I have just bought the 35mm f/1.4 Summilux Aspherical. it is still in transit and i leave for china early next week. So i do not have enough time to run some lens tests. What (in users opinions) is the sharpest aperture? What is this lens like fully open? any relevant experiences you can share with a new owner with little time to learn?

thank you all

john

-- john molloy (ballyscanlon@hotmail.com), December 18, 2001

Answers

John:

I haven't done extensive testing w/this lens (you might want to visit Photodo or Erwin Puts's web sites for such things, e.g., http://www .photodo.com/prod/lens/leicam.shtml#LeicaM & http ://www.imx.nl/photosite/leica/mseries/testm/m2-35.html), so I can't tell you what the sharpest aperture is. However, like most modern Leica glass, this lens was designed to be used wide open &, in my experience, it performs very well indeed @ f/1.4. IMO, if you're not going to be using it @ f/1.4 a substantial amount of the time, you'd might as well save yourself some money (& space in your camera bag) by getting yourself the Summicron ASPH instead, which has the same look or "fingerprint." I bought this lens because I like to do a lot of low-light, "available darkness" shooting, here's a snapshot Summilux example:

-- Chris Chen (furcafe@cris.com), December 18, 2001.

John, EVERY aperture on that lens is sharp enough to blow you away, if the lens has no manufacturing defects and is functioning properly. Unfortunately, that's something no one on this forum can tell you. At the very least, run a roll of high resolution slide or color neg film past it and examine the film with a good loupe before you go abroad.

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), December 18, 2001.

This is the most amazing lens. It seems to engrave the image into the emulsion, at times I can see a photoshop-like halo around sharp transitions between dark and light areas, which can be disconcerting. I think the best test you can do is go and have fun with it in China.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), December 18, 2001.

John:

I have tested this lens, and can echo the above comments. Essentially, it is very -- no -- *exceptioanlly* sharp wide open and stopping down only increases depth-of-field.

Enjoy!

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), December 18, 2001.

I have a product called the BAS report that I got from London. BAS is a word composed from the name of the engineer that runs the test lab, Barnim A. Schultz. His report has computer generated charts and graphs for every Leica M lens, (up to a couple of years ago), and for the question that you ask, the 35mm f/1.4 Asph is extremely consistent across the aperture range.

The graph for sharpness has a side view for which the left side is representing the center of the image, and as the line graph goes to the right, it corresponds to the edge of the image, (in theory, the center is the sharpest part of the image for most lenses, and toward the edges, the image quality drops some). For the 35mm f/1.4 asph, the difference in sharpness between f/1.4 and f/8.0 is very small (in comparison to many other lenses), and contrast is a bit more divergent at the edge of the frame, but still quite high at full aperture. All indications are that like most lenses, f/8.0 just can't be beat for sharpness and contrast...But, the difference between that aperture and wide-open is as close as any lens in the catalog, except for the 135mm Tele-Elmar, for which the graphs for wide open and f/8.0 actually intersect and never diverge.

The test lab makes a numeric grade for every lens in the catalog from one to a hundred for both optical and mechanical quality. As a benchmark, the 50mm f/2.0 Summicron, long held up as the standard to measure all lenses received a grade of 96 for optics. The 35mm f/1.4 asph surpassed that with a 98, the highest grade in the report.

All of these numbers are interesting, but in the end it is only the pictures that count, so use your lens without fear, at whatever aperture you need. There is not a bad one on the dial.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), December 18, 2001.

John

In my opinion, the Photodo rating of this lens (3.8 on a scale up to 5.0) doesn not reflect the brilliance of this lens. I think Erwin's report is more accurate. i have experience with the original 35/1.4- Aspherical lens (the one with two aspherical elements), which is similar in performance to the current 35/1.4-ASPH M lens.

At full aperture at night photographing bright light sources, this lens is amazing. The best I have ever seen. I conclude that the lens will give outstanding performance at any aperture. To parapharase the beer commercial, it doesn't get any better than the 35/1.4 Aspherical.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), December 18, 2001.

John, I never put the lens through formal testing, but I agree with the enthusiasm of the other responders. I wanted to mention that the lens is quite flair resistant and some of my best photos are facing the light source. I hope you enjoy it.

-- Bill Henick (dhen1922@aol.com), December 18, 2001.

All the recent reformulated M lenses are excellent through out their aperture range. You can select any aperture based on what you want (exposure and depth of field) and not have to worry about having to stop down for critical sharpness, or not stopping down too far. Every aperture is fully useable and delivers excellent results. We are very fortunate indeed.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), December 18, 2001.

What John said.

-- Paul Chefurka (paul@chefurka.com), December 18, 2001.

I wonder how the first version of the 35 lux-M compares with the present version? The first had two aspherical elements, but the current only has one, if I am correct. Sometimes, Leica gets carried away and they "bite off more than they can chew," and the product gets too expensive to sell. I think the 35-70 Vario-Elmarit-R is a case in point. I think the early 35mm Summilux-Ms, with the 2 Asph elements, sell for more on the used mkt.

-- Frank Horn (owlhoot45@hotmail.com), December 18, 2001.

As a general rule of thumb, the highest resolution aperture is two to three stops down from max.

In the case of F1.4 lens, the sharpest apertures are F4, f5.6

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 18, 2001.

I came across BAS lens tests, it is the lab which did lens test for Foto Magazin in Germany.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 18, 2001.

John,

I travel monthly through China and if you need any advice or anything please contact me privately. Have fun!

Ray

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), December 18, 2001.

Chris, I love shooting these kinds of photos- I just got back a roll of TCN400 rated at 800 from a jam session/party. Some came out okay, with a 35/ Cron A. Can you include tech. details on your shot- film, shutter speed?

-- Tse-Sung (tsesung@yahoo.com), December 19, 2001.

Tse-Sung:

Good guess! That shot was indeed taken during a flamenco interlude @ a party this past summer. According to my records, that was 1 of my 1st shots taken w/the 35/1.4 Summilux ASPH on my M2, 1/250 sec. @ f/1.4 on Neopan 1600 pushed 1 stop.

-- Chris Chen (furcafe@cris.com), December 19, 2001.

John,

I suggest you ignore photodo's test, which I suspect is incorrectly labelled. I think maybe they tested an earlier version of the 35 'lux, i.e. pre-ASPH. FWIW, your new lens has the reputation of being superb at any aperture but I'm not able to speak from experience.

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), December 20, 2001.