Leica’s 24mm f/1.4 Summilux is one of only two such lenses in production—the other one is the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II. How does this fast wide angle lens fare?
The Leica 24mm f/1.4 Summilux is somewhat lighter and more compact than the 21mm f/1.4 Summilux (which we looked at yesterday), measuring 2.3 inches in length, with a maximum diameter of 2.4 inches and a weight of 1.1 pounds. Its 84-degree coverage angle places it at the threshold of ultra-wide lenses, and it’s probably a better choice for general street shooting because of its greater magnification.
Featuring 10-element, 8-group construction including one aspheric element, five elements made of anomalous partial dispersion glass to correct color aberrations, and a floating group to enhance close-up performance, its design is every bit as sophisticated as the 21mm f/1.4, and this is borne out by its outstanding imaging performance.
In the hands, on the street
Like its ultra-wide-stable-mate, the beautifully finished 24mm f/1.4 Summilux stops down to f/16 and focuses with an ultra-smooth, well-damped action down to its minimum distance of 0.7 meter (2.3 feet). It can capture exquisitely sharp images wide open, providing superb detail rendition at the point of focus and very narrow depth of field with excellent bokeh (smooth, natural looking transitions and accurate shape retention) in the out of focus areas of the image.
Proof of performance: Shot wide-open at f/1/4 with the 24mm f/1.4 Summilux-M this environmental portrait is exquisitely sharp but with beautiful bokeh in surrounding out-of-focus areas of the image.
Stopping the lens down merely increases the depth of field. The uncanny sharpness visible in pictures taken at maximum aperture remains essentially unchanged at medium and small apertures, and any effects of diffraction are barely noticeable in pictures taken at f/11 and f/16. Light falloff is very moderate and never objectionable, even in images of even-toned subjects (e.g. light-colored walls) shot at f/1.4 and f/2 where vignetting is most noticeable.
Recommendation? Oh yeah.
As with the 21mm, you can grumble about the lens shade, auxiliary finder, or the princely price, but in terms of its field performance the 24mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH comes pretty close to perfection for a lens of this type.
