Updated December 2022

Introduction

$5,395 is a pretty incredible price to pay for a 35mm f/1.4 lens, but that’s the retail cost of the Leica Summilux 35 FLE. What could possibly make this lens worth that much?

35mm is my favorite and most-used focal length. Before I came to own the lens reviewed here, I tried out no less than 7 other 35mm lenses for M mount:
•Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron ASPH
•Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH Pre-FLE
•Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon
•Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Distagon
•Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 II
•Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4
•Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5

They all left me unsatisfied in some way, and I regret not simply buying the 35mm Summilux FLE sooner. This is because no other 35mm lens checks all of these boxes: a f/1.4 aperture, good image quality, and compact size.* I ended up keeping this lens for five years, which is by far the longest I’ve ever kept a lens in my kit. I only sold it to force myself to shoot with other focal lengths, and I’ll probably buy it again at some point. In my opinion, it’s the holy grail of 35mm lenses and worth the high price.

*The 35 Summilux ASPH Pre-FLE technically checks these boxes, but it’s frustrating to use due to strong focus shift.

About this lens

There are three different lens models with the same optical formula:

35 Summilux ASPH Pre-FLE, 1994
This lens doesn’t have a floating group, which makes correction of spherical aberration worse than the later versions. This causes significant focus shift that makes shooting at f/2.8-f/4 a real pain. It also has an oversized plastic clip-on hood.

35 Summilux ASPH FLE, 2010
The FLE version is the lens reviewed here. The floating group makes focus shift much better controlled, and the hood is metal, more compact, and more secure.

35 Summilux ASPH FLE, 2022 version
This version is optically the same as the last one, but adds focusing to 0.4m, a built-in slide-out hood, and more aperture blades. 0.7m can be quite limiting for close-up photos so I’m very excited they added focusing to 0.4m.

Build quality and mechanics

The lens is built entirely out of aluminum and feels rock solid. The metal screw-on hood is particularly nice.

The focus and aperture rings feel perfect. It’s somewhat impressive that the focus tab feels so light and buttery smooth, considering the complexity of squeezing a floating group into such a small lens.

Size and handling

This is actually where the Leica Summilux FLE is most special, in my opinion. There are other fast 35mm lenses with modern optical designs available such as the Zeiss 35/1.4 and Voigtlander 35/1.2, but they aren’t as small and have worse handling. The Leica is small enough to feel like a classic rangefinder lens, and the aperture ring/focusing tab are wonderful to use.

The metal screw-on hood is a big improvement over the larger, plastic, snap-on hood for the previous version. Note that the hood has to be removed to attach/remove filters.

Image quality

Distortion: There is a slight amount of barrel distortion. No problem on digital; Lightroom removes it before I can see it. But on film, it could be noticeable on some pictures and you will have to live with it.

Below is a photo with distortion correction disabled. If it doesn’t bother you here, it likely won’t bother you ever.

Bokeh: I am not a bokeh addict and when choosing lenses in other focal lengths, I rarely go for the widest aperture available. But there’s something about the combination of 35mm and f/1.4 that makes a big difference in my photos. A 35mm f/1.4 lens gives lots of context to the subject while also blurring the background beautifully. The following sample photos were taken at f/1.4 and illustrate the unique look I’m talking about:

The 35 FLE’s bokeh is not as clinically perfect as some other lenses like the Zeiss 35/1.4 or the Voigtlander 35/2 APO. The 35 FLE produces soap-bubble bokeh in the background, which adds contrasty edges to out-of-focus regions and can make them look harsh. There’s also a noticeable amount of green-magenta longitudinal CA, or spherochromatism. Despite all of this, I always love how my 35 FLE renders. It has some character without being overtly ugly or distracting.

Sharpness, infinity:
Here’s a picture I unintentionally took at f/1.4 that demonstrates the 35 FLE’s performance wide-open:

In the edges and corners at f/1.4, there is significant coma and blur. But everywhere else is already plenty sharp. Here’s another sample that shows peripheral sharpness as the lens is stopped down to f/2.8:

In summary, the 35 FLE is sharp everywhere except the edges/corners at f/1.4, and sharp corner-to-corner by f/2.8.

Sharpness, mid-distance (1.5m):
For this test, I’ve included a comparison to the Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 ZM, which is known for having incredible sharpness corner-to-corner at f/1.4.

