Leica 35 SUMMILUX FLE f/1.4 vs. ZEISS 35 DISTAGON ZM f/1.4
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- Опубликовано: 19 май 2021
- Shoutout to my friends at Camtec Leica boutique for supplying the 35 FLE: www.camtecphoto.com/ (Don't forget to type in the word GENERIC in the notes section at checkout for a free gift! )
Head to head battle of the two great 35 1.4's for Leica M mount including sample photos taken on a Sony a7rii, Leica M10 and film M2.
Few points not mentioned in the video:
- The Summilux is ever-so-slightly brighter wide open (+.1 of a stop) and it is wider than the Distagon.
- The Distagon has no apparent focus shift whereas the FLE front-focused a bit stopped down and had to be refocused as a result.
Thanks for watching!
You have a very interesting take in your lens comparisons! I love it. Your analysis of the "feel" of lenses" is truly accurate. You're able to put into words some hard things to describe. Thank you and keep it up!
Thanks! So happy to hear that you agree!
@GenericPhotographer You articulate the rendering character differences clearly and meaningfully. It's quite a difficult topic and you are wonderful at it amongst the YT lens men. ❤ thankyou.
Excellent, very thorough review, and clearly, a lot of work. Thanks for this.
Can I just say this is an excellent well made an in depth video, with some beautiful images too. Thankyou
Appreciate it! thanks for the support!
Hi and thanks for your great great report.
I sold my Summilux 35 FLE (with which I went to Greece a few months ago and it was very nice) last week due to money issues .... and bought the Distagon ZM as a replacement for my Leica M10.
(...I also didn't feel comfortable using a lens as expensive as the Summilux.)
I also picked up a 25 Biogon ZM today for Architecture and street.
What do you think of the Biogon 25mm?
I am so happy that I found your channel. Superbly insightful and professional. Also your photos are A-MAZ-ING.... do a book!!
I noticed that all of your photos are wonderful in range of value and colors.
seriously your knowledge of all the details in insane...nice job bud!
Awesome video as always Andrew!
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for watching
Thank you for this review. Excellent from start to finish. The summilux is more than twice the price of the Zeiss. Given that I would be considering the Zeiss for film, this review was very helpful. Delivery of information , pacing and flown of the video and your images just straight up raise your video to the top.
Such a professional review. Helped a lot. Thanks.
this is the best lens test / comparison i ever saw. Thank you very much!
Thank you very much!
great timing as i am currently debating these lenses
Happy to help! Hopefully it helps with your decision!
Thanks very much for a wonderful and thorough review!
My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it!
that's a great review. I had the Distagon and now have the FLE , and i miss the Zeiss at times, such a great lens.
absolutely amazing lens. Distagons never disappoint.
I had the summilux asph and sold it because of focus shift , then buy it again , same problems then sold it and bought the FLe which more clinical than the old asph . I end up sold them all and bought a second hand zeiss 35mm 1.4 ZM at a fraction of the Leica summilux price . I’m very happy with the zeiss only it’s bigger and more heavy than Leica . Don’t waste your money on Leica , zeiss distagon is as good as Leica .
Basically if we want to take beautiul pictures, either lenses suffice. Its mostly GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) that influences our decision to buy. Myself included. Had owned and sold Leica lenses and Leica digital cameras. Settled for Sony and Zeiss lenses due to its beautiful printed rendering. So we have to question ourselves.
Very nice video and your analysis is spot-on. The Zeiss is perfect, but almost too perfect. For character, I prefer the Leica.
I absolutely enjoy the manner of your lens review my friend. Very helpful indeed. I am considering both of these lenses to acquire in the next several weeks. I often read people’s comments...”if money were no object or optical perfection aside” doesn’t resonate for me because the question in my mind is what are the image characteristics that one is looking for? How does the lens render in different conditions and subjects? You answer these questions precisely while providing sample images. Thank you for this review and as a result I have subscrided to your channel. I am going to purchase the Distagon. Happy New Year!
Thank very much! Very helpful review!
I recently purchased my first Leica lens. I had the Zeiss equivalent, but always lusted after Leica. I was shocked to find that after spending 3x the amount of money on the Leica the Zeiss is actually the sharper lens. We are splitting hairs but pixel peeping you can see the difference. I was shocked but it looks like this is clearly possible and actually happens more often than I thought.
Basically paying for size and character with Leica. I love the ZM but chose the summilux just because of the length.
I recently got the FLEii with the integrated lens hood and close focus. It is an excellent lens on my M10R.
