they actually weighed the same. My understanding is that the Canadian and German versions are identical optically.
The 75mm f/1.4 Summilux is among the largest and heaviest lenses in the Leica M lineup. Because of the relatively large size (in particular the large diameter) the lens occludes a substantial portion of the 75mm frame in the M6 viewfinder, even with the lens hood retracted. Extending the hood increases the occlusion only slightly. Although it would seem that blocking a substantial portion of the viewfinder would be an enormous hassle, in practice I find that I rarely notice it at all. The 75mm f/1.4 Summilux shares the high quality of build, luxuriant smooth feel, and excellent markings of the Leica M lens line. To my surprise, the balance of the combination of the lens and an M6 body provides excellent balance and feel, and I find I can routinely hand hold the combination at shutter speeds of 1/30 second and expect to come up with tack sharp images.
In my opinion, the optical performance of the 75mm f/1.4 Summilux is unsurpassed. Even wide open at f/1.4, the resolution, contrast, and tonality are stunningly good. Out of focus rendition is smooth and coherent and readability of even extremely out of focus objects is excellent, making the very shallow depth of field of the lens at f/1.4 a tremendously useful tool for isolating parts of the image. The closest focus distance is .7 meters. Like all of the M lenses I own, flare resistance is excellent.
Because of the very shallow depth of field wide open, you need to exercise care in focusing. Using a body with a high magnification finder (M6-HM or M6-HM TTL) would ease the burden somewhat, but I find I have little difficulty focusing on a standard M6 body. Some people find the 75mm frame lines in the m6 viewfinder annoying but I don't suffer from that problem.
Despite the high price tag, the 75mm f/1.4 Summilux represents an excellent value.
50mm f/1.0 Noctilux
If any lens for a 35mm camera could be said to have achieved 'cult' status, the 50mm f/1.0 Noctilux would be it. Aficionados of this lens talk about photographing in 'available darkness'. Fully two stops faster than the 50mm f/2.0 Summicron, the Noctilux shares the status of the fastest current production lens for a 35mm camera with the Canon 50mm f/1.0 EF-L lens for the Canon EOS system. However, in the 'fastest lens' battle, I'd give the edge to the Noctilux, if only because it mounts on the M6, arguably the ideal camera for low light candid photography because of its size, quietness, and the ease of rangefinder focusing in poor or nonexistent lighting.
Amongst M6 users, the Noctilux has a reputation of being both big and heavy. Yes, the Noctilux is big and heavy compared, say, to the diminutive 50mm Summicron. Compared to a lens in a modern SLR lineup, however, it doesn't seem so bad. In this photo, you can compare the size of the Noctilux (on the left) with the Canon 50mm f/1.4 EF autofocus lens (on the right). Given that the Noctilux is a full stop faster, and that the Canon lens is smaller than the average size for the Canon EF line, the size of the Noctilux doesn't seem so bad. Compared to the Canon 50mm f/1.0 EF-L, the Noctilux is petite.
Although the other lenses in the Leica M line are arguably general purpose tools, the 50mm f/1.0 Noctilux is clearly a special purpose, unique tool, well suited to some working conditions and poorly suited to others. The tradeoffs inherent in designing and building such a fast lens have all been made in favor of performance in low, difficult lighting situations at maximum aperture. As a result, performance when stopped down is not in the same league as even the inexpensive 50mm f/2.0 Summicron. If you do most of your photography at apertures of f/2.0 or smaller, the Noctilux is simply not a suitable tool for you.
The Noctilux I own is the most recent incarnation, with built in telescoping lens hood. Like every M series lens, The Noctilux offers excellent build quality, silky smooth feel, etc. Despite the larger bulk and weight of the Noctilux (compared, say, to the 50mm Summicron) the balance when mounted on an M6 is excellent. The Noctilux blocks a substantial amount of the 50mm frame in the viewfinder, and I find this irritating with stunning regularity. Extending the lens shade worsens the situation but not dramatically.
As you can imagine, at f/1.0 depth of field is non-existent. In order to improve ease of focusing, the focus ring on the Noctilux rotates through a much longer arc than most Leica lenses. Although focusing would be easier on an M6 HM, I find I have little difficulty with focus accuracy working with a standard M6 body.
Because of the special nature of the Noctilux, virtually all photographs made with it are made with the lens wide open (or nearly so). Wide open, the Noctilux vignettes the corners very slightly. This isn't noticeable in some images, is an improvement in some, and is simply a fact of life that the Noctilux user works with. Flare resistance is incredibly good, which is important since images made in poor lighting situations often have a light source (which is far, far brighter than anything else in the image) inside the frame. Contrast is not as high as with the other Leica lenses, but the extraordinary flare resistance give excellent detail into the deepest shadows, and trust me, there always deep shadows in the sort of lighting where you'd use the Noctilux.
Because the maximum aperture is f/1.0, the Noctilux enables you to work with slower film in merely mediocre lighting, while still keeping reasonably fast shutter speeds. With a fast film like TMZ or Delta 3200, the Noctilux enables you to capture photographs in lighting that is simply impossible without it.
As a general purpose 50mm lens, the Noctilux would be hopeless, especially considering the high price tag. As a special purpose tool, used in the conditions for which it was designed, the Noctilux is incredible - fully earning its legendary reputation.
