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The Best Prime Lenses for the Leica SL2-S

Chris Gampat
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10/03/2022
4 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Leica 28mm f2 Summicron SL review product images 41-100s1600 2

There are wonderful lenses made by Leica that photographers aspire to shoot with. With the Leica SL2-S, photographers get the best durability mixed in with the Leica image quality they crave. Everyone also knows that prime lenses are the optics that help create all those images we dream of. So we figured that we’d round up the best prime lenses for the Leica SL2-S. Looking for some beautiful bokeh? Dive in with us!

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

How We Chose the Best Prime Lenses for the Leica SL2-S

Here’s some insight into how we chose the best lenses for the Leica SL2-S:

  • Our Editorial Policies don’t allow us to discuss products in roundups we haven’t fully reviewed. So, know that we’ve done thorough and extensive testing on all of these products. What’s more, we shot all the product photos and sample images in this roundup. The photo proceeding this section was shot by one of our reviewers, Brittany Smith.
  • The Leica SL2-S is meant more for speed and candid captures. So, we think it will do great with lenses that help you do just that. The Leica APO-Summicron-SL 28mm f2 ASPH, for example, is the fastest focusing lens they make. Without a doubt, it’s one of the best prime lenses for the Leica SL2-S.
  • Leica trusted us with this piece. This is an officially backed article, sponsored by Leica. Indeed, we’ve tested every single Leica SL lens, and you can see them all in our guide right here.
  • The best prime lenses for the Leica SL2-S have a fast f2 aperture, but also have a magical piece of glass inside. These lenses boast apochromatic elements, and you should understand what these do. Basically, anything that’s in focus is given extra contrast in the scene by providing high contrast at the point of focus and a dramatic decrease in contrast in the out-of-focus areas (foreground and background) to create the separation comparable to an f1.4 lens. It works best wide open at f2. Keeping this in mind, it will make the scene look like an f1.4 lens even though it’s an f2.
  • Our Editor in Chief owns the Leica SL2-S and uses it as his main camera most of the time. The durability helps him shoot in some really tough environments.
  • Also be sure to check out our guide to all the Leica SL lenses.

Leica APO-Summicron-SL 28mm f2 ASPH

At a Glance

  • The fastest autofocusing Leica lens we’ve used to date
  • Great colors
  • Keeps distortion down
  • Beautiful bokeh
  • Does a nice job with portraiture

What We Think

In our review, we state:

“This is a 28mm f2. It’s taken me a while to understand their pricing, but the deeper I dive the more it makes sense. This is the only 28mm lens with six aspherical lens elements on the market. Additionally, it’s got an apochromatic element in it that makes subjects pop more from the background. Plus, it’s weather-sealed to be in line with the IP-rated SL series cameras.”

Buy Now at the Leica Camera Store

Leica APO-Summicron-SL 35 f2 ASPH

At a Glance

  • Fairly well balanced with the entire L mount system
  • Beautiful image quality
  • Sharp
  • I like the lens hood.
  • Pretty fast to focus
  • Weather sealing
  • Feels great in the hand
  • Probably my favorite L mount lens
  • Great autofocus performance on Leica cameras

What We Think

In our review, we state:

“The bokeh is positively gorgeous. Can you go wrong? I think portrait and event photographers will surely adore the bokeh this lens creates.”

Buy Now at the Leica Camera Store

Leica APO-Summicron-SL 50mm f2 ASPH

At a Glance

  • Beautiful metal build
  • Excellent mix of quality and character
  • Nice contrast
  • Lovely bokeh
  • Simple design
  • About 25% lighter than the Leica Summilux-SL 50mm f1.4 ASPH

What We Think

In our review, we state:

“The 50mm f2 is really meant as a lighter alternative to Leica’s 50mm f1.4 Summilux. What’s unique with the way Leica handles these lighter f2 lenses is that they still focus on eliminating aberrations and other distortions. This is not the low-quality version of the f1.4, just a low bokeh version. Otherwise, the innovation here is also what’s innovative about Leica’s other lenses: durable all-metal design. Plus there’s an apochromatic element that really emphasizes whatever is in focus.”

Buy Now at the Leica Camera Store

This piece is presented in partnership with Leica. We’ve independently and ethically reviewed all the products in this post already without sponsorship. And we worked with them to recommend a few key gems to you.

apochromatic autofocus best lenses best prime lenses best prime lenses for the leica sl2-s Leica 28mm f2 leica 35mm f2 leica 50mm f2 leica sl2-s weather resistance
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.