Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH Lens Review

Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH Lens Review:

We all know, and love those super fast optics like the Noctilux and Summilux lenses but I think what Leica is really good at making as well are compact lenses that don’t necessarily have the largest maximum aperture but instead, offer great handling and usability.  An example is pretty much any 35mm Summicron M lens or the Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH, which is what I want to talk about here.  I owned a 28mm Elmarit-M ASPH a few years ago during my M9 days but the latest version has been slightly updated, so I thought I’d see if I could get one to test out.  Here’s what I think of it.

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Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH Lens Build Quality:

Let’s start off with build, and in terms of that, the Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH is an extremely solid and well-made lens.  It’s made of all aluminum, and the quality is everything you would expect from Leica.  Besides the sheer solidness of this lens, the features like the focus ring are silky smooth with just the right amount of resistance to give you better feel as you rotate it.  There’s also a focus tab, which really just adds to the overall experience of using this lens.  It makes it even more of a pleasure to focus it.  Other features include an aperture ring that clicks beautifully in half stops.  I have to give it to Leica because they really do know how to make a lens that just feels like it came straight from the golden era of rangefinders, and I mean this in a good way, of course.  It really does feel special in the hands, and just so well-put together.  Something like this can truly inspire confidence in the way you shoot but, of course, it comes with a price.  While it may be more reasonably priced for a Leica lens, the 28mm is still pretty high if you compare it to competitors.  The lens currently retails for $2,795.

↑ Here’s the Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH attached to the Leica M11.

Ergonomics wise, the Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH is just about perfect.  This is a 28mm, which means it’s a lens one will use for all types of shooting ranging from street photography, landscape, environmental portraiture to travel.  It’s the type of lens one carries around a lot, so it is meant to be compact, light, and unobtrusive.  As far as I’m concerned, Leica completely achieved this goal with the 28mm Elmarit-M.  In terms of dimensions, it measures just 2 x 1.2”/52 x 30.7mm.  It also weighs just 6.2 oz/175 g, and uses 39mm filters.  Together with an M (in this case, I was testing this lens with the new Leica M11), the combo is pretty much perfect.  The 28mm isn’t front heavy when mounted on the camera.  Instead, the combo is beautifully balanced, and just so easy to use.  The lens is discreet, which makes it great for candids or street, and it is also light enough that you can carry it around all day without any fatigue.  Like many of you, I am a fan of those ultra fast lenses like the 50mm Noctilux but I think if you truly want the full Leica M experience, there has to be one of these smaller type lenses that Leica makes in your bag.  That’s just my opinion.

As I said earlier, there are a few minor updates that this latest version of the 28mm has when compared to its predecessor, and one is the lens hood.  Unlike the older version, which came with a click on plastic lens hood, this new version comes with a metal screw on type, which I absolutely love.  It stays on well and never comes off on its own.  The lens cap also slides over the hood very securely.  It’s worth noting that the lens hood stays on much better than the one on the previous lens, which always accidentally came off because it was just a rubber clip-on cap.  Overall, the lens hood is a much cleaner, and much more well-thought out design than the one on the previous 28mm.  It also just feels like a higher quality piece.

↑ Here’s a closer look of the lens hood.

Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH Lens Manual Focus:

As for focusing, the Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH is a completely manual lens, and very easy to use.  It’s a wide angle, and with a maximum aperture of f2.8, the depth of field isn’t too thin, so chances are, you won’t have much of an issue with precise focusing.  Also, since this is a wide angle, and you therefore, have a larger depth of field, you wont even need to worry about focusing as much, if you don’t mind stopping the lens down a bit.  Most of the time, I set a lens like this down to f5.6 or f8, and just point and click.  Even in this age of modern cameras, I believe in using the lowest ISO possible for maximum quality.  But it’s worth noting that with modern cameras, your quality won’t suffer as much even if you have to use a higher ISO setting in order to use a smaller aperture.

Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH Lens Image Quality:

Besides the build and ergonomics being top notch, I’m happy to report that image quality also impresses.  Leica lenses have always been known for producing excellent image quality.  There’s always a certain standard that you can expect from a Leica lens, and it makes sense, since for one, they are often a lot more expensive than nearly anything else out there.  The Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH is no exception; this lens measures up to this standard in every way.

↑ This was taken in the morning using f4 and 64 ISO.

↑ Here’s a photo taken with the lens set at f11 and 160 ISO.

↑ I believe I used f8 with this photo.  The Leica M11 was set at 200 ISO.

For one, the Elmarit-M 28mm ASPH is extremely sharp.  The version of this lens that I had owned before was during my M days, and at the time, I was using it with my M9.  I tested this version with the latest and greatest M so far, the Leica M11.  It has 60 megapixels, and the lens performs perfectly with it.  At wide open aperture, sharpness is excellent throughout pretty much the entire frame with corners maybe ever so slightly losing a little definition but not something you can clearly see in the real world.  Stopping down improves sharpness ever so slightly but as far as I’m concerned, you’re only stopping down to increase depth of field not to improve the image quality.  This lens can be used throughout the aperture to produce spectacular results.

↑ Here’s another photo taken with the lens set at f8.  I used 125 ISO.

↑ I think this photo was taken using f11.  I used 640 ISO.

↑ This photo was taken using f8 and 250 ISO.

Besides sharpness, the Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH also has other excellent features that really adds to its well-roundedness and versatility.  It has great contrast and color rendering.  Images have nice depth and realism to them.  Distortion is practically non-existent.  Flare is also extremely well-controlled unless you’re purposely try to cause issues.  If anything, there is some vignetting at wide open aperture but nothing that is really going to be an issue, if you ask me.  It’s nothing out of the ordinary.  Overall, I love this lens because in addition to the great build and ergonomics, you have something here that just consistently produces superb results.

↑ This photo was taken using 100 ISO.  I think my aperture setting was f5.6.

↑ Here’s a photo taken with 64 ISO and f8.

↑ Love the color pop.  I used 250 ISO.

For those who are wondering how this latest version compares to the previous one, optics are also improved slightly.  I think any optical improvements are really at the wider apertures though, and I don’t think the differences are huge or noticeable enough, so it might not be worth it to update, if you have the older version.  That’s just my opinion.

Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH Lens Bokeh:

As for the quality of the depth of field, the Elmarit-M 28mm f2.8 ASPH does produce beautifully smooth bokeh.  There’s not much to complain about here.  I tried it out, and there aren’t even really any issues like weird artifacts in the photos, for instance.  The only problem that you might have is actually getting a thin enough depth of field to see the quality of the bokeh more.  Achieving a shallower depth of field can be a little more challenging because this is a wide angle lens with a maximum aperture of f2.8.

↑ This photo was taken with f2.8 and 100 ISO.

↑ This photo was taken with f2.8 and 200 ISO.

↑ This photo was taken with f2.8 and 160 ISO.

Pros And Cons:

Pros:

• Superb build.
• Ergonomics are essentially perfect for this type of lens.
• Easy to focus.
• Spectacular image quality.
• One of the cheaper Leica M lenses out.

Cons:

• If you want ultra shallow depth of field, this might not be the lens for you.
• It’s one of the lower priced M lenses but still very high compared to the competition.