Three Leitz Leica-M fit lenses, tested January 2000

21mm f/2.8 Leica Elmarit-M Aspherical

Specifications: (Tested values in italics)
Focal length: 21 mm (20.49mm)
Maximum aperture: f/2.8 (f/2.68)
Construction: 9 elements in 7 groups
View angle: Diag. 92º
Minimum aperture: f/16
Filter size:E55.
Mount available: Leica M bayonet, includes softcase, lenshood, and viewfinder.
Focussing: 140º clockwise from infinity to close focus, 2 ft. 3in.
Weight: 11¾oz.
List price: $2,495
Street price: $2,195


Subjective Quality Factor     KEY:
A+
A
B+
B
C+
C
D
F


@21mm

MAG   >
6
8
12
17
22
Size (in.)   >
5 x 7
8 x 10
11 x 14
16 x 20
20 x 24
@ f/2.8
97.8
96.1
91.5
84.1
75.7
@ f/4.0
98.9
98.1
95.7
91.7
86.7
@ f/5.6
99.4
99.0
97.8
95.6
92.8
@ f/8.0
99.3
98.8
97.4
95.0
91.8
@ f/11.0
99.7
98.4
96.5
93.2
89.6
@ f/16.0
98.7
97.7
94.9
90.1
84.4


Hands on: Very compact and lightweight, superbly finished in satin black, with chrome-on-brass lensmount. Finely engraved, very legible white-on-black scales for aperture, comprehensive (f/2.8 - 16) depth-of-field, and metric distances. Footages in legible orange/yellow. Aperture ring detented at half-stop intervals. Focusing action very smooth and well damped; crescent-shaped focusing knob judged very convenient. rectangular front-section lenshood with orientation dot and locking detent bayonets is easy to install or remove.

In the lab. SQF data indicate outstanding imaging performance. Field curvature was virtually nil and barrel distortion (0.15 percent) was minimal - an exceptional performance for an ultra-wide lens. Exposure accuracy at the film plane was good, shooting about 2/5 of a stop underexposure at all apertures. At the closest focusing distance of 26 inches (1:28x), center and corner sharpness were excellent at all apertures, with optimum performance at f/5.6.

In the field: Test slides were very sharp and contrasty at all apertures. Flare was very well controlled throughout, with no ghosting at any aperture. Light falloff was gone by f/5.6.

Conclusion: The best-performing and most expensive 21 mm lens for a 35mm camera we have ever tested - a peerless jewel that costs a king's ransom.

35mm f/1.4 Leica Summilux-M Aspherical

Specifications: (Tested values in italics)
Focal length: 35 mm (34.44mm)
Maximum aperture: f/1.48 (f/1.38)
Construction: 9 elements in 5 groups
View angle: Diag. 64º
Minimum aperture: f/16
Filter size:E46.
Mount available: Leica M bayonet, includes softcase, optical viewfinder and lenshood.
Focussing: 140º clockwise from infinity to close focus, 2 ft. 3½in.
Weight: 11 5/16oz.
List price: $2,895
Street price: $2,495


Subjective Quality Factor     KEY:
A+
A
B+
B
C+
C
D
F

@35mm

MAG   >
6
8
12
17
22
Size (in.)   >
5 x 7
8 x 10
11 x 14
16 x 20
20 x 24
@ f/1.4
90.5
84.1
69.6
52.1
38.0
@ f/2.0
95.1
91.5
82.5
69.5
56.9
@ f/2.8
99.2
98.6
96.9
93.9
90.2
@ f/4.0
99.6
99.3
98.4
96.9
94.9
@ f/5.6
99.7
99.4
98.6
97.3
95.5
@ f/8
99.6
99.2
98.3
96.6
94.4
@ f/11.0
99.4
98.9
97.5
95.1
92.1
@ f/16.0
98.9
98.1
95.8
91.8
86.4


Hands on: Extremely compact and rather light for its speed and focal length, superbly finished in satin black with finely engraved, very legible scalers in white on black, except for legible orange/yellow footage/metres scale. Aperture ring has detents at half-stop intervals. Focusing action in extremely smooth and well damped. Crescent-shaped focusing knob judged very convenient. Snap-on lens-hood with twist-lock is easy to install, sometimes pesky to remove. The separate optical finder that comes with this lens is polycarbonate bodied and not as pretty an object as one of the fabled Leitz finders of yore, but it is excellent optically - very clear with relatively little distortion, an easy-to-see field frameline, and a dashed parallax-compensation line.
In the lab: SQF data indicate excellent imaging performance, particularly for a lens of this speed. Field curvature was virtually absent, and barrel distortion (0.15 percent) was minimal, an outstanding performance. Exposure accuracy at th eflilm plane was very good - within 1/5 of a stop underexposure at all apertures except f/1.4, which gave ½-stop underexposure due to light falloff. At the closest focusing distance of 26½ inches (1:16.7 x ), centre sharpness was excellent at f/1.4 and f/2, very good from f/2.8 to f/4, and excellent from f/5.6 to f/16. Optimum performance was at f/11.
In the field: Test slides were uniformly sharp and contrasty at all apertures. Flare was very well controlled at all apertures with hardly any flare detected. Light falloff was gone by f/4.
Conclusion: In terms of performance, this lens is unsurpassed and seldom equalled among f/1.4 optics. Predictably its spectacular performance comes at a breathtaking price.

