Leica 28mm Summaron-M f/5.6 Lens Review
LEICA Summaron-M 28mm f/5.6 Lens
This little lens is absolute magic.
I've owned it for a few days now, and I rarely want to take it off my camera, especially when I'm out on the street and it's bright outside.
This is the ultimate street photography lens.
Video review available on Vimeo
The Perfect Street Photography Lens
- It's incredibly small (smallest M lens ever made!).
- It has an absolutely fantastic rendering, very classic look while retaining a modern edge.
- At f/5.6, nearly everything is in focus — perfect for street photography.
- 28mm is a great focal length for street photography.
Sample Images
As you can see, the microcontrast rendering of the 28 Summaron-M lens lends itself incredibly well to black and white photography, and colors, while muted, can easily be "popped" in post production, with much success.
Things to Note about the 28mm Summaron-M
- This lens' minimum focus distance is 1m, not 0.7m like most modern Leica glass.
- The focus mechanism does not rotate between 9 o’clock and 6 o’clock like most Leica glass does. This range is used for the standard street distances you’ll be shooting it with — but for closer objects, you have to go all the way to 1 o’clock, which definitely takes some getting used to.
- Because the lens is so small, it’s easy to accidentally have a finger at the edges of your frame. This just requires some adjustment to the handling vs. standard Leica glass.
- The focus mechanism locks at infinity, and requires a depress of the adjuster to unlock it. This comes very naturally, but takes a little getting used to.
- Mounting and dismounting the lens is a little difficult, as there’s little to grab on to, other than the focus adjuster. This is why it locks at infinity.
I highly recommend this lens for street photographers.