Continuing my nostalgic series, today I’ll talk about a lens that I really loved and enjoyed using. It’s the Leica Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH, the first Leica lens that I bought for myself. There’s a story behind this lens, having it been broken and repaired and later on ended up in my hand. Since then it’s my go-to lens and I shoot most of my pictures with it.

I really enjoyed this lens for it’s size and weight. Even with the lens hood on, the viewfinder obstruction was minimal, and it’s easy to work your way to nail your focus. The bokeh isn’t something to scream about, but the smooth rendering does look pleasing enough to the eye. Sharpness is pretty good even starting from f/2.

Leica has also released an updated version of this lens with some minor changes on the aperture blade and metal lens hood (the one I have was with plastic hood). This pretty much shows that this lens is indeed very popular and important for Leica to keep improving it. I sold this lens and upgraded to the Leica Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE last year, but the compactness of the lens was quickly missed. I really love this lens, and hopefully one day I’ll be able to own one again. Till then.