When wide angle lenses come in for review, the Phoblographer staffers often demand they be the one to review them. Indeed, wide angle lenses are very fun! They give you a completely different perspective on the world that’s impossible otherwise. Modern iterations do a great job of keeping things like distortion down. And for years, Leica’s wide angle lenses have been very much in demand. So we rounded up the best wide angle Leica lenses for you to see. In this roundup, you’ll find a guide to modern optics from the Leica SL system.
Understanding LEica LEns Nomenclature
Some things about Leica SL lenses might not be clear. Here are a few things worth briefly explaining:
- Summicron: Leica’s designation for a lens being an f2 maximum aperture
- SL: Meaning the lens is designed for full-frame L-mount cameras
- ASPH: Aspherical lens elements
- APO: Apochromatic design
- M: Designed for full-frame M-mount cameras
- Noctilux: Faster than f1.4
- Summilux: f1.4 through f1.7
- Summarit: f2.4 and f2.5
- Elmarit: f2.8
- Elmar: Around f3.4 to f4
- Summaron: f5.6
- Telyt: Long telephoto focal length
Understanding the Best Wide Angle Leica Lenses
Here’s what you need to know about the best wide angle Leica lenses:
- We’re specifically recommending Leica SL lenses in this roundup. These lenses are for L Mount. They work with any Leica L-Mount camera and any Leica TL camera.
- Why are these the best wide angle Leica lenses? Attach these lenses to a Leica SL system camera and you’ll get colors like you’ve never seen before straight out of camera. Blues will be vivid, reds will remind you of the ripest strawberries, and the world will look like those documentary photos you see in popular news publications. These lenses have a lot of engineering built into them that provides an edge other lenses just don’t have.
- All the best wide angle Leica lenses are weather-sealed. And they’ve done a great job with that too!
- These lenses have a metal exterior, so they’re durable enough to handle lots of abuse.
- Leica SL lenses are all autofocus. You can zone focus with them, but they’re not going to work the same as Leica M-mount lenses. Granted, there are some positively wonderful Leica M-mount lenses you’ll be happy to adapt to the SL system. But you’ll lose autofocus, the IP-rated durability, and the overall feel of the package.
- Leica’s wide angle lenses are a bit different from what other manufacturers bring. That’s because they try to stand out and be different. In the case of the 24-90mm lens, that’s a far more useful focal range than what some other manufacturers offer.
- Our favorite lens? The Leica SL 28mm f2 is the one that’s captured our hearts. It’s holistically the best 28mm lens we’ve tested because of the durability, bokeh, color, signature apochromatic pop, and focusing speed.
- On the Leica SL2, the Leica SL Prime Lenses will render their sharpest images because of the resolution of the sensor. Keep this in mind when doing things like printing photos of buildings.
- On the Leica SL2-S, the Leica SL Prime Lenses will focus faster and help passionate photographers in low-light situations more. Our Editor in Chief uses the Leica SL2-S as his main camera for most situations.
Leica Super-Vario-Elmar-SL 16-35mm f3.5-4.5 ASPH
- Lots of beautiful lens character. It doesn’t feel sterile at all!
- Built like a prime, pretty much
- Fairly fast autofocus
- Great build quality
In our review, we state:
Something I adore about the Leica 16-35mm f3.5-4.5 SL is the color. Combine that with fixed white balances, and you’ll be very happy. Part of that comes from Leica’s sensors and processors.
Essential Tech Specs
- Improved frame geometry and high quality coating
- High flexibility
- High product quality and exceptional imaging performance with specially developed focus motor
- Newly developed optical design
- Wide-angle photography
- Focal length of 16-35 mm expands existing portfolio
- Fast and almost noiseless autofocus
- L-mount bayonet
Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-70mm f2.8 ASPH
- Not much heavier than the Sigma lens
- Better built than the Sigma variant
- Faster focusing than the Sigma variant
- Good colors
- They basically did what Sigma should’ve done in the first place rather than focusing so hard on just the optics
- Weather sealing
- Very versatile
In our review, we state:
The Leica 24-70mm f2.8 SL is in this beautiful place between being pretty standard and pretty saturated regarding colors. It’s beneficial as a photographer. I like it, and when combined with the right sensor, it will mean your colors are that much better.
Essential Tech Specs
- 19 elements (3 with ASPH surfaces on both sides) in 15 groups
- Consistent f2.8 maximum aperture through full zoom range
- Fast internal focusing with a single, lightweight lens element
- Compact dimensions and lighter weight thanks to omission of OIS
- Lens is stabilized by the SL2 and SL2-S IBIS systems
- Excellent sharpness across all f-stops and focus distances with creamy bokeh and the Leica look
- Metal body with weather sealing
- Durable in any environment, making it suited for even the rigors of outdoor landscape and adventure photographers or the hustle and bustle of a pro wedding photographer
Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f2.8-4 ASPH
- Weather sealed
- It’s built incredibly solid
- Nice bokeh, especially because of the longer focal length vs. a 24-70mm
- A genuine attempt at doing something different
- Great image quality
- Like all things Leica, it’s pretty easy to use once you understand it
In our review, we state:
One of the reasons you pay for a Leica is that they don’t play around with build quality. Leica went ahead and IP rated their cameras, but not their lenses. However, the Leica SL 24-90mm f2.8-4 is very weather sealed. We’ve taken it out into the rain, snow, and other conditions and the lens kept working. This is a very reliable lens.
Essential Tech Specs
- Ideal standard varifocal lens
- High imaging performance from infinity to near range
- Optical image stabilizer
- Creative use of sharpness and blur for the plastic detachment of motif details
- Fast and quiet focusing
- Seal against dust and spray water
- Leica Aqua-Dura ® coating effectively protects the outer glass surfaces from dirt and scratches
- Elaborate coating of all lens surfaces effectively minimizes reflexes and stray light
- L-mount bayonet
Leica APO-Summicron-SL 28mm f2 ASPH
- The fastest autofocusing Leica lens we’ve used to date
- Great colors
- Keeps distortion down
- Beautiful bokeh
- Does a nice job with portraiture
In our review, we state:
What’s to hate about the Leica 28mm f2 Summicron SL’s image quality? Honestly, nothing. Leica’s colors are always outstanding. The bokeh from this lens is beautiful and surely has a bit of character. On top of that, it’s incredibly sharp.
Essential Tech Specs
- Fast wide-angle lens with f2 aperture
- Excellent optical performance
- Extremely fast and reliable autofocus with Dual Synchro Drive
- Close-focusing down to 0.24m
- Same dimensions and filter size as all APO-Summicron-SL lenses
- L-mount
Leica APO-Summicron-SL 35mm f2 ASPH
- 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
- Better autofocus performance on Leica cameras
In our review, we state:
One of the best things about this lens is the color it can produce. It’s truly stunning. In my tests, I felt I got better colors straight from the Leica SL2s’s RAW files in Capture One.
Essential Tech Specs
- High performance in a handy format
- Classic reportage focal length
- Quick and quiet focusing thanks to precision autofocus system with Dual Syncro Drive TM
- Precise production “Made in Germany” under the highest quality standards
- Reflection and scattered light optimization through high quality coating and optimized frame geometry
- AquaDura ® coating for dust and spray protection for use in everyday photography under extreme conditions
- The eye detection enables sharp, pinpoint portraits, even with very shallow depth of field
- L-mount bayonet
This piece is presented in partnership with Leica. We’ve independently and ethically reviewed all the lenses in this roundup already without sponsorship. And we worked with them to recommend a few key gems to you. 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.
