By Ked · May 2026
May 2026
If the Summicron 50mm is the most-shot Leica lens, the Summicron 35mm is the most-debated. The lens has gone through five distinct optical generations across more than sixty-five years of production, each with passionate defenders, and the version history has produced two cult-favorite lenses (the original 8-element and the Pre-ASPH "King of Bokeh") plus the current ASPH and, since 2021, the APO-Summicron-M 35mm ASPH at the top of the market. Picking a Summicron 35mm in 2026 is partly a technical decision and partly a philosophical one about what you want a lens to do for an image.
This post walks the lineage in order. The data: as of May 2026 we track 388 active Summicron-M 35mm listings on UsedLensTracker, plus 9 active LTM-mount Summicron 35mm listings. The 35mm market is roughly half the depth of the 50mm market but the price spread is wider. Clean entry-level Pre-ASPH examples start around $1,200, while specific collector versions can run $20,000+.
The first Summicron 35mm appeared in 1958 in LTM (screw-mount) form, designed by Walter Mandler at Leitz Canada (Midland, Ontario) using an eight-element optical formula. This is the lens that introduced the Summicron 35mm focal length to Leica's catalog, and it carried the same optical formula that would soon define the legendary M-mount "8-element" version.
LTM Summicron 35mm production was small and ran only briefly before the M-mount version became dominant. As of July 2026 we track 9 active LTM Summicron 35mm listings, with a fair-price typical of $3,800. The LTM 35 Cron is rare on the used market and trades at collector prices. See "Price Comparison" below for the full table.
The first M-mount Summicron 35mm, the legendary 8-element, used the same Mandler optical design (Leitz Canada, Midland, Ontario) as the LTM version but in the M bayonet mount. Production ran from 1958 to 1969 in two main runs. This is one of the most-discussed Leica lenses in the history of the brand.
The 8-element Summicron 35mm has a specific rendering character that has earned it cult-favorite status. Wide open at f/2 it's sharp in the center with some softening at the corners, but the rendering of out-of-focus areas is unusually beautiful. Reviewers describe it variously as "three-dimensional," "creamy," "magical," and other words that test the limits of useful camera-lens vocabulary. The color is warm. The micro-contrast is exceptional. And the overall image quality has a sense of solidity and richness that the later 6-element versions arguably never quite matched.
As of July 2026 we track 59 active 8-element Summicron-M 35mm listings, with a fair-price typical of $4,250 and a fair range of $3,538–$6,064. The 8-element is somewhat rare on the used market because owners tend to keep them, and specific collector cosmetic variants (black paint, yellow-scale) trade well above the typical price into five figures.
Some shooters who own multiple 35mm Summicrons consider the 8-element the best Summicron 35mm ever made: not technically (the ASPH wins every measurable category) but in terms of how images look. The "8-element look" is one of the most-cited reasons people pay extra for vintage Leica glass.
Alongside the standard M-mount 8-element, Leitz produced a variant with an attached "goggles" accessory specifically for the Leica M3. The M3 was Leica's most refined rangefinder of the era, but its ultra-bright 0.91x viewfinder was engineered with framelines for 50mm, 90mm, and 135mm only. There were no 35mm framelines and physically none would be visible within the M3's 0.91x viewfinder design. The goggles solve this: a small prismatic attachment mounts on the lens changing the field of view and magnification through both the viewfinder and rangefinder windows, optically transforming the M3's viewfinder into the correct 35mm field of view while maintaining rangefinder accuracy at all focus distances. Incidental to the user, the 50mm framelines are seen in the viewfinder. This is exactly the combination I shoot on my M3.
The optics are identical to the standard 8-element: the same 8-elements-in-6-groups formula, the same rendering character, the same warmth and dimensionality. The goggles add nothing and take nothing from the image. What they add to the physical lens is bulk and a distinctly retro appearance. The combination looks unmistakably like 1950s precision engineering, which some shooters find compelling and others find ungainly. The goggles are technically removable with a small screwdriver, but they are more than a viewfinder accessory: the lens's rangefinder cam is calibrated with the goggle assembly in place. Without the goggles attached, focus is accurate at infinity but becomes progressively less accurate at closer focus distances. Using this lens without goggles requires professional recalibration.
