Wide-Angle Zoom. The Leica 16-35mm f/3.5-4.5 Super-Vario-Elmar-SL is a wide-angle zoom lens that’s great for a range of applications, including landscape, architecture, and event photography. Its f/3.5-4.5 variable aperture doesn’t give much flexibility in low light, so you’ll want to stick with decent lighting conditions with this one. Using an APS-C camera? You’ll have a focal length equivalent to 24-52.5mm.

High-Quality Optics. As you’d expect from Leica, the Super-Vario-Elmar-SL features high-quality optics. Its twelve-group/eighteen-element design includes two aspherical elements and three anomalous partial-dispersion glass elements that minimize aberrations and distortion while improving sharpness and color accuracy.

Focus, Focus, Focus. This lens’s stepping autofocus motor provides fast, precise, and nearly silent autofocus performance that’s great for video and still photography alike. You also get full-time manual-focus override for even greater precision. The 16-35 boasts a 9.8-inch minimum focusing distance, and its internal-focusing design means the front filter ring doesn’t rotate during use. This makes it easier to work with circular polarizers, graduated ND filters, and other types of filters that depend on a specific orientation.

Durable Build. The weather-sealed design keeps the dust and moisture out, so you can keep working even in inclement shooting conditions. Water-repellent AquaDura coatings on the front and rear optical surfaces protect against moisture and other elements.