Today I did it. After years of circling around, debating, buying “almosts,” and rationalizing detours, I finally picked up a Summicron-M 50 mm 11817 for 1,500 EUR. CLA’d, clean, no surprises. Just the lens. The one.
I know, there are dozens of technically sharper, clinically perfect options out there. But this lens… it’s the end of all discussion. The GOAT. It’s the lens that quietly sits in the middle of Leica’s history — small, unassuming, but with that gentle vintage rendering that gives scenes a kind of built-in melancholic poetry. Not dreamy or “character” in a forced way; rather, a soft authority. It doesn’t shout. It remembers.
There’s also a particular melancholy attached to owning the Summicron. Because once you mount it, the search is over. The excuses, the browsing, the “maybe if I tried this lens” phase — gone. It’s both comforting and strangely final. The smallness of it — that classic 11817 profile — just seals it. It doesn’t need to prove anything.
And it aligns perfectly with Mike Johnston’s “A Leica for a Year” idea. One lens, one body, one film. Learn. See. Photograph. Not fiddle with gear. My go-to film is Ilford XP2, and this lens will sing on it.
The only thing left now is to find a clean, black, CLA’d M6 body — something that I can simply trust and use daily. Once that’s in hand, I can finally stop the endless search for meaning in gear and focus on the work.
I know, there are dozens of technically sharper, clinically perfect options out there. But this lens… it’s the end of all discussion. The GOAT. It’s the lens that quietly sits in the middle of Leica’s history — small, unassuming, but with that gentle vintage rendering that gives scenes a kind of built-in melancholic poetry. Not dreamy or “character” in a forced way; rather, a soft authority. It doesn’t shout. It remembers.
There’s also a particular melancholy attached to owning the Summicron. Because once you mount it, the search is over. The excuses, the browsing, the “maybe if I tried this lens” phase — gone. It’s both comforting and strangely final. The smallness of it — that classic 11817 profile — just seals it. It doesn’t need to prove anything.
And it aligns perfectly with Mike Johnston’s “A Leica for a Year” idea. One lens, one body, one film. Learn. See. Photograph. Not fiddle with gear. My go-to film is Ilford XP2, and this lens will sing on it.
The only thing left now is to find a clean, black, CLA’d M6 body — something that I can simply trust and use daily. Once that’s in hand, I can finally stop the endless search for meaning in gear and focus on the work.