A Note to the Reader: It's been a very long time since I've written anything here. I've been heavily into photography for a while now, and have casually put together a review or two about some of the more obscure lenses at mainstream photography forums. Little did I know that even Epinions provided an outlet for the review of such things. In this review I describe the use of this Leica lens on a Canon DSLR by means of a Leica-EOS adapter. Lots of people have done this for years and now I understand why. It gives me the opportunity to combine superb Leica optics with the characteristics of the Canon CMOS sensor which I have come to love. In this review I am referring to the current version of this lens, also known as the Type 2 Summicron-R that was produced in Wetzlar starting 1977.

Short Intro

It's hard to figure out what came over me on Christmas Day in 2007 when I was (horror of horrors), actually at work. But I convinced myself that 35mm was a natural focal length for me, and I should ditch a zoom (the very good 24-105mm f/4L IS) and go for a quality prime lens.

The Canon 35mm f/1.4L was the obvious choice although expensive. Then some devil put the word 'Leica' into my head. Leica lens users rave about the 'characteristics' of such lenses, the tonality, '3D' rendering, ability to handle high contrast and difficult lighting with ease, and last but not least, the obscure 'Leica glow'.

I had to see this for myself. Looking into the Leica system I could see that the R lenses were the most viable, so when I could lay my hands on a well-used 1983 specimen of a 35mm Summicron for just $100 more than a 2nd-hand Canon 35mm f/2, the deal was virtually done even before I had personally seen the lens.

Initial Impressions

The lens is well-constructed, solid, boasting an all-metal barrel engraved with numerals and figures. The focus ring is buttery smooth with negligible wobble. There is some play in the aperture ring but it is by no means loose, and is supposed to be normal. The ring clicks confidently in half stops from f/2 to f/16.

The lens features a built in hood, but it appears impossible to me to pull the hood into position with a Contax filter in the way. Other than that, the Summicron takes standard 55mm filters and the front element does not rotate during focusing, making it convenient to use with a circular polarizer.

The lens carries 6 elements in 6 groups, none of which are cemented. The closest focusing distance is 0.3m, identical to that of the 35mm f/1.4. Because of the build quality the lens weighs in at 430gm but still remains quite compact. It is astounding to note that the optical design of the 'Cron 35 has not changed in over two decades.

The Quirks

When attached to an EOS camera with the adapter, the Leica lens remains an all-manual lens. Focus is done manually and the aperture closes down to the specified aperture as the aperture ring is turned. This means that it is often necessary to focus with the aperture wide open before stopping down to take the picture.

Adapters with reverse-engineered chips do exist and allow for AF confirmation. However I had no success with this and had to deal with sporadic Err 01 and Err 99 messages. Apparently a piece of paper must be inserted just behind the camera's lens mount to hold a specific pin in place. Not something I wanted to mess with, so I went with the plain adapter in the end.

With this lens mounted, I often need to dial in +2/3 exposure compensation even for an average scene.

Manual focusing with this lens is relatively easy assuming you use a camera that has a large viewfinder. This is where the FF cameras have a clear advantage. With the 100% viewfinder of the 1Ds, this lens was a joy to use except under low light conditions where focusing becomes challenging. Because of the reasonable depth of field even at wide open aperture, there is some room for focusing error...not that you'd intentionally do so.

Optical Quality

It is difficult to objectively quantify the optical quality of this lens. I'm not a lens expert and have not been in the hobby for too long. However the most obvious difference between the Summicron and a good L lens appears to be in color rendition. Colors from the Summicron do not appear to be as 'red-heavy' and are muted in a very pleasing manner. The resulting pictures are almost vintage and some have colors I only remember getting from film.

Naturally, post-processing affects this to some degree. Nevertheless I get the feeling that the colors of the Summicron never seem to shout. Under terrible indoor lighting conditions the Leica reproduces these conditions faithfully.

