Lenses

Leica 35mm f2 SL Review: Why I didn’t Buy the Leica Q3

Chris Gampat
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07/05/2023
5 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Leica 35mm f2 SL product images 2.21-60s160 1

When the Leica Q3 was announced, I knew that I would buy it. That is, I knew that I’d buy it until Leica sent us the Leica 35mm f2 SL for review. This isn’t the apochromatic version that’s highly lauded for its unique image quality. Instead, it’s the smaller, lighter variant that in and of itself has a unique look too. And if you already own an SL series camera, this lens could probably give you pause on the Leica Q3 purchase.

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The Big Picture

To be honest with you, I’m strongly considering buying the Leica 35mm f2 SL lens. That’s because it gives photographers everything that they’ve wanted from Leica for a while now. It combines Leica’s image quality with a small size, great durability, weather resistance, autofocus speed, and a fairly affordable price point for a Leica lens. During my period reviewing this lens, I didn’t ever want to take it off of my camera. It’s fantastic — and overall, it’s so good that I probably wouldn’t want to get the Q3 as an alternative.

Most importantly to me, this isn’t a variant of a Panasonic or a Sigma lens.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Leica 35mm f2 SL receives five out of five stars and our Editor’s Choice award. Want one? Check them out on Amazon if you can find them.

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Pros

  • Lightweight
  • Small
  • Fast to focus
  • Weather resistant
  • Wide open, it has a bit of a similar character to an apochromatic lens

Cons

  • Kind of pricey; but not really for a Leica lens.

Gear Used

The Leica 35mm f2 SL was used with the Leica SL2s (our own camera) and the Panasonic S5 II (a long-term loaner unit from Panasonic.)

Innovations

The Leica 35mm f2 SL isn’t truly an innovative lens. By all means, there are far more affordable variants of this lens on the market. But none are made to the build quality standards that Leica’s SL cameras command with their IP rating.

Ergonomics

The Leica 35mm f2 SL is very plain as it is. On the outside, you’ll find no controls as far as switches and buttons go. But instead, you’ll find the focusing ring. Otherwise, it’s got a smooth exterior with a 67mm filter thread. Of course, what makes it seem so large is the mammoth lens hood.

I tried putting the lens hood from the 28mm f2 Summicron SL APO on this lens and it wouldn’t stay on.

Build Quality

The Leica 35mm f2 SL is weather resistant — make no mistake about that. This lens is also made very lightweight overall. You truly want to bring it with you all the time. When the lens hood is removed, the overall package becomes much smaller and more manageable to carry around. I suggest using it with something like Tiffen Glimmer Glass.

Ease of Use

The Leica 35mm f2 SL is a very simple lens to use. Mount it on the camera, point, focus, and shoot. That’s all there is to it. If you want a zone focusing scale, it’s easy to do with the camera by setting it to manual focus mode, holding down the shutter button halfway, and focusing the lens. All other controls are overall managed by the camera.

Focusing

The focusing with this lens overall was quite good in both low and good lighting — and with or without the exposure preview settings on. However, like most other camera systems, taking off the exposure preview made the lens focus slightly faster. We tried it on both Panasonic and Leica camera bodies. Overall, the focus performance was comparable.

Image Quality

There’s something about the Leica 35mm f2 SL that really makes me want to purchase it over several other products. A big part of that is the image quality. When shooting wide open with this lens, it has character similar to the apochromatic lenses. But when stopped down, it seems a bit more standard. Overall, the look that it provides is more than good enough for most needs.

Bokeh

The best bokeh from this lens is given when you’re shooting wide open and up close. While it doesn’t pop like the Apochromatic lens, it sure is nice.

Leica 35mm f2 SL
Sigma 35mm f2 DG DN Contemporary
Leica 35mm f2 SL Apochromatic

Above is a comparison gallery of the three main lenses in question here. We didn’t have any closeups with the Apochromatic, but you can still see that even from this distance that the subject simply pops.

LEica 35mm f2 Summicron-M Apochromatic
Leica 35mm f2 SL

The comparison above is also an informal one comparing the M-mount lens to the SL one. As you can see, the SL lens just pops so much more.

Color Rendition

The colors become a lot more muted when you stop the lens down. To get my favorite colors from this lens, I had to use Glimmerglass with the white balance locked to 5500K. Then I got consistent coloring.

Lens Character

Wide open, the Leica 35mm f2 SL delivers really nice colors. Part of this also is because it apparently vignettes wide open, but to an acceptable level. Stop the lens down and all that vignetting goes away.

Sharpness

Wide open, this lens is quite sharp. Even when stopped down just a bit, you’d be amazed at how sharp it can get. Of course, it doesn’t pop like an apochromatic — but that’s for several reasons overall.

Extra Image Samples

From day one, The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, lots of folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can make a decision for yourself.

Unedited

Edited

Who Should Buy the Leica 35mm f2 SL?

The Leica 35mm f2 SL is a fantastic lens for those of us who want an affordable Leica lens that we’ll bring on our SL cameras all the time. It’s got weather resistance, good image quality, and small size. What’s not to like?

Leica 35mm f2 SL Tech Specs

Taken from the Adorama listing.

  • Fast wide-angle lens
  • Small and lightweight
  • Especially suitable for travel, reportage and street photography
  • Working range: 0.25m to infinity
  • A perfect tool for videography thanks to fast and silent focusing
  • Lightweight and compact Weight: 370g
  • Leica L-Mount
  • Lens Mount: Leica L Mount
  • Lens Format: Full Frame
  • Fixed Focal Length: 35mm
  • Maximum Aperture: f/2
  • Lens Type: Standard
  • Special Features: Aspherical, Dustproof/Splashproof
Leica 35mm f2 SL Review: Why I didn’t Buy the Leica Q3
Conclusions
To be honest with you, I'm strongly considering buying the Leica 35mm f2 SL lens. That's because it gives photographers everything that they've wanted from Leica for a while now. It combines Leica's image quality with a small size, great durability, weather resistance, autofocus speed, and a fairly affordable price point for a Leica lens. During my period reviewing this lens, I didn't ever want to take it off of my camera. It's fantastic -- and overall, it's so good that I probably wouldn't want to get the Q3 as an alternative. Most importantly to me, this isn't a variant of a Panasonic or a Sigma lens.
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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.