Fantastic detailed review!
Thanks!!
Great review! I tested both the 35 and 50 1.4's at the Leica store LA as I'm getting the M11 next week - my first Leica after 40 years of Nikon. Both were great but there was something about the light or "look" as everyone says with the 35. And with not having used manual focus in almost 20 years, that focal length may be more forgiving for me especially open. Then I see your video and making me think a little - which is what they are supposed to do. I don't make a living with these and it will be one camera/one lens kit and may go Leica all the way. We''ll see. Thanks, I think....
Great move, the M11 is a lot of fun. Going wider is a much more viable route if it’s your first manual lens in a while. You won’t regret it, especially if you opt for the 35 Summilux FLE.
Thank you very much and congratulations for this detailed video. I hesitated between the Summilux and the Distagon, I think my choice will be the Zeiss on my M10 even if it is a little more imposing.
Thank you for this informative review.
I’m testing the Summilux right now. What great colors and sharpness this lens is putting out.
It’s truly a great lens. Enjoy it!
Thanks for the validation of my decision to opt for the Zeiss Distagon 1,4/35mm ZM, in 2019 or 2020, rather than the Leica Summilux-M FLE. I do use 50mm Leica M lenses, Summilux-M ASPH, Summicron-M, and Elmar-M, but, at the other focal lengths, am totally open to the Zeiss ZM and other options. I had prior experience with Zeiss ZE and ZF.2 lenses, on DSLRs.
Happy New Year!
Happy to have helped! Great arsenal, I totally approve!
Summilux 50/1.4 is my dream len. But it’s price is hardly for me to afford right now. Hope not to wait to long in future to get it.
Great video Andrew! Always very interesting. The time and focus you put on creating these videos for us camera nuts is just a joy! I was debating on getting the Lux 1.4 VS the Cron 2.0 asph. The size was a factor. After using the elmarit 28mm 2.8 for quite some time, I kind of want it to upgrade to a faster lens while maintaining that compact weight. Thus I went for it and got the Cron 28mm. Looking at your comparison, the Lux 1.4 looks pretty tiny without the lens hood. You as a professional photographer, would you choose the Lux as an everyday lens?
Solid choice. I plan on trying the 28 cron soon, it seems like such a charming lens. The distagon produces vibrant photos that my clients notice and as a bonus I hardly have to edit the files. I don’t think the summilux can offer that. That said the lux would be all I would want for myself if I didn’t have the distagon and didn’t use the lens to earn a living. I personally love the rendering and feel of the lens.
Great review! I have a question. Would you say that the bokeh of the Distagon taperes out towards the edges the same way that you mention that the Lux does?
Excellent! Subscribed!🥂
I've owned the Zeiss 35 F1.4 Distagon ZM for several years and love it. However, recently I preordered the Leica APO-Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH, which costs $8195 to use on my Leica SL2_S. Do you have any thoughts?
I appreciate the lens info
hello.. your video is excellent.. one question, I'm about to buy the leica M11 momocrom.. do you recommend this Zeis lens for the camera?
Great video ! Zeiss files looks amazing to my eyes. They have great 3D pop and contrast. If I choose one of these , I definitely go with Zeiss lens
@etvow it is because Zeiss is not coded…
Thanks for a great comparison.
The Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Distagon ZM was the first lens I purchased for my M6.
I later flanked it with a 90mm f/2 Leitz and a 21mm f/1.4 Leitz.
I now use my three lenses on my M6 and an M10.
Since my Zeiss is not coded, I have to manually set the lens detection on the M10. I was told by Zeiss that the 28mm f/2 ASPH 11604 setting is the best. What setting did you use when you tested your Zeiss on the M10?
Thanks for watching! I heard that using the 28 f2 1106 was the right choice but I still use the 35 lux asph FLE profile in camera and add the profile for the Distagon in LR. The vignette correction doesn't seem to change much and I like the 35mm readout.
Keep it up!
I have an A7rii and use M lenses w a helicoid adapter. How severe is the vignetting with the Zeiss and Sony body? Correctable? Did you use the Sony in this test to find finer focus and observe how the lenses resolve?
very nice review.
Witch one do you prefer, if the lenses had the same price? By the way, you could set by Leica lenses how smooth the focus ring or aperture ring is.
Used multiple copies of each - extensively
Enjoyed your opinion and thoughts - well done
I’m curious how the new voigtlander 35 apo would compare / complement ?
Glad to hear you can agree, thanks ! And I am also curious about the 35 apo from voigtlander! That lens is high in my list!
