Leica SL 21mm APO Review
When I think about wide-angle lenses, a few things immediately come to mind.
First, they are tools with very specific purposes. Along with that comes distortion, and often a noticeable drop in resolution toward the edges.
Over time, I’ve had the chance to explore a few options, but only recently did I get to properly test the Leica APO-Summicron-SL 21mm f/2 ASPH, thanks to the great people at Leica Store Berlin.
I’ll start with why I’m drawn to a lens like this in the first place.
I’ve always been fascinated by architecture; not just details, but how a building comes together, how multiple elements interact within a frame. One of my main challenges has always been perspective: lines converging when shooting upward.
With this lens, corrections become effortless. And if you manage to find the right vantage point, you often don’t need to correct anything at all.
Straight lines, virtually no vignetting, and exceptional resolution across the entire frame, this lens can easily become a secret weapon for architectural work. I used it almost exclusively wide open, and even indoors, shooting was comfortable, with ISO rarely going above 400. Thanks to the relatively close hyperfocal distance, achieving sharpness across the frame is straightforward.
But I wanted to push it further.
I was curious about how it renders out-of-focus areas, and how a portrait would look through such a wide lens. I’ll let the images speak for themselves, but I’ll say this: I was genuinely impressed. The subject separation and the falloff into blur have a character I didn’t expect from a 21mm.
Weighing 839g (with caps on), it’s surprisingly manageable; definitely a lens you can carry and use all day without thinking twice.
In terms of image quality, the microcontrast brings out an incredible level of detail. I paired it with the Leica SL2, with its 47MP sensor, and the combination delivers files with remarkable clarity. Colors are precise, with strong separation, and the dynamic range holds beautifully—retaining detail in both highlights and shadows.
What makes this lens truly stand out is that it’s the first 21mm in an APO design. I actively searched for chromatic aberrations in challenging situations… but found none.
If you’d like more details about any of the images or want to see original files, I’m always open to the conversation.
Good to know:
all the files here were resized significantly - imagine a jpg being reduced from 20-40mb to approximately 100-400 kb
All images were shot in RAW and edited in Adobe Lightroom.
I can provide most of the sample files through a WeTransfer link so you can check them out in full size. Just send me a DM on Instagram - link at the bottom of this page
if you have any questions, let’s have a chat
Until next time.