The goggles work on all Leica M bodies, both film (M2 through MP and M-A) and digital (M8 through M11). They do not work on the Leica CL or Minolta CLE, as those cameras position their viewfinder and rangefinder windows differently. One important note on how they work: the goggle assembly activates the 50mm framelines on all M cameras, but the prismatic optics change the viewfinder's field of view such that the 50mm framelines show exactly the 35mm field of view. On the M3, which has no 35mm framelines at all, this is the entire solution. On other M bodies the same thing happens -- the 50mm framelines appear and frame the scene correctly for the 35mm lens.
The goggles version trades at a meaningful discount to the standard M-mount 8-element. As of July 2026 we track 13 active goggles-version listings, with a fair-price typical of $2,529 (fair range $2,402–$2,856), compared to $4,250 typical for standard M-mount 8-element examples. The discount exists because most buyers don't need or want the goggles. For M3 shooters this is the correct 8-element to buy. For everyone else it's a route into 8-element rendering at roughly 60% of the price of the standard version, with the understanding that the lens looks and handles differently.
In 1969 Leica replaced the 8-element with a redesigned six-element Summicron 35mm, produced primarily at Leitz Canada in Midland, Ontario. The redesign was driven by manufacturing economics: six elements are cheaper to grind, polish, and assemble than eight, and the optical performance was technically improved in some measurable areas (slightly better corner sharpness, reduced distortion). Many photographers at the time considered the change an upgrade.
In hindsight, the 6-element Canadian Summicron is the version many vintage-Leica enthusiasts specifically avoid. The rendering character is more "modern": sharper edges, cooler color, less of the warm dimensionality that defined the 8-element. Optically it's a fine lens; aesthetically it's the version that started the long debate about whether Leica's manufacturing changes hurt the brand's optical signature.
Used prices for the V2 6-element Summicron-M 35mm have historically lagged behind the 8-element V1 and the later V4. The 6-element Canadian falls into the larger "Pre-ASPH" market bucket (V2 and V3 combined, see "Price Comparison" below), with a fair-price typical of $2,229 and a fair range of $1,876–$2,707.
The third-generation Summicron 35mm continued the six-element formula with minor refinements and various cosmetic updates. Production location moved back and forth between Wetzlar/Solms and Midland, Canada over the years. The V3 is sometimes hard to distinguish from the V2 or V4 without looking at serial numbers and specific cosmetic details.
From a buyer's perspective the V3 is in the same general Pre-ASPH bucket as the V2 and V4: a six-element 35mm Summicron with character that varies subtly between production runs but is broadly the same lens family.
The fourth-generation Summicron-M 35mm, produced from 1990 to 1997, is the version that earned the famous "King of Bokeh" nickname. It brought a cosmetic redesign with a refined housing and focusing tab on the focus ring, slight optical refinements, and, critically, a specific quality of out-of-focus rendering that earned it a cult following among portrait and street photographers.
The "King of Bokeh" rendering has been described in dozens of online discussions, with various photographers attempting to capture what makes it distinctive. The consensus: soft, dimensional, slightly glowing out-of-focus areas with no distracting edge artifacts in the bokeh, combined with sharp in-focus subjects. For portrait work at working distances, the V4 produces a look that the ASPH that succeeded it cannot quite replicate.
As of July 2026 we track 52 active V4 / Bokeh King Summicron-M 35mm listings (identifiable by the "Bokeh King" or V4 references in titles), with a fair-price typical of $3,678 and a fair range of $2,852–$4,979.
Together with the 8-element V1, the V4 is the second of the two cult-favorite Summicron 35mm versions. The two have different characters: the V1 has a "richer" warmth, while the V4 has the smoothest out-of-focus rendering. Both have devoted shooters who specifically prefer them over the modern ASPH.
The current Summicron-M 35mm ASPH, introduced in 1997 and still in production, was the lens that changed the Summicron 35mm story. Designed by Peter Karbe (the same engineer behind the APO-Summicron and the Summilux ASPH), the V5 ASPH uses seven elements in five groups with one aspherical surface and is widely considered the optically best 35mm M-mount lens ever made for its price range.
The ASPH is sharp wide open across the entire frame, with very low chromatic aberration, beautiful color rendering, and a corner-to-corner sharpness profile that's roughly two stops ahead of any Pre-ASPH version. It's a technically extraordinary lens that produces files indistinguishable in resolution and detail from much larger lenses on competitor systems.
