Leica Summarit-M 50 mm f/2.5 Pro Reviews

The Leica Summarit-M 50mm f/2.5 is a lens for enthusiasts. Its execution is next to perfect and you can feel that it was made with passion rather than task-work and that's despite the rather "low" price tag for a Leica lens. However, even an low-priced Leica lens is hardly meant for the masses so you've to pay dearly for the privilege. In optical terms it is certainly an impressive lens and a tad better than the Zeiss ZM Planar 50mm f/2 that we've tested here recently. The Summarit is already perfectly usable at f/2.5 and the results are very sharp from f/4 onwards. Lateral CAs are mostly well-controlled. Vignetting is basically a non-issue on the Sony NEX. Distortions are non-existent. The quality of the bokeh is smooth and buttery although it suffers a little from the comparatively slow max. aperture. The lens has a bit of a focus shift when stopping down - possibly the biggest "weakness" of the lens.