Lens characteristics of Leica camera

Leica camera pioneered the 35mm camera since 19 13, and the matching lens is refreshing. Leica lenses are works of art in materials, machining, optical design and polishing. Its imaging quality and color reproduction make most photographers amazed. I have a special liking for every lens of Leica, and I have a desire to keep them all for myself, and then soon.

35mm lens is called quasi-standard lens, and its viewing angle is about 64, so it is the most commonly used lens. People often joke that this lens is a standard lens and a wide-angle lens of the subject. Because its viewing angle is not too large, the edge deformation is relatively small, and the depth of field is larger than other lenses with the same aperture longer than 35mm, it is very practical to take some photos of documentary themes, scenery and few people. Since the lens with this focal length came out, various lens manufacturers in the world have made great efforts to develop a variety of such lenses. Its long production history and great structural changes are incomparable to most other focal length lenses.

Leica's 35mm lens is produced in 1930. That year, Leica produced a revolutionary camera-Model C Leica, which was equipped with three lenses, besides 50mmF3.5Elmar and 135mm F4.5 Elmar, there was also a 35mm F3.5 Elmar lens. This is what I know. Leica has produced the earliest lens with a focal length of 35mm. The optical structure of this lens is 3 groups and 4 lenses. There are 2 lenses with independent structure in front of the diaphragm blade and 2 lenses glued together behind the diaphragm blade, which are not coated. When shooting black and white film with this lens, the resolution and tone level are good in side light, and a large aperture is used in backlight to produce a larger halo. After the aperture is reduced, the situation changes, but the halo cannot be completely ruled out. I feel that the color saturation is not enough when shooting color films. With the increase of exposure, the color saturation increases, but the color is not bright enough, which may be related to the lack of film on the lens.

1948, Leica introduced a 35mm F3.5 Summaron lens with four groups of six lenses. The first two groups of lenses of 1 are independent structures, and the second two groups of lenses of 1 are independent structures with symmetrical front and rear groups, which laid a foundation for the future evolution of Leica's 35mm lens. I tried a single-layer coated lens (M-port) made in 1950s. When shooting black and white movies, it still inherits the traditional charm of Leica lens. When using color film, color reproduction is the same as modern lens, except for a little halo when backlighting, and other aspects are impeccable.

With the development of photography, especially the needs of documentary news, the lens is developing towards a large amount of light, and the maximum relative aperture is getting bigger and bigger. In order to keep up with the trend, Leica made two kinds of lenses with different apertures in 1958. I have used these two heads for many years, and I am very satisfied with their image quality. They are my favorite things. One of these two lenses is a 35mm F2.8 Summaron lens, whose structure is exactly the same as that of 35mm F3.5 Summaron, except that the maximum relative aperture is increased from F3.5 to F2.8. No matter whether black-and-white film or color film is used, the quality of photos taken by this lens is first-class, showing more prominent shadows in the dark, properly controlling highlights and being handy to use. Another lens produced in the same year was 35mm F2 Summicron, which was deified by photography. It consists of 6 groups of 8 lenses. The front and rear groups of lenses are symmetrical. The four lenses in the front group have/kloc-0 cemented lenses and two independent lenses, and the rear group is the same as the front group. The maximum relative aperture of the lens is F2, and the edge imaging quality will not be very good when the aperture is fully open. In order to improve the edge imaging quality of large aperture, a lens made of fluorite glass is added before and after the aperture blade, which improves the edge imaging quality of the lens, expands the expression range of dark and bright parts of the image, obviously increases the sense of space and depth of the picture, makes the picture more stereoscopic and enhances the artistic appeal. This shot is highly praised by Japanese filmmakers, who call it "Eight Jade". Although this lens has been well received by many parties, its manufacturing process is complicated, its cost is high and its popularity is poor. Due to the long history of production, there are still some defects in film adding and deformation correction.

Due to the high cost of six groups of eight lenses, in order to popularize the lens with aperture F2, Leica redesigned and produced a new four groups of six lenses, 35mm F2 Summicron, in 1969, which has a symmetrical structure and the same optical structure as Summaron with aperture F3.5 The trial shows that the contrast of black and white tones is somewhat enhanced, the levels of dark parts and highlights are somewhat weakened, the resolution is average, and the overall taste is still Leica lens.

Perhaps because people missed eight lenses, Leica redesigned a 35mm F2 Summicron lens with seven lenses and five groups in 1979. From the structural point of view, it is very similar to the first four groups of six lenses, except that 1 lens is added to the rear lens group, so that the first three groups of 1 lens are independent lenses and the two lenses are glued. The posterior group has two independent lenses, 1 cemented lenses. The performance of this kind of lens in the dark and bright parts of the picture is obviously different from that of the six-structure lens, and the overall quality is close to that of the eight-structure lens and six groups. This product is very popular with photographers and has been produced for nearly 20 years.

Instead of spherical lens 7 and five groups of aperture lens F2, 35mm F2 Summicron ASPH aspheric lens listed in 1997 is used. I think this lens is a brand-new product. The sharpness of this lens is enhanced, the color reproduction is somewhat exaggerated compared with the previous Leica lens, and the color saturation is obviously enhanced. The pictures taken give people a bright and sharp feeling, which meets the aesthetic requirements of modern people. There are still three lenses to mention here, namely, the 35mm f 196 1 Summicron lens, which is specially designed for journalists. It is the 35mm lens with the largest relative aperture in the world at present, if high-speed film is used again. You can do a lot of work in dim light without the help of a flash. The image taken by this lens is sharp, which is very suitable for plate-making printing, but it feels that the tone level is slightly insufficient. 1990, Leica also produced 35mm F 1.4 Summicron ASPH aspheric lens. This lens uses two aspherical lenses, and the overall structure is five groups of nine lenses. This kind of lens is very few, and I have never used it. There is also a 35mm F 1.4 Summicron ASPH aspheric lens, which was introduced by 1994 and has been produced until now. His optical structure is still five groups of nine lenses, but the back group has 1 aspheric lens. I think it is the clearest of Leica's 35mm lenses. The photographed image has neat edges and clear lines. When shooting at the maximum relative aperture, the image edge can still maintain good resolution, good color reproduction, high saturation and exaggerated color. Very popular among professional photographers.

The quality of a shot can't just be judged by its test index. Index is a mechanical standard, which can only explain part of the performance of the product. In particular, the photographic lens, a tool to reproduce the photographer's mind, contains rich cultural connotations, and the picture quality shot by Leica lens is the embodiment of the combination of European traditional culture and modern concepts. We should fully understand the characteristics of the Leica lens used in our hands, give full play to its potential and create more and more beautiful pictures of the new era.