35mm Summilux or Summicron?

[HuubL]

The Summilux 35mm f/1.4 pre asph steel rim is the best of them all. That is my subjective opinion.

Leica M5, Summilux 35mm f/1.4 pre asph steel rim, Tmax400.

Erik.

Great image Erik (as always). You know for how many peanuts they go nowadays.... I'd love to have one, but I'm afraid my boat is not big enough to get them here.

 

[rbrooks]

I have both. The cron iv gets very soft anywhere off centre, although some of this is field curvature. The lux on the other hand is sharper off centre. Go figure. I want to warm up to and use the cron, but I can't.
The lux has the downside of using manual coding which I forget to switch on/off. Also the 0.9m focus limit cramps how I shoot with a 35mm. If those two problems weren't there, I'd never look back. The lux creates pictures that capture people's attention and imagination.

 

[rbrooks]

Oh and I don't buy into the steel rim lux hype -- until I see more sample photos to prove.

 

[Ronald M]

Lux has low contrast at 1.4. Tried one one and did not buy it. Your sample shows it.

 

[raid]

My M3 model V1 Summicron focuses down to .65m.

 

[Erik van Straten]

My M3 model V1 Summicron focuses down to .65m.

Yes, that is remarkable, the M2 version focuses down to only 1 m. The M2 Summarons and Summicrons focus to 0,70 m.

Erik.

 

[DwF]

Soft "anywhere" off-center

Soft "anywhere" off-center

I have both. The cron iv gets very soft anywhere off centre, although some of this is field curvature. The lux on the other hand is sharper off centre. Go figure. I want to warm up to and use the cron, but I can't.
The lux has the downside of using manual coding which I forget to switch on/off. Also the 0.9m focus limit cramps how I shoot with a 35mm. If those two problems weren't there, I'd never look back. The lux creates pictures that capture people's attention and imagination.

I wouldn't consider the 35 'cron particularly soft anywhere off centre. The image below was taken wide-open with M9 and 35 v4. It actually does quite well out to the corners for anything in the plane of focus. And the lower edge of the canvas here shows decent texture when enlarged. Also the Pre-Asph 35mm Summilux is well known for it's curvature of field.

 

[maddoc]

I have the 35mm Summilux pre-ASPH v2 (latest German version), 35mm Summicron vs3, Summaron 1/2.8 (M3 version), and an non-coated Elmar 3.5 cm 1:3.5 (just recently serviced by DAG).

My copy of the Summilux at f/2.0 is sharper in the center than the Summicron vs3 (and also vs4 that I used to have). However, from my experience the performance at f/1.4 depends a lot on the degree of haze or dust inside the lens and also dirt on the front element. Since I own the Summilux longer than 9 years now and the lens was in next to mint condition initially I could see how performance at f/1.4 gradually became a little worse over time. Decreasing contrast and increasing tendency to glow highlights let images appear less sharp.

 

[TRIago]

I have the current (v5) asph and to be honest one of the things I love is that at f2 it's sharp yet not crazy sharp as my 50 rigid is in the center. The 35 cron asph is sharp enough so people won't look weird but not soft wide open as the v4. At F2 I mostly shoot people. From f4 on tho, it's crazy sharp and that's where I am (from f4 to f8) for street/landscape. To me it's a win/win situation. Cheers.


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[Fraser]

I have the current (v5) asph and to be honest one of the things I love is that at f2 it's sharp yet not crazy sharp as my 50 rigid is in the center. The 35 cron asph is sharp enough so people won't look weird but not soft wide open as the v4. At F2 I mostly shoot people. From f4 on tho, it's crazy sharp and that's where I am (from f4 to f8) for street/landscape. To me it's a win/win situation. Cheers.


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If you v4 is soft wide open then there is either something wrong with the lens or rangefinder need calibrated,

 

[rbrooks]

I wouldn't consider the 35 'cron particularly soft anywhere off centre. The image below was taken wide-open with M9 and 35 v4. It actually does quite well out to the corners for anything in the plane of focus. And the lower edge of the canvas here shows decent texture when enlarged. Also the Pre-Asph 35mm Summilux is well known for it's curvature of field.

Hmm. My cron v4 is noticeably soft off centre and certainly when compared to my copy of the pre-asph lux -- even taking curvature as seen by pixel peeping and looking at relative corner softness. The centre is fine on the cron.
I wonder if this is something that could be improved with an (expensive) trip back to Leica...

 

[KM-25]

All depends on what you want or need I guess.

A 35mm lens is my most important in Leica so I like having a backup incase one gets stuck in Solms for 3-4 months. So I have the 35mm 1.4 FLE and the 35mm 2.0 V4 and would not be without either of them. The FLE is the workhorse for a lot of things, does spectacular for documentary and corporate journalism, 1.4 is essential for a lot of what I do, even at 3,200.

But for most everything else, the 35mm 2.0 V4 is my go to because of it's super small size, it pretty much lives on my M6 shooting Tmax 800.

For me having the two 35's I do is just smart money.

 

[tightsqueez]

All depends on what you want or need I guess.

A 35mm lens is my most important in Leica so I like having a backup incase one gets stuck in Solms for 3-4 months. So I have the 35mm 1.4 FLE and the 35mm 2.0 V4 and would not be without either of them. The FLE is the workhorse for a lot of things, does spectacular for documentary and corporate journalism, 1.4 is essential for a lot of what I do, even at 3,200.

But for most everything else, the 35mm 2.0 V4 is my go to because of it's super small size, it pretty much lives on my M6 shooting Tmax 800.

For me having the two 35's I do is just smart money.

I agree with this statement: the greatest luxury is reliability and having a back up to your favorite focal length is a smart approach. The 50 Lux ASPH is a smart back up for my 50 Summicron APO… just in case it ever needs serviced I wouldn't want to be without my main focal length.

It would then be sensible to keep both if you're in the same position.