Updated April 2025

Introduction

For decades, the Leica 35mm Summicron ASPH has been one of the most popular lenses for M mount. It’s renowned for its sharpness and compact size. In 2019 Voigtlander released the 35mm f/2 Ultron, which is even smaller, lighter, and far more affordable than the 35 Summicron. In fact, it’s one of the smallest lenses ever made for M mount. In this review I’ll compare the Voigtlander to its Leica counterpart. Many people assume that the Voigtlander must be inferior, but remember that the Leica 35 Summicron’s optical design is over 25 years old (from 1996). The truth is that this new lens from Voigtlander surpasses the Summicron and might have the best balance of size and image quality of any 35mm lens, if you don’t need f/1.4.

About this lens

This lens has been produced in three variants: Type I (black anodized aluminum with silver accents), Type II (black paint on brass), and Type II (silver chrome brass). The Type I version is lighter and has a focus lever instead of a tab, but otherwise all versions function the same and focus to 0.58m.

Build quality

With all-metal construction, the Voigtlander feels at least as solid as the Leica. The only criticism I can make is that if you want to use a hood, it attaches with a bayonet mechanism which isn’t quite as nice as Leica’s screw-on hoods.

Size and feel

The Voigtlander is smaller and lighter than the Leica, but both balance really well on an M camera.

Both lenses have well-placed focus and aperture rings that feel great to use. I owned the Type I of the Voigtlander and did not care for its focus lever, but Type II has a focus tab just like the Leica.

Minimum focus distance

The Voigtlander can focus down to 0.58m, which allows for noticeably better closeups than the Summicron’s 0.7m minimum distance. And although Leica M rangefinders are advertised as focusing down to 0.7m, my M10-R’s rangefinder actually keeps going until 0.6m, so closeups work well either with or without switching to liveview.

Here’s a picture of some poke near minimum focus distance:

Image quality

Distortion: The Voigtlander appears completely distortion-free, whereas the Summicron has a slight amount of pincushion distortion. Neither lens has enough distortion to matter.

Chromatic aberration:
Neither lens has a noticeable amount to my eye, and I’m including both longitudinal CA (AKA spherochromatism) and lateral CA.

Vignetting:
Neither lens has excessive vignetting, even wide-open.

Bokeh:
In the background at f/2, the Voigtlander produces “soap bubble bokeh.” This can add high-contrast edges to backgrounds and make them look busy. This could be a downside for some people but I don’t mind it, and in fact some people seek out vintage lenses specifically for this type of rendering (e.g. the 8 element 35 Summicron).

For comparison, the Leica 35 Summicron ASPH has a similar amount of “soap bubble bokeh” and I would have a hard time telling these lenses apart based on their rendering.

Sharpness, infinity:

Analysis: Both lenses are sharp in the center at f/2. In the periphery, both lenses lose some sharpness wide-open but in different ways. The Voigtlander retains resolution even into the corners but has a lot of coma. The Leica, on the other hand, loses some fine detail in the edges and corners. At f/4, the Voigtlander becomes very perfect whereas the Leica is plenty sharp but still shows a little bit of resolution loss.

Sharpness, mid-distance (1.5m):

Analysis: The results here are pretty much the same as at infinity, except that the Leica really does not look good in the mid-frame at f/2. This is a common place to put your subject so it is disappointing that the Leica is unsharp here. Also, the Leica’s edges and corners really do not look amazing even at f/4.

Sharpness, 0.7m:

The Voigtlander is a tad sharper here, but both lenses are good in the center at f/2. Neither lens seems to show significant focus shift.

Summary and recommendations

The Voigtlander 35mm f/2 Ultron is an excellent lens. Optically, it’s almost perfect, except for some coma at f/2. The background blur can also be slightly busy, but this never really bothered me and I like the overall rendering. The size, ergonomics, build quality, and price are all excellent as well. Most notable is the fact that the Leica Summicron 35 ASPH (review) costs literally five times more yet is not superior in any objective measure. In fact, the Summicron is larger, heavier, and worse in some aspects of sharpness.

If you are looking for a general purpose 35mm for M mount, the Voigtlander is an excellent choice. There are a few strong alternatives to consider. If f/1.4 is desired and cost is not a factor, I would recommend the Leica 35 Summilux FLE (review). The combination of f/1.4, great image quality, and excellent handling makes it my personal favorite for 35mm. The Zeiss 35/1.4 Distagon (review) is a good option for those who are willing to sacrifice size and weight to get the same performance as the 35 FLE for less money. Conversely, the Voigtlander 35/1.5 Nokton (review) is a good option for those are willing to sacrifice some sharpness to get a fast 35 that is both compact and affordable.

If you’re looking for the highest possible performance in a 35mm lens, consider the Voigtlander 35/2 APO (review) or the Leica 35/2 Summicron APO. These lenses have amazing corner-to-corner performance even at f/2, as well as beautifully smooth bokeh. But they each have their downsides: the Voigtlander 35 APO is large, and the Leica 35 APO is incredibly expensive.

I eventually sold my Voigtlander 35/2 Ultron as I’m still married to my Leica 35/1.4 FLE. But balancing performance, size, and cost, the Voigtlander is hard to beat. For someone looking for their first 35mm lens, the Voigtlander 35/2 Ultron is at the top of my list of recommendations.

Good
Image quality
Size and feel
Build quality
Price

Bad
None

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Additional reading

Review by Samuel Streetlife
Image quality comparison vs Voigtlander 35/2 APO by Fred Miranda

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/2.5
Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon
These lenses are okay but I haven’t found any reason to choose them over the Voigtlander 35/2 Ultron.

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.

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 35/1.4, 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.

More sample images