The lens has an excellent feel of sharpness at wide open aperture, but a certain smoothness. Perhaps it demonstrates what some reviewers have said: that the 'Cron 35 has excellent contrast and micro contrast from wide open but the resolution is not very high. Stop down to f/2.8 and sharpness and contrast picks up across the field. But even at f/5.6 or so the very extreme corners of the image still show some softness on a FF body. Peak performance is achieved as early as f/4. At f/8 image quality appears to stagnate, appearing little different from results at f/5.6, and at f/11 image quality in the borders actually drops.

In outdoor photography the lens really shines when used slightly stopped down. A circular polarizer and fill-flash was used for an outdoor portrait session with my friends and their dog, producing something resembling a 3D effect and rich colors. I'm surprised at the results, particularly because they were taken under the harshest mid-afternoon lighting. More than one person has seen some of the images and remarked that they were either 'unreal' or looked 'fake'. Needless to say, there's no such thing as a magic lens and lighting plays a big role in the appearance of an image.

Quality of Bokeh

Let's talk about bokeh. The shape of out-of-focus highlights looks oval like a football rather than the usual circular discs which we are accustomed to seeing from modern lenses. This may be the result of coma (or comatic aberration). This may or may not be desirable, depending on the individual. One way of looking at it is, if you have a photo that is comprised of a large number of OOF highlights, their unexpected shape can add an element of interest in the picture.

That being said, I have no complaints about the bokeh at this stage, and it's nicer than most I've seen from a wide-angle or standard lens when used for general photography. In closeup photography and when stopping down, the bokeh can look rather harsh and highlights take on a hexagonal shape, which is not particularly desireable. Just as with any other lens, increasing the subject to background distance will help to negate some of this issue.

Chromatic Aberration

It is rare to find significant instances of CA in an image. However under more extreme backlit conditions it's entirely possible to force some of it to the surface. They may be present in small amounts, visible when pixel-peeping at 100%, but hardly detrimental to a printed image.

Vignetting

Vignetting is visible at wide open aperture and it is obvious. However, given the scope/ nature of photography (eg. portraits in low light, street photography) at such apertures, it may not be a significant issue.

Resistance to Flare

Flare resistance is excellent, based on limited testing at this stage. An example is a flower closeup photo, taken with the help of some extension tubes and the aperture set between f/4 and f/5.6. The late day sun was low in the sky and shining through the leaves in the background. I used a flash to add some light to the foreground. The lens performed beyond expectations even under challenging lighting conditions where flare was likely to be induced. However it also showed that the bokeh of this lens isn't all that attractive at smaller apertures, which is arguably expected from a wide angle lens (see comments above regarding bokeh).

Verdict

The Leica Summicron-R 35mm f/2, despite having its qualities, is not a mainstream lens because of the lack of AF and electronic aperture control. It is a tool that requires some deliberation and thought when used. For fluid scenes such as those of a wedding I was forced to shoot wide open in almost all instances because the added step of stopping down the aperture invariably means missing a shot.

The side effect of shooting wide open however meant that it was possible to photograph down to almost abysmal light levels and having the bokeh as gravy.

It is arguable as to whether the Leica's 'qualities' are worth losing the AF and electronic control that would be present on a cheaper Canon 35mm f/2. However the build quality, performance at wide open, subtle color rendition, low CA and flare resistance make it a strong candidate if 35mm is your favorite focal length, and if you're not always doing reportage or event photography where AF is very helpful.

I've had much joy using this lens to date and it's been a staple in my bag for over 8 months (at the time of writing). Its short minimum focusing distance means that I can easily shoot expansive landscapes and revert to photographing closeups in an instant. If you can find a well-used copy at a good price, bearing in mind that light scratches hardly affect image quality, it's probably one of the best ways to get into Leica glass and experience it for yourself.

Final Note

If you wish to see a version of this review together with some sample images, please visit the following link:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=435790

Unfortunately this article at Epinions is severely crippled because of the inability to post samples within a review. If you know how, I'd love to hear from you.

Recommended: Yes