90mm f/2 Leica Apo-Summicron-M Aspherical

Specifications: (Tested values in italics)
Focal length: 90 mm (88.14mm)
Maximum aperture: f/2 (f/1.99)
Construction: 5 elements in 5 groups
View angle: Diag. 27º
Minimum aperture: f/16, but setting aperture ring as far as possible past f/16 detent gave f/22 on our exposure tester.
Filter size:E55.
Mount available: Leica M bayonet, includes softcase, and lenshood.
Focussing: 140º clockwise from infinity to close focus, 3 ft. 3 3/8in.
Weight: 1 lb 1½oz.
List price: $2,195
Street price: $1,895

Subjective Quality Factor     KEY:
A+
A
B+
B
C+
C
D
F


@90mm

MAG   >
6
8
12
17
22
Size (in.)   >
5 x 7
8 x 10
11 x 14
16 x 20
20 x 24
@ f/2
96.2
93.4
86.2
75.2
63.9
@ f/2.8
98.8
97.8
95.2
90.8
85.3
@ f/4.0
99.5
99.1
97.9
95.9
93.2
@ f/5.6
99.5
99.1
98.0
96.1
93.5
@ f/8.0
99.3
98.7
97.2
94.5
91.7
@ f/11.0
99.0
98.3
96.2
92.6
88.0
@ f/16.0
98.5
97.4
94.3
89.1
82.9


Hands on: Compact, but average in weight for a 90mm due to brass helicals. Beautifully finished in satin black with chrome-on-brass lensmount. Finely engraved white-on-black numerals for apertures, comprehensive depth-of-field scale, and metric distances. Footages in legible orange/yellow. Aperture ring detented at half-stop intervals. Focusing action is very smooth and well damped, but fairly wide, finely striated focusing ring could be made of a more grippable material. Built-in sliding lenshood judged very convenient.
In the lab: SQF data indicate outstanding imaging performance, particularly notable for an f/2 medium tele. Field curvature was virtually nil, and pincushion distortion ( 0.18 percent) was minimal. Exposures at the film plane were extremely accurate at all apertures except at f/2 where there was 2/5 of a stop underexposure due to light falloff. At the closest focusing distance of 39¼ inches (1:9.1 x), center sharpness was excellent at all apertures. Corner sharpness was acceptable from f/2 to f/2.8, very good at f/4, and excellent from f/5.6 to f/16. Optimum performance was at f/11.
In the field: We were very impressed by the fact that there was no visible light falloff in any of our test slides, which were uniformly crisp and contrasty at all apertures. Flare was extremely well controlled with no ghosting observed at any aperture.
Conclusion: AN outstanding 90mm f/2 lens - the best we've ever tested and far superior to the old 90mm f/2 Summicron, which was and is no slouch. Yes, you guessed right, it costs a small fortune.
Tested January 2000.

SQF testing

This is some of what Pop Photo had to say about SQF testing in November 1990 when they were finally happy with their system.

In short, SQF is the way to relate the total of all our MTF measurements to the quality you can expect at any given print size.

Under normal conditions, a slight difference in SQF will hardly be noticeable. Experimentally, it's been shown that a difference of 10 SQF units will show a definite difference in quality level, with a difference of only 5 units producing a just noticeable difference (JND). SQFs below 50 yield unacceptable results.

SQF: making the grade
With five distinct quality levels to work with, it seeemed only natural to assign letter grades to each:   A for the best, then B, C, D, and finally F for anything below 50. We added "+" grades to A - C to characterize the quality, widening the group as quality diminished, giving a full 10 units to both C and C+ grades. In our system, we broke them down this way:
99.9 - 95.0   A+
94.9 - 90.0   A  
89.9 - 85.0   B+
84.9 - 80.0   B  
79.9 - 70.0   C+
69.9 - 60.0   C  
59.9 - 49.5   D  
          <49.5 F  

We expanded the C and C+ categories to fit actual experience. There was little point distinguishing between a D and D+. As overall quality goes down, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between pictures. It's easier to tell which of two good prints is sharper than it is to determine which of two prints is fuzzier.

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