In the Leica lens family, the Leica R series 35mm lenses have always attracted the attention of photography enthusiasts and professional photographers. Among them, the 35mm f/2.8 and 35mm f/2 lenses are often compared with each other. Each of them has its own unique charm and characteristics and can demonstrate extraordinary capabilities in different shooting scenarios and requirements.
Next, I’ll introduce the characteristics of these two lenses to you all.

Leica R 35mm f/2.8
- Optical Performance:
- Sharpness: It demonstrates good sharpness performance at different apertures. Even when the aperture is wide open, it can capture clear image details. And as the aperture is stopped down, the sharpness will be further improved. The transition of sharpness from the center to the edges of the frame is relatively smooth, enabling it to provide clear imaging for shooting daily landscapes, humanistic subjects and other themes.
- Color Rendering: It has accurate color reproduction and the unique color style of Leica lenses. The colors are rich yet realistic, capable of presenting rich color gradations and endowing the photographed pictures with high color expressiveness.
- Flare Resistance: It has a certain degree of flare resistance. However, when facing extremely strong backlighting and other extreme lighting conditions, some flare phenomena may still occur. But overall, it is at a good level among similar lenses.
- Design and Construction:
- Exterior Design: Adhering to Leica’s consistent high-quality craftsmanship and refined exterior design, the metal body of the lens has a high texture and durability. The appearance is simple and elegant, and the operation feel is comfortable.
- Size and Weight: It is relatively compact and lightweight, convenient for carrying and long-term use. For photographers who often go out for shooting, it won’t cause too much burden.
- Mechanical Structure: The focusing ring has a moderate damping and rotates smoothly, enabling precise manual focusing. The mechanical structure of the lens is solid and reliable and durable.
- Applicable Scenarios: It is very suitable for shooting landscapes, humanistic subjects, documentary photography and other themes. Its 35mm focal length can provide a relatively natural viewing angle. It can not only capture the whole scene but also highlight the subject. Meanwhile, the f/2.8 aperture can ensure a certain amount of light intake and provide a relatively large depth of field, which is suitable for shooting scenes where the environmental background needs to be shown.

Leica R 35mm f/2
- Optical Performance:
- Advantages of Large Aperture: With a maximum aperture of f/2, it can allow more light to enter in darker environments such as indoors or at night. This enables the use of higher shutter speeds or lower ISO values, thus reducing the noise caused by insufficient light and ensuring the image quality of photos. When it is necessary to highlight the subject and create a shallow depth-of-field effect, the large aperture of f/2 can well blur the background, making the subject stand out more and enhancing the artistic expressiveness of the photos.
- Image Quality: It has high image quality, with excellent resolution and contrast, capable of presenting clear and sharp images. It can delicately depict the details and textures in the pictures, endowing the photos with high definition and texture.
- Design and Construction:
- Exterior Craftsmanship: It is also made of high-quality metal materials for the lens body, with a classic exterior design and the unique style of Leica lenses. It not only has high practicability but also has certain collection value.
- Optical Structure: The optical structure of the lens is relatively complex, usually adopting a multi-group lens design to ensure excellent optical performance.
- Applicable Scenarios: It is suitable for photography scenarios that require a higher aperture, need to shoot in low-light environments, and pursue a shallow depth-of-field effect, such as portrait photography, night photography, indoor photography, etc. Meanwhile, its excellent image quality also enables it to be widely used in commercial photography, art photography and other fields.
All in all, both the Leica R 35mm f/2.8 and f/2 lenses are outstanding representatives of Leica’s optical craftsmanship. They each have their own strengths in different aspects. Photographers can choose the lens that suits them according to their shooting styles, needs and usage scenarios. Whichever lens it is, it can help photographers create amazing photographic works and leave unique marks on the path of the art of photography.