Leica 50mm Lenses – The “Goldilocks Leica Lens Challenge” Day One – Summilux vs. Summarit…

February 27, 2026 was feeling like a very promising day for photography.  It was a warm and sunny Friday in NYC.  Between the impending weekend and the slightly unseasonable weather, I felt confident that there would be a lot of fun and cool people out into the streets and public spaces, perfect conditions for my favorite style of shooting these days.  To make things even more fun, I was going out with two matching Leica M3’s loaded with Ilford Delta 100 in a quest to compare my various Leica 50mm’s to try to find my “Goldilocks” lens — the one that is ‘just right’ for me.  Actually, when I set out, both cameras were not loaded with Delta 100.  I still had about half a roll of Svema Foto 100 in my ‘A’ camera, and needed to shoot it out before starting the comparison.  When I got to my destination, the sun was still high in the mid afternoon sky, but the energy was already good.

It always takes a moment to work myself up into the ‘groove’ of approaching complete strangers and asking them for a photo.  But the first people I met that afternoon were truly delightful, Emily, an urban planner working on affordable housing projects for NYC and Zack, a nationally known podcast producer for Vox Media.  I spotted them because they were holding some nice looking film cameras, always a good ice breaker these days.

Part of my emerging technique is to start a friendly conversation with whomever I’m trying to shoot.   This ‘technique’ also buys me time to dial in focus and exposure, and also loosens them up for a more relaxed and natural shot.  I’m getting better at framing and focusing while keeping up a casual conversation, which is an acquired skill, and I think of these encounters as ‘five minute film friendships.’ Every once in a while I’ve met people who feel like they would be fun to be ‘real’ friends, and if I were having a dinner party for that group, Emily and Zack would probably be near the top of the guest list.

Nailing focus on two shots with a narrow depth of field can be a bit challenging, and as I recall, I had to do a bit of subtle positioning to avoid having the shadow from Emily’s head create a total eclipse of Zack’s, and he might have stepped forward enough to become a little soft.  But I still like the shot and the very fine grain of the Svema 100, noting that it might be a little more contrasty than I’d like shooting in pretty strong light at that time of day, especially on Emily with fairly pale skin and dark hair & clothing.  While further noting I think she and Zack both look great!

This shot of Beckett, a very cool young man who also does film photography was toward the end of the roll and the Svema Foto looks terrific in with deep shadows and bright highlights.  As does Beckett!

With the Svema Foto ‘in the can’, I loaded up both cameras with Delta 100, with the 1957 Summarit f1.5 on one and the 21st Century Summilux f1.4 on the other.  With that,  the ‘Goldilocks Challenge’ was officially under way!

It didn’t take long to notice my first potential subject, “Siri” a strikingly tall and strikingly dressed & accessorized young woman who was statuesquely standing in front of the Washington Square Arch. She had bit of an imperious air about her that felt a little intimidating, but she also had an irresistible magnetic pull on my photographer’s brain and eye, so I prepped my twin cameras setting matching exposure levels from a distance and then went up to ask if I could photograph her.

She agreed, and wasn’t bothered that I was swapping between two cameras.  In fact, after brief introductions, in which I learned her name is “Siri” (or “Sire” — I’m not sure of the spelling as her Instagram handle is “Sire vs Siri”) she didn’t seem to be bothered much with me at all.

I had a good feeling about the shots I took of her looking through the finder although by instinct I may have preferred an angle with some more depth in the background instead of a flat sandstone wall.  However, when I got the scans back from the lab, not only did I not mind the flat backdrop, it almost gives these street shots the feel of a studio portrait, which looks great with someone as glammed up as Sire/Siri. I really like this shot on the 1957 Summarit; it has a tiny bit of pleasing filmy softness that gives it a bit of ‘Leica Glow’, I think.

But I was astonished when I saw the Summilux scans back from the lab, including this close up portrait and especially the “cowboy” Feature Image (“cowboy” is a term we use in cinema for a shot that is between a wide and a close up, framing from roughly the middle of the legs up, so you can see the six guns!)  In the lovely afternoon light, Sire really ‘pops’ against the white sandstone, and the clarity and sharpness in the details on the Summilux is kind of “next level” for me compared to my other street portraits.