This presentation just showed up, in my feed of recommended videos, so, I am playing it again, and posting this comment, to tickle the algorithm. Actually, I do have an update, because I test-shot with my Distagon 35 ZM, a demonstrator pre-II Summilux-M 35mm ASPH FLE, and a (pre-owned) Version II of the original Summilux-M 35mm, inside the store, at Houston Camera Exchange. This was the first time I had directly compared the Distagon and FLE, together, at the same time, and also the first time that I had compared the Distagon to a pre-ASPH Summilux-M 35mm. (I had, during a previous visit, test-shot with the demo FLE and the Version II pre-ASPH.)
Well, to make a long story short, I determined that I would rather own a Summilux-M FLE, than a pre-ASPH Summilux, especially considering that a really clean pre-ASPH Summilux will cost almost as much a decently-preserved, pre-owned FLE. I also saw that there was no way that I would ever replace a Distagon with an FLE, because I prefer the background blur that the Distagon renders. It remains possible that I would want to ADD an FLE, eventually, because of that which is in-focus. Nothing wrong with keeping several 35mm lenses, if each has something to offer. They do not eat much. 😉
Not that I will add an FLE, anytime soon. I saw that Leica Camera USA had received a few of the 2022 “Re-Issued” Steel Rims, and before they went out-of-stock, yet again, I bought one. Early impressions are good. (I have yet to test-shoot it, side-by-side, with the FLE.) Now, it is time to sell a few things, to help pay it off, before interest is due.
Got the Zeiss Zm today after watching your first ever review. Amazing lens! Good comparison! And am going to stick to my zeiss for my 35mm needs. You tried the 28mm summicron yet?
Fantastic lens choice. You won’t regret it! I’m looking forward to trying the 28 cron and especially the new 28 f2 from voigtlander.
Distagon for the win (and savings). It's pretty much an endgame lens, it spoils you for almost any other.
Yeah it impresses me every time I take it out. It has the ability to outshine every lens I use in at least one aspect.
I have the luck (or the bad luck because I don’t have the money to buy them) to work with both this lenses.They are both great lenses.If I had the money I would buy the Leica Summilux without any question.1)The size difference is huge for me in every dimension,especially if you work with Leica film cameras witch are smaller and lighter.The discussion could stop here but also:2) Leica has much better ergonomics.The focus tab is in a perfect place,you don’t need to move over your finger to change direction and you can change your f stop with only one and the same finger you focus with. 3)Both give beautiful colors but Leica has much lower color fringing. 4)Leica has also much better images with the sun in the backyard. 5)Zeiss has better contrast (witch personally don’t like,but Leica has lower contrast (witch I prefer) and better microcontast. 6)Leica has a much smoother transition and with the very good micro contrast gives a cinematic look.The other lens witch has this kind of cinematic look I have work is Sigma 35 art,but it is in a total different category.7)Leica is much much better with film especially b&w film.Try it and you wil see.Someday maybe I could afford one (I hope).
Do you have a zeiss planar 50mm zm you can test and review? Kind of interested in that one.
Thanks for your thoughts on these lenses. I sent my new 35 Lux back to Leica after one day of use to redo the aperture ring. (This was a few years ago) Just breathing on it made it move. Got it back and it's brilliant. Love my Leica stuff, but have to say for the money, there are too many calibration inconsistences in new items. At these prices they should arrive in absolutely perfect and consistent performance condition.
Slightly left field, the Distagon 35mm F1.4 ef mount version via metabones on Sony has minimal corner smearing. Perhaps this is due to the increased distance between rear element and sensor, i.e., it's doubled. Hence the angle of the light ray to corner is much less acute. Of course it's a bigger set up on the camera but for your trouble there's all the Distagon goodness at a much cheaper price. Just sayin'.
Hello.. I have a leica m11 Monochrome.. but I can't find the ideal lens for this camera, thanks for advising me which would be the best lens for this camera that gives me real black and white images..
Can I do Leica lens m 35mm f1.4 with Nikon Z9 ? I have M50 and M35 , both f1.4 . Thank you!
I currently bought a Leica M 10-R , with a Zeiss Distagon 35mm, f1.4 ZM , Tried some test shots, can not get the Zeiss 35mm lens to focus correctly , Is there a way to make this lens work on the M 10-R ? Please help
solid setup, congrats! It should work fine. Try doing some test shots with a tripod on something that isn’t moving to make sure you don’t need any calibration.
