Perfect for color and sharpness. Small size, easy to focus. Much better than I expect. I used several different popular brands in the past. This one is the best. I will stick it for the rest of my life.

Best all purpose lens I have used.

I have only used this lens once, shooting about 50 pictures on my M9. I would rate this lens as tied for the sharpest of my Leica lenses (a position jointly held by my 28mm and 75mm Summicrons).Physically, this lens is very solid, not too heavy (particularly when compared to the Noctilux) but you'll know you're using a fine camera lens. Focus is very smooth with no resistance yet no wander or creep in the focus if it were too loose. Typical Leica.Image-wise, the detail that this lens captures when using my M9 is beyond words. I took a photo of an old brick brewery building in downtown Albuquerque from about 200 feet away. When I looked at the photo at 100% in Photoshop CS6 (after converting from RAW to psd in Photoshop Camera RAW) I could make out the heads of bolts on a metal bracket attached to the building. Amazing!Shooting into the sun produced no flare and almost no detectable CA (purple fringe).On a negative note, I purchased this lens in late-July. It arrived DOA. The lens hood, which is built-in to this lens, was broken. It would pull out as it's supposed to but it did not stop pulling out. I complained to Leica that this should have been caught in QC (after all, each Leica lens comes with a certificate signed by the final inspector). Normally Leica makes one send in a lens for warranty repair on the owners dime but my complaining resulted in Leica picking up the tab for round trip shipping (good Leica!).So, two plus months after buying this lens, I've finally gotten to use it and I have to say, it was worth the wait.If you are using a Leica M camera and can afford to use Leica glass, then I would very highly recommend this lens. You won't be disappointed.

Super lens, lives up to hype and more. Wonderful construction, superbly engineered and crafted, joy to hold and use.

The 50mm f/1.4 is a amazing piece of glass. You will not be disappointed with the results. At 1.4 the separation between subject and background is stunning.

Solid mechanical build, light weight, and the bokeh is amazing. It outdoes other so-called bokeh kings like Canon's 85 1.2. It's optimised for shooting at 1.4, so even wide open, it's incredibly sharp. But it's a Leica lens, so what did you expect?

Being used for portraiture, wide open. Has extraordinary bokeh!

The Leica 50mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 is the most sold and most used lens in recent years. Perfect industrial design of the barrel (on the normal version) and ideal optics for an all-round standard lens. For me, the extra kick is this lens in classic design, but with the qualities of the current ASPH design. The weight is 448 grams (and not as BH are stating) 335 grams (which is the weight of the normal 50mm ASPH in black). I try to live with the extra weight for reasons of classical design, and I also hope the value goes up as it did with the limited LHSA edition from 2005. Should I ever sell it, that is. On filters, it IS actually possible to lock a 43mm filter into the lens via the front of the shade. For UV it doesn't make much sense, but for ND it does make sense to have both shade and filter on. I have made an illustration of the work-around here:http://www.overgaard.dk/leica-50mm-Summilux-M-ASPH-f-14-APO.html

First off let me say that I feel very fortunate to have been able to order the 50 lux from B&H given how difficult they are to find. The lens is absolutely stunning, there's no other way to describe it. Sharpness, colors, bokeh, size, everything about it is perfect. I received the lens just days before a trip to India. I was so enamored with the lens that I ended up using it for 99% of the shots, even for landscapes. Excellent lens.

This is a very good lens. It's very compact for a 50F1.4, especially if you have been shooting with a full frame SLR. Although small, the lens is very solid and feels relatively heavy. Focussing is very smooth and easy. I find myself using the focussing tab almost all of the time. The aperture is very smooth. I could actually stand a little more resistance, as it is easy to change inadvertently. The images from this lens are very sharp, out of focus is smooth and soft, and color accuracy is very good. Distortion is nonexistent. Unless you can drop $10k on the Noctilux, this should be an essential part of any M system. I have used a variable ND filter for shooting wide open in bright daylight. That has been a useful accessory.