What the ASPH does not have is the V1's warmth or the V4's bokeh signature. The rendering is more modern, more clinical, more "neutral" in a way that some shooters love (it's the most flexible 35mm Summicron in post-processing) and others find too sterile (the lens leaves less of its own character on the image).
The current production lens retails new at $4,275. As of July 2026 we track 139 active Summicron-M 35mm ASPH listings, with a fair-price typical of $2,658 and a fair range of $2,343–$3,203.
In March 2021, Leica introduced the APO-Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH, a lens in a different price category from anything else at this focal length, and by most technical measures the finest 35mm lens ever built for the M system. This is not a new version of the Summicron-M ASPH. It is a separate, more technically ambitious design that shares only the f/2 aperture and 35mm focal length with the lens it sits above in the lineup.
Peter Karbe used a 10-element, 5-group formula with four aspherical surfaces and six elements made from anomalous partial dispersion glass. This is the first M-lens Leica has built with four aspherical surfaces. The two rear optical groups function as a floating element that moves during focus, maintaining consistent optical quality from the 0.3-meter minimum focus distance all the way to infinity. That 0.3-meter minimum focus is itself notable: it is the first M-system lens designed for native close-focus capability at 35mm, a meaningful practical difference from the standard ASPH's 0.7-meter limit. Unfortunately, the rangefinder does not couple closer than about .65-0.7 meters meaning at the close focus distance with a film camera it is scale focus. On digital Ms with live view obviously it can be focused using the LCD screen.
The APO designation means apochromatic correction: red, green, and blue wavelengths converge at the same focal plane, producing virtually zero chromatic aberration. The rendering character that results is distinct from both the standard ASPH and the vintage versions: higher contrast than the ASPH, exceptional color fidelity, and what reviewers consistently describe as a sculptural three-dimensionality. This is not a warmer or more characterful lens than the ASPH. It is a more technically precise one, with the kind of resolution and correction that makes images look carved rather than photographed. Eleven aperture blades produce smooth bokeh despite the high level of correction.
The APO-Summicron-M 35mm lists new at $9,500. As of July 2026 we track 25 active listings, with a fair-price typical of $7,837 and a fair range of $7,428–$9,394. Used examples don't depreciate much off new retail, consistent with a lens that's recognized as holding value well.
The honest comparison to the standard Summicron-M 35mm ASPH at $2,658 used: the APO is technically superior in every measurable category, but the standard ASPH is already one of the finest 35mm lenses ever made. The APO makes sense for photographers who have already spent serious time with the ASPH and want to know what maximum technical performance at this focal length looks like. As a first 35mm M-mount lens, the standard ASPH is the more rational choice at roughly a third of the price.
The 35mm Summicron decision is harder than the 50mm Summicron decision because the character differences between versions are more pronounced. Four distinct choices at different price levels:
The middle versions (V2 6-element Canadian, V3) are perfectly capable lenses but they sit awkwardly between the cult-favorite poles. If you specifically want a Pre-ASPH Summicron 35mm, the V1 or V4 are the versions to pursue. The V2 and V3 are mainly for shooters who find a particularly clean used example at a meaningful discount.
Figures below use this site's standard fair-price method: median as the typical price, 25th-to-75th percentile as the fair range. New retail is shown for the two versions still sold new; the earlier five versions are discontinued.
| Version | Years | New retail | Typical (used) | Fair range | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LTM Summicron 35mm | 1958–1961 | — | $3,800 | $3,600–$4,172 | 9 |
| V1 8-element, M-mount (standard) | 1958–1969 | — | $4,250 | $3,538–$6,064 | 59 |
| V1 8-element, M3 Goggles variant | 1958–1969 | — | $2,529 | $2,402–$2,856 | 13 |
| V2 / V3 6-element | 1969–1989 | — | $2,229 | $1,876–$2,707 | 66 |
| V4 "King of Bokeh" Pre-ASPH | 1990–1997 | — | $3,678 | $2,852–$4,979 | 52 |
| V5 ASPH (current production) | 1997–present | $4,275 | $2,658 | $2,343–$3,203 | 139 |
| APO-Summicron-M 35mm ASPH | 2021–present | $9,500 | $7,837 | $7,428–$9,394 | 25 |
Browse current Summicron 35mm listings on UsedLensTracker across all mounts and versions to compare prices and conditions side by side.