Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2.0 ASPH Lens

The Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. is a sharp, fast, wide-angle optic for Leica rangefinder cameras; it's expensive, but an excellent performer.

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  Sharp from edge to edge at f/2. Nominal distortion. Wide aperture. Fairly compact. Includes lens hood.

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  Expensive. Close focus limited to 0.7-meter. Lens hood is huge. Manual focus only.

I bought the 28mm f/2.8 ASPH instead, because I'm a nature and landscape shooter who likes to travel light and compose carefully. If I was a journalist, I'd opt for the f/2. If speed is crucial, I'd consider the 35mm f/2 or 35mm f/1.4 instead, since 35mm isn't much less wide than 28mm, and those...

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  Journalism, and any place where you absolutely need f/2 instead of f/2.8.

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  This 28mm f/2 is big enough to block the camera's viewfinder. The Leica 28mm f/2.8 is a smaller, lighter lens that won't block your viewfinder, and has the same fantastic optical performance for a fraction of the price.

The pros list is relatively short if you take into account the price of the tested lens. It would be difficult to add something more, though, because in the case of the coma, astigmatism and the work against bright light the lens reached just average results so they were put neither in “pros” nor in...

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  excellent build and barrel quality,, very good image quality in the frame centre,, good image quality at the frame edge,, low chromatic aberration,, distortion corrected in a splendid way.

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  huge vignetting,, very steep price tag.

Originally wanted the 28mm Elmarit, but My Leica dealer didn't have it, but did have the Summicron. Bought it 10yrs ago for around $3000. At the time it was the fastest 28mm Leica made. That was very important to me because at the time I loved shooting wide. This lens is very sharp.

I use it on Sony cameras like all the other Leica lenses that perform beautifully. The Elmarit 2.8 (old model) performs like charm. I bought this one hoping that it's aspheric and newer design would render better images.

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  Well built

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  Incredibly poor quality soon off the center of image. Sent to Leica for recalibration returned with the same problem.

Superb optics. My only complaint, which I have for all my metal hood Leica glass, is filter mounting and use. Manipulation of filters is harder with metal hood. I've learned to live with it. Just a pet peeve. This is the widest lens using the rangefinder's view lines.

I had the prior version of this lens. I sold the lens when this newer model was announced. I did this with a leap of faith that this newer model would be better (and worth the substantial upgrade cost). I have not been disappointed.

I am pretty new to Leica and the M system. This was the second lens I purchased after the 50 Summilux. This is a very sharp lens with extremely minimal distortion. Color is accurate. I find this to be perfect for street photography and tight spaces. Out of focus is smooth wide open.

Optically the lens is superb and exceeds the previous version, which I also own. Little things matter to me so I will run them down.+ Lens cap covers the lens shade cut out+ Lens cap is flexible rubber that is molded and does a great job+ Lens shade is metal- Lens shade interferes with...

Having had and sold the M8 along with 35 summicron, 50 lux, and 90 elmarit, I have found the weight:quality tradeoff with a DSLR dissappointing and have returned to the upgraded M8.2 with the 28 elmarit asph.

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  size and weight, sharpness and contrast

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  none