If you use a Leica lens on a Sony A7riv body using an Voigtlander adapter what are the disadvantages? Do you use loose image quality as using an adapter changes the distance from of the lens from the sensor?
Some lenses aren’t made to focus that close and you’ll develop a fuzzy image lacking sharpness and softer edges since the lenses weren’t usually made to project an image that close. That said I’ve yet to see any major issues with most of the lenses I’ve used up close other than a slight dip in sharpness.
Thanks for these review videos, they are excellent. Any idea why this one is only available, to me, in 360p and not HD (using Google Chrome and Safari)?
Thanks for the feedback! For some reason youtube is still rendering the HD and 4k versions. Please check back in an hour or two :)
it's rendered now!
@@GenericPhotographer Great, thanks. All OK now.
The rangefinder blockage view was not an apples to apples comparison: the FLE had its hood on and the Distagon didn’t.
EDIT: I just saw your first video that was solely dedicated to the Zeiss Distagon 35 mm f/1.4. You mentioned there that you don’t use the lens hood on it.
Hi. Ive just today discovered i need to sell my digital camera and get a film camera..
I see that a Leica M-A and the sony 1.4 zm would be ideal kind of quality new setup.
If there was a more sensible option of buying used or another model used. What is the best i can get for the money.
Just buying those two new?
Cheers
Depends on your budget, I went for a M2 and use my distagon on it quite often. Alternatively the voigtlander 35 f2 lenses specifically the apo, offer compelling alternatives. Film M cameras are only going up in value so used or new won’t be a bad investment.
Very good comparison. Kudos!
My very personal feelings are that if you have truckloads of idle money laying around (or, God forbid, carrying on your back), it's a *no brainer* going for the Leica. If that were my case, I'd get me the new Summicron 35 *APO* of $8k. Alas, being a poor Mexican and preferring results to optical perfection that *nobody* but the owner will notice, I go for a small but decent performer (like my Summicron 35 IV that I got in 2002 for less than 500€) or the Voigtländer APO 35/2 at a much lesser price.
If you *must have* the extra stop (irrelevant if you shoot an M10), there's the Chinese TTArtisan 35/1.4 that you can get for the proverbial song and is, believe me, 98% perfect!
For shooting still objects, kids and pets, It will even pay for a good weekend in savings (if you don't mind lasge lenses)!
Please compare the 35 Summicron to the 35 Summilux if you can...
I’ve never met anyone who can pick the difference between these Zeiss and Leica lenses when presented one after the other (not side by side).
Great review!! As much as I want the zeiss for the money I need to wait for the 35 FLE every photo from it is instant reportage/high end. It just has a look no other does.
Also I’d love to know what lens you were using for the video? Looked a bit Leica actually. Very curious. !
That is true, it leaves a Leica signature the video was filmed using a 50 Summilux asph and a 50 1.4 Zeiss Planar CY
In terms of value for money, Zeiss wins the gold medal 🏅
Big time!
Wrong…voigtlander
I like Zeiss。
z Hi how many guy have tested the Vigtlander Nokton 35mm F1.2 Aspherical III VM Vs the Zeiss 35mm F1.4 ZM which one is better one, if they are both the let me know, if Z is better they V or the other way let me know.
Another photographer from Montreal :)
514 for life
@@GenericPhotographer my man 🔥 love your vids
For me the size of the Distagon just kills it for me, that’s DSLR size
While I disagree about the SLR statement, it's more in line with mirrorless camera lens sizes. It paired superbly with a SL body. And besides the voigltander Nokton (vastly inferior optics), and the 2x more expensive FLE, there aren't any other 35 1.4 alternatives that beat, especially in size vs image quality. I definitely welcome a smaller version if it can retain the image quality.
I have to add that Zeiss is better with high megapixels censors.For me Summilux is better at 24mp and much better with film.
A wonderful video, you have given a detailed comparison of these two lenses. I was considering the Distagon for the Sony a7R IIIA, but after you mentioned how the Sony's image sensor is configured in such a way as to cause some degradation (e.g., smearing, coma, vignetting, and astigmatism) in the corners of the image at maximum aperture with the Distagon, I will need to reject that lens for use with the Sony camera. What a disappointment. 😔
P.S. I must thank you for helping me avoid buying the Distagon, which is not fully optimized for the Sony camera body. I'm not willing to modify the camera's sensor nor am I going to use a filter to try to fix image degradation in the corners. Both Zeiss and Voigtlander do make manual focusing lenses that are compatible with Sony's E mount.
need more test shots at night. that's where leica shines, the color separation of say a store light vs a street light over other lens.
