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There’s been a fair amount of chatter, excitement and some cynicism around Fujifilm’s announcement that it’s making a limited run of X100VI etched with the company’s original 1934 logo, but another company making rangefinder-style cameras has a more established history of doing the same.
Leica, whose commitment to the rangefinder style that it makes actual rangefinder cameras, has regularly produced defined-number runs of its products.
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The latest example is a production run of 200 copies of the M-Summilux 35mm F1.4 with an anodized black coating on its aluminum shell. The lens, whose original design dates back to the 60’s, and that the company describes as ‘the true king of bokeh,’ was re-introduced in 2022. Part of the Leica Classic line, it usually comes in silver chrome with a stainless steel ring around the front.
The black version sees the distance scales on the lens reversed, compared with the standard version, with the metric markers further away from the camera. This change and the black anodized coating means it more closely matches the original version. It also says Leitz Wetzlar on the front, distinguishing it from the reissued version that simply says Leica.
Although unconfirmed by Leica, 200 is around the number of black copies of the original lens thought to have been made. The special edition will sell for $10,945, rather than the $3,895 of the standard silver chrome version.
New: Leica Summilux-M 35 f/1.4 now available as a limited special edition in black.
Teaneck, March 21, 2024. Leica M-Lenses’ legendary reputation precedes them. One of these outstanding lenses is the Leica Summilux-M 35 f/1.4. Still sought after today, it appeared in 1961 as the world’s fastest wide-angle lens at the time and experienced a renaissance with its new 2022 edition. Now, Leica Camera AG presents the classic lens in a strictly numbered, limited edition design variant.
Based on the first edition, the Summilux-M 35 f/1.4 now emerges in a black anodized finish, featuring the iconic silver stainless steel front ring, commonly referred to as the “Steel Rim”. The engraving on the front reads “LEITZ WETZLAR”. Another detail of the lens is the black painted brass focus lock button which acquires a unique patina with frequent use. To come as close as possible to the original, the engravings on the special edition’s focus ring have been adjusted. The arrangement of the feet and meter scale is also modelled on the original in terms of color and has been swapped in comparison to the silver series lens.
Regarding its imaging performance, the special edition corresponds to the series model. Photographing with open aperture creates pictures with an especially soft, almost magical bokeh which is hard to achieve even with digital image processing. Its extraordinary image look earned the Summilux-M 35 f/1.4 the title “True King of Bokeh”. When stopping down to f/2.8, it produces very sharp and particularly distortion-free pictures which also meet modern requirements for image quality.
The special packaging with its vintage look already hints at the origin of this edition. In addition to the lens, it also comprises of a lens container, a clip-on lens hood as well as an additional round lens hood with E46 thread for the use of filters.
The numbered, limited edition black anodized Leica Summilux-M 35 f/1.4 is available at select Leica Stores worldwide starting today. This lens is limited to 200 pieces worldwide and is priced at $10,495.
