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Introduced in 1933, the Summar was Leitz's answer to the fast standard lens: a six-element, four-group f/2 first delivered in a rigid nickel-plated barrel. Only around 2,000 rigid examples were made before Leitz moved to the collapsible mount in 1934, and total Summar production to 1940 came to fewer than 128,000. Optically it trades outright resolution for a low-contrast, luminous signature at full aperture that photographers now seek out deliberately. The soft nickel plating and exposed front glass mean intact rigid examples are increasingly scarce.