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The ‘glow’ from the lens’s spherical aberrations at f/2 is abundantly in evidence around the white woodwork.

Leica M10, Light Lens Lab 50mm S-P II at f/2, 8x ND filter.

A note on the use of ND filters: The intent here is to permit the use of the lens at f/2 in bright daylight without over-exposing the image. Ordinarily I have the M10 set on Auto ISO and Auto Exposure. If you retain Auto ISO then the camera will crank up the ISO to allow the use of the shortest shutter speed (I have the shutter speed lower limit set to 1/4f where ‘f’ is the focal length of the lens). But, in doing so, you will run into lower resolution owing to the higher ISO selected by the electronics. To avoid this I set the ISO manually to 400, which is easily done with the manual knob, sadly deleted in the M11 series which relegated ISO setting to the LED screen. This results in a lower noise file. You can use Auto Exposure or set the shutter speed manually by rotating the shutter speed dial until the center circular LED is lit. The resulting shutter speed between the two methods – Auto Exposure or manual exposure – will be the same.

Leica Summicron ‘glow’.

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The standout characteristic of the LLL 35mm ‘Summicron’ 8 element and the LLL 50mm Cook ‘Speed-Panchro’ S-P II clone lenses is the glow they produce around strong highlights at full aperture. Want the best definition? Stop down to f/2.8 or smaller and the glow is gone. In a sense you get two lenses in one, with each variant.

This was snapped at f/2 in the local Episcopal cathedral. Click for a larger image, click again and you will see what I’m going on about. Cutting edge sharpness at full aperture? Nope. But a charming rendering unlike that of modern optics.

Leica M10, LLL 35mm 8 element at f/2, ISO 1600.