Interesting, I included a few sample shots at night from each here but I can see where you’re coming from. I’ll keep that in mind for future videos thanks
Rangefinders are great, but have limitations. You don’t see what the lens sees. I never understood why my Leica has framelines for 135mm. A very small rectangle. Bokeh is not all important to me, but an unblocked view is, especially with a hood. Therefore, I limit myself to short and narrow lenses. In practice, f2 or f2,8 is enough.
Zeiss has more contrast. Maybe it's famous micro contrast.
Why are these being compared on a Sony sensor though? The M mount lenses aren’t designed for the thickness of a Sony sensor and don’t perform anywhere near optimally. It just seems like a massive waste of money to use these lenses on the Sony system. Why not use an M body or just use Sony lenses? Sort of defeats the point of expensive glass if it doesn’t perform like it should. Great video just curious as why the Sony.
Thanks a for the comment! All the tests were on both my Leica M10 and the Sony. The conclusion remains the same.
@@GenericPhotographer I mis heard….My apologies!!!
yeah all true and perhaps a bit of splitting hairs as has been said, and one will never tell the different in real life.... and for the major difference in cost, it's for one to justify or not.
I had owned the 35 FLE, and then I sold it for the Distagon, which I had used for a good few years but never really liked it. At the end, I sold the Distagon and reacquired the FLE, wasting a lot of money unnecessarily.
Moral of the story: never sell a Leica lens for a lesser lens.
Have both lens and assure you that Distagon is better in any ways. On Summilux chromatic aberration is awful for $ 5,400.00! Also Distagon is much more artistic.
As always, it all depends on the rendering style.
difficult to pass the distagon for the price, specially since is such an incredible lens formula.
But the summilux is a more stylize, nostalgic perhaps look.
Both of them amazing lenses.
ZEISS 35 DISTAGON ZM f/1.4 - лучше!
Ziess all the way
Germany Leica vs Zeiss
Japan Canon vs Nikon
Very confusing. You seem to be holding Leica lenses while describing Zeiss lens. Very confusing video.
Thanks for watching. Sorry that you found the video confusing, I’ll keep that in mind for future videos.
I don´t believe what you are saying here. Your exampels must be manipulated. The differences in sharpness you showing here are bullshit. The Zeiss like all Zeiss lenses have higher contrast but in the sharpness the Leica lensen also the Summicron35 are better. I´m using a lot of Zeiss lenses and I love and appreciate them very much. But the differences to the Leica lenses your showing here are faik. Shame on.
The distagon is a modern lens design, the most corrected amongst the zm’s. No foolery here, I’ve got nothing to prove or lose. As I said, I was hoping there would be more of a difference but alas. The pictures weren’t modified, I only applied the lens profiles.
@@GenericPhotographer I had the Distagon, really great lens, probably even "better" as the Summilux I now have.
But I like the rendering of of the Summilux better, and the biggest difference is the handeling, the Summilux is much better balanced on the camera. I did not use the Distagon much because of the handeling on the camera.
Why so mad
@@AIP404 that’s the point size kills it we want the smaller size and the optical performance where the lux is balanced if you want a similar size for performance comparison go to the 28 lux which in fact still smaller than the distagon and it will outperform the Distagon at every aperture because of the size it is easy to correct a lens when the size is big giving the fact the distagon is not a cheap lens by any means you want to step up a notch and completely annihilate all these lenses 35 APO after all geeking about the lenses is not photography as you know but nevertheless beautiful lenses and won’t hinder you in getting a beautiful photo which what matters.
thank you so much for this comparison, as my first m mount lenses, i actually go with the distagon after watching your review, both really look similar, and now having own the distagon, i can say that this distagon is very sharp and that 3d pop is really nice.
Happy to have helped. Congrats on the lens! That was my first m mount lend too. You hit the ground running, enjoy it!
A year ago I commented I get the Zeiss and a year later now I have the opportunity to get the fle. I totally agree with your comparison. The Zeiss just pop more whereas the Leica is smooth in its way. The Leica does show slight onion ring but that glow it gives really add the character to it. This summilux renders so beautiful especially in its highlight to fall off. Zeiss is like a straight A student while the Leica though not as perfect as Zeiss, but the character of it is just so beautiful. And now I'm looking at 50. If you have the chance try to take a look at the voigtlander 50 f1.2 and compare with 50 summilux. I wonder how they compare. For now, I just settle with the voigtlander since I couldn't afford the 50 summilux now.