The Leica Summarit 50mm f2.5

In March, I picked up a heavily used Leica Summarit 50mm f2.5. I don’t love (or know how to write) gear reviews so I thought I’d just list some things that have stood out to me in the last month.

(Maybe I do know how to write gear reviews…)

Leica M10, Summarit 50mm f2.5

Ergonomics

• The lens is tiny. On an M body it easily fits in a jacket pocket.
• The focus ring is loose, but I don’t think that’s by design. I like to think this copy has a long and storied history.

Leica M10, Summarit 50mm f2.5

Optics

• Focus falloff is very, very good. It’s the first thing I noticed and my favorite thing about this lens.
• The lens has a nasty, photo-ruining purple flare at certain angles of bright light. Luckily it’s easy to predict.
• A handful of photos I’ve snapped take on a weird purple cast in the shadows. I have no idea why it happens; it’s pretty subtle when it does. (See the dirt in the next photo.)

Leica M10, Summarit 50mm f2.5

Comparisons

I have two other 50mm M lenses: the Leica Summilux and the Voightlander APO-Lanthar. In short:

• The Summilux is sharper, faster, and twice the size. It’s also 5x the price.
• The APO-Lanthar is significantly sharper, a little faster, and twice the size. (Also, my kingdom for a focus tab!)

All three are very capable lenses. The Summarit’s size is its main advantage - it’s trivial to carry a camera with it attached, which means I’ve been carrying it nonstop since I bought it. That’s about as glowing a recommendation as I can give.

Leica M10, Summarit 50mm f2.5