Leica Summilux-R 50mm, Leitz Wetzlar

The Leica Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 is a fast standard prime from the classic Leica R system, pairing a natural 50mm perspective with a bright f/1.4 maximum aperture.

It's the sort of lens that can stay on the camera for most of the day. The 50mm focal length works naturally for everyday photography, portraits, street work and documentary shooting, while the f/1.4 aperture gives you extra flexibility as the light drops and more control over depth of field.

Manual focusing is part of the experience, with a large focusing ring and clearly marked distance and depth-of-field scales. The lens focuses down to approximately 0.5m, giving it useful flexibility beyond more distant subjects.

Best for

Portraits, street photography, documentary work, everyday shooting, available-light photography and Leica R photographers looking for a fast classic 50mm prime.

What to expect

At 50mm, you get a natural-looking perspective that's easy to use across a wide range of subjects without feeling particularly wide or telephoto.

The f/1.4 maximum aperture is the main attraction here. It gives you considerably more flexibility when working in available light and allows shallower depth of field when you want to separate your subject from the background.

Everything is manual, including focus and aperture selection. The physical controls, engraved distance scale and depth-of-field markings make it a very traditional, hands-on Leica R shooting experience.

Developing

This is a Leica R system film lens.

When used natively on a compatible Leica R or Leicaflex film body, developing depends on the film loaded into the camera. Colour negative film commonly uses C-41 processing, while black and white and slide films require their respective processes.

The lens can also be adapted to suitable digital camera systems, but its native system and intended format are Leica R 35mm film cameras.