One or more of these shots of Sire/Siri feel like candidates to hang on the wall or be in my portfolio if I had one; they feel almost like they could be for a print ad about crazy curler headdresses.  They have singlehandedly made me look at the Summilux with renewed interest after using it sparingly for most of the last year or so.

Sire/Siri was there in the park on a mission and my presence shooting her with two vintage Leicas was incidental as she went about her ‘happening’, which was to lead a group of people walking backwards through NYC.  She had publicized it on her social media and arrived with a fully committed ‘sidekick’ who looks like she’s in the early stages of working out her own look, and helping ‘organize’ an event that defied organization.

I was happy to shoot away and swapping from one camera to the other as Sire/Siri geared up for the backwards walk.  A loud and lively woman in a strange head/face mask and scanty clothing (for any time of year let alone February) got into the mix.  I couldn’t tell if she was part of Sire’s planned event or someone buzzing around the park while buzzed.  But Sire/Siri took it all in her backwards stride.  The ‘Backwards Walk’ went off with a very small handful of people in reverse formation led by Sire/Siri and her sidekick.

You meet all types when you are out and about shooting on the streets of NYC, and a major part of what I’m trying to do with my photography is to celebrate all of the wonderful characters I encounter and show how easy and great it is to share our city (and country) in a time when all kinds of diversity and inclusion are being challenged, and people who look, believe, and act and love differently are being made to feel ‘other’.  Not infrequently I’ve consciously leaned into approaching people who might not ordinarily come into my personal orbit, but I’ve never had any kind of problem.  In the siloed ‘screen era’ we are now living in, making a direct, real time social connection with people, however brief, feels increasingly rare and valuable.

There are always street musicians in the Park adding to the soundtrack, everything from rappers, to jazz, to electronica, and lots of solo guitarists like this young man, Will, who was playing some lovely gentle acoustic songs.  I liked his somewhat soulful sound and look and grabbed some shots.  He was grateful and seemed honored by the attention, and loved the photos when I shared them with him on Instagram.

If I look very closely at these side by side shots which were in the middle of the aperture dial, maybe around f5.6/8, at first I thought the Summilux was a micro stop brighter than the Summarit, but the perhaps the difference is that the modern lens has a little more inherent contrast which makes it look a tiny bit brighter as the lighter midrange tones are pushed a little to the lighter end of the grey scale.   The Summarit may capture a little more subtle shading which you can see here in the skin tones and the different shades of grey in Will’s eyes.   It’s a very close run thing, and I’m curious if more experienced 35mmc readers agree with this analysis.

NOTE:  If you are looking at this post on a small screen device, such as a smart phone, you may not be able to see some of the fine margins under discussion, which are more noticeable, at least to me, on either a laptop or ipad screen.

I loved the astonished look on this gentleman’s face as he was listening to another park musician.

Again at this aperture the two lenses feel pretty close, again maybe with a tiny bit more gradation in the skin tones on the Summarit.  Perhaps the darker skin tones on the more contrasty modern Summilux are pushed a little toward black?

Some of the easiest people to engage with are other photographers.  It’s natural to compare gear and talk about shooting styles.  The young man frame right with the camera, who goes by “Coolcreeperg1” on Instagram, is a student and was out with friends doing street shooting around the park like me.

By this time in the late afternoon as the sun was getting lower and the aperture is getting wider I’m starting to see bigger differences between the 1957 Summarit and the 21st Century Summilux.  To my eye, there is a little more sharpness and clarity on the ‘Lux.

At these lower f stops the characteristic Summarit bokeh starts to emerge.

And focus becomes much more critical.  I think I might not be quite as sharp here on the young woman as the Summilux is capable of, and the bokeh feels a little calmer.

I think the Summarit has a little inherent softness that I notice more when I’m getting around f2 or wider.