Interestingly, the Leica appears to perform significantly better at this distance than infinity. In fact, the Leica performs almost identically to the Zeiss: both lenses are sharp corner-to-corner at f/1.4. Stopping down to f/2.8 improves resolution and microcontrast with both lenses, but not much improvement is needed.

Sharpness, minimum distance (0.7m):

Nothing too interesting here; both the Leica and Zeiss feature floating elements and both are great performers even wide open at minimum focus distance.

Focus shift: The 35 FLE is not completely free of focus shift. If you look closely at the above sharpness test, the point of focus moves slightly rearward at f/2.8. Fortunately, the shift is too small to make photos visibly out of focus or unsharp. Although this isn’t perfect, it’s a big improvement over the pre-FLE version which was visibly out of focus at f/2.8 - f/4.

Summary and recommendations

The Leica Summilux 35 FLE is not the sharpest 35mm lens in the world, nor the fastest, nor the smallest. But no other lens offers the same combination of compactness, wide aperture, and image quality. In fact, the image quality is almost as good as the Zeiss 35/1.4; a little barrel distortion and soft edges/corners under certain conditions are the only flaws. Acquiring even a used copy of this lens will set you back >$3000. For many people, this astronomical price won’t be worth it. It’s worth it to me because I love shooting 35mm, I love the unique rendering of f/1.4 at this focal length, and I also want a lens that’s sharp and small.

So, should you buy the 35 FLE? The most important question to ask is whether you benefit significantly from having f/1.4. If not, there are several fantastic alternatives. The Voigtlander 35mm f/2 Ultron (review) and the Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 are delightfully sharp, compact, and affordable. You can also go for the Voigtlander 35/2 APO (review) and Leica 35/2 Summicron APO. Both of these lenses deliver absolutely incredible image quality and pair especially well with a high-resolution camera such as the M11. The downside to the Voigtlander 35 APO is its larger size, and the downside to the Leica 35 APO is its price tag of over $8000.

The second important question to ask is how much you care about size and handling. If it’s not a priority, the Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Distagon (review) delivers the same combination of speed and sharpness as the 35 FLE but without the Leica price tag.

The third question to ask is how high your standards are for image quality. The Voigtlander 35/1.2 III has lots of optical flaws at wide apertures and is a bit larger than the 35 FLE, but for a 35mm f/1.2 lens, it’s remarkably compact and affordable. Voigtlander has also released a direct competitor to the 35 FLE, the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.5 Nokton (review). It does many things well, but the lack of sharpness in the mid-frame ended up being a deal breaker for me. It’s definitely worth looking into this lens if you can live without sharpness as consistent as the Leica.

To recap, despite all of these other great lenses, my recommendation is this: if you want a sharp and compact 35mm f/1.4 lens, save up for the 35 FLE before you spend too much time and money trying out the alternatives. It’s just that good.

Which version of the Summilux do I recommend? I personally would love being able to focus down to 0.4m, so paying extra for the 2022 version would be worth it to me. But for those who do fine with the 0.7m minimum, the original FLE is just as good and can be found for $3000-3500 on the used market.

Good
Great image quality in real-world use
Remarkable size and handling for its specs
Build quality

Bad
Astronomical price
Not critically sharp corner-to-corner at f/1.4

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Other alternatives (not recommended)

Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 Nokton Classic
This is a very popular lens since it’s f/1.4, tiny, and cheap. It uses a vintage optical design from the 1960s. I only recommend it for those who intentionally want soft, dreamy images with lots of aberrations, and really messy bokeh. It also has strong focus shift, which is a pain to deal with on a rangefinder camera.

Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 versions I-II
The version III of this lens is so much better that I don’t recommend anyone bother with versions I-II.

Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux Pre-FLE
I owned this lens before switching to the FLE version, and I don’t recommend it on digital because the focus shift is actually pretty bad. I had to compensate for this when shooting at f/2.8-f/4, and life’s too short for that.

Leica 35 Summicron ASPH (review)
Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon
Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5
These lenses are okay but I haven’t found any reason to choose them over the Voigtlander 35/2 Ultron and Zeiss 35/2.8 Biogon.

TTArtisans 35mm f/1.4
7Artisans 35mm f/1.4
Phillipreeve.net has detailed reviews of both of these lenses. They’re both as large as the Zeiss, but with worse image quality, mechanical quality, and quality control. They are very affordable, but I would recommend saving up and buying a lens with fewer compromises.