But if I manage to hit focus properly, the Summilux can be satisfyingly sharp.  I was pretty happy with this portrait, both technically and in the attitude it captured.  I’m also feeling that in softer, later light, the Summilux isn’t quite as contrasty as it felt in earlier in the day.  Again, seeing shots like this one definitely make me want to give the Summilux another shot!

Tibi, frame left below, is a fellow photographer I’ve become friendly with.  I run into him frequently either in Washington Square Park or DUMBO, Brooklyn, popular tourist spots.  He has a Linhof 4 x 5 large format camera fitted with a Polaroid back that he sets up on a tripod to sell instant photos to passersby, usually framed by either the Washington Square Arch or the stanchions of the Manhattan Bridge.  I shot a little documentary ‘story’ of him at work in my home neighborhood in DUMBO the first time we met, and we enjoy chatting when our paths cross.  I usually grab a shot or two of him; these were toward the end of my film and the end of my light, shooting wide open.

Again, looking at these frames side by side, the Summilux has sharper details and milder, but not uninteresting bokeh at this end of the aperture dial.

Well that’s the end of Day One of the Goldilocks Challenge!

For me the big takeaway is that I’m excited to revisit the Summilux after setting it aside for quite some time.  I look forward to giving it a run out in various shooting situations and seeing how it performs, and to learn how to get the most out of it now that my levels have gone up a bit since my early days.  I think it has tremendous strengths and top quality as well as a lot of “grace under pressure” in lower light.  If it has a weakness, it’s probably more of a taste issue than a technical quality issue; it can be so crisp and sharp and detailed that it starts to feel a little ‘digital’ and cool to the touch compared to the vintage lenses.  I think I might try to experiment with a variety of film stocks to see what emulsions put the ‘film’ back in the Summilux.

As for the Summarit, I think it lives up to its reputation for having a lot of personality. I think it’s strengths are more about imparting a lot of mood/vibe, especially if I’m looking for a more timeless “lost film” feel.   I think it could be very interesting for something where I’m looking for more of a “poetic” feel, like a still life or dusky cityscapes, or perhaps certain kinds of performance like punk rock or modern dance.  It would have been awesome at the Pussy Riot concert, being a full two stops faster than my Contax T2, I could have shot at box speed.  I’m slightly wary of it’s softness for close up portraits in lower light, but I think it still has loads of personality around f4.  I think I might need a bigger sample before I’m 100% on this idea, but based on this side by side shooting on Delta 100, I might even prefer the lower contrast look of the Summarit in the middle apertures for portraits when there isn’t as noticeable a difference in sharpness and a little more subtlety and nuance on skin tones, shades of eyes, clothing and hair.

The Summilux is the clear winner from f2.8 to wide open.

One other learning from this outing is the different looks and feels between Svema Foto 100 and Delta 100, both really great fine grain ISO 100 films, but with different levels of contrast.  In my early days of shooting, I tended to gravitate toward higher contrast films, and I liked the drama of deep blacks against bright highlights.  I still like a really rich black, but coming out of doing a lot of portraits, I’ve been noticing a bit of a shift in my taste toward something a little more subtle and nuanced in the mid tones.   I have a lot to learn on these fronts, but perhaps down the line there might be a bit of a ‘crossover’ post that tries to incorporate what I learned in the big b&w film survey and what I’m learning here in the “Goldilocks Challenge.”

I’ve done a couple of these types of ‘demo’ shoots before for 35mmc, like my Spring/Summer, 2025 Black & White Film survey, and on previous shoots of this type I’ve tended to go out in fairly low impact situations like local landscapes, public art, still life, or poking around my house or immediate neighborhood.  I think it was much more exciting and energizing to do my lens test shots in a ‘real’ shooting session looking for shots that count.

I think I got some!

Stay Tuned for Day Two of the Goldilocks Leica Lens Challenge, Summitar vs Summicron!

FEATURE IMAGE:  SIRE VS SIRI, “Cowboy” shot with the Summilux on Delta 100

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