90 millimeters

I'm far more included to use my 10.5cm Nikkor f2.5 then my 90mm f28 elermit (Canada). It has slightly farther reach and I prefer the Sonnar look.
 
Hexanon 90/2.8:

175620393_gZW4u-O-XL.jpg



Roland, you shot that at one of Jay Gatsby's parties, right?
I'd no idea the Hexanon 90 was available in 1928. ;-)

Good stuff!
 
Here you go Helen:

The unquestionable queen of ~90mm - the Nikon 8.5cmf1.5 Sonnar (this is a rare LTM mount lens - if you can find one - STEAL IT!!!):


Shanghai | wet market - old man by teknopunk.com, on Flickr

The latest fireworks, Canon's optical engineers burned before jumping ship and leaving rangefinder production entirely - Canon's masterpiece, the 85mm f1.8 LTM (all black aluminum body)

That's how these look like - the 85mm and the mighty 100/2 which was developed from the 85mm lens little later - both wonderful lenses:


Canon 85 f1.8 and 100 f2 LTM by teknopunk.com, on Flickr
 
Helen, for starters get yourself ANY version of a 90/2.8 Elmarit (they are all great, each generation with their specific different character, the latest being optically the most perfect, earlier versions having other nice traits, as lower contrast or super-small size like the thin Tele Elmarit or a lovely smooth character, beautiful for portraits as the v1 or even the now luxurious short-fat Elmarit).

If you can splurge a bit, the latest pre ASPH 90/2 Summicron is my favorite for pure beauty - its a true Mandler lens perfectly matching in character with the other great Mandler classics + it is even in performance with the contemporary latest Elmarit-M from apertures ~f3.4 - closed down if you really want sharp and contrasty now and then.
It is also barely larger and heavier.
The smallest and probably most pocketable 90mm of them all is the 90/4 Macro Elmar.
This is a really modern, high performance lens with super crisp, sharp details, high performance close up (Macro with adapter) and even at infinity.

Unfortunately this once overlooked lens (many aperture snobs sniffed at it's slow f4 opening) has picked up in price extremely - once a secret tip it is now hard to find a nice sample for anything less than the mandatory 2000 USD wall :-(
Funny, how people who dismissed this lens for it's slow aperture overlooked that it actually has some the smoothest, nicest and most beautiful out of focus rendering!

For absolute best bang for the buck these would be my two favorites:

90/2.8 Leitz Elmarit v1 (M mount with vulcanite strip and made of a mix from silver chrome brass and silver anodized aluminum)

85/2 Nikkor LTM (super heavy, yet very compact built from massive brass and durable silver chrome - there are a few very rare black chrome samples around but these sell for 4-5 times the price of the otherwise identical regular silver version).

The Nikkor is a classic Sonnar design and is in imaging character very, VERY close to it's rare, big, chubby sister the 85/1.5 at aperture f2 and smaller - best deal in classic ~90ish lenses if you ask me. As a Sonnar lens it needs some initial adjusting to your taste by a good tech and will perform best wide open for a small distance range you specify (it can't cover the whole distance range from close focus to infinity wide open with best performance as of it's Sonnar design but will be great where you want it).
 
My 90 Elmarit M is almost retired now for the Macro Elmar M (not the latest version). This close focuses to 80cm, to say nothing of the close up attachment, which I don't have. The collapsible nature of this lens is fantastic for one signal reason. Previously I had to switch my Elmarit for something shorter to fit all my stuff back in the bag if the rain started. Now the 90 can stay on and I just collapse it and it's in the bag. Not changing lenses is crucial with digital, especially in a hurry.
 
I second the pre-asph 2/90 'cron. It's a bit heavy and for a digital body it need to be matched to the body if you shoot wide open. I use this lens for most of my concert stuff which you can see in my gallery here. For me it just hits the sweet spot between sharp and beautiful.
 
I have two 90mm lenses, and I love them both. The first is an early 2.8 Elmarit, which is ridiculously sharp:

elmarit.jpg


The other is a collapsable Elmar which is not as sharp but still makes very pleasing photographs:

coll_elmar.jpg
 
Used to have one (CV90/3.5), and it was actually a very decent lens, but didn't use it a lot.. turned out I'm more of a 25/50 combo shooter.
 
I love the rendering from my Elmar 9cm f4 LCM. My wife's grandfather bought it in 1955 with the M3 that I inherited. It was one of the first two lenses he bought with that camera. On a summer day it does exquisite work with portraits, or with roses, or with sunsets. I may have to use an adapter on the M3, but it works flawlessly.

Scott
 
I never liked the bokeh from my Elmarit 90 v1, although build and handling is superb. The classic Elmars have awesome rendering and can be picked up for a song. I have three: 4-element rigid has 15 aperture blades and clickless aperture ring (now in vogue again); 4-element collapsible has the best mechanical engineering of any Leitz lens; 3-element has slightly less pretty b/g blur but the highest sharpness. Example of the rigid on Nikon DSLR:

rico102b.jpg
 
Some posts in this thread remind me that the 90 M-Rokkor (e40.5 version) is a stunning lens. I got mine cheap and I still see them for such great prices.

My other newfound love (among 90mm lenses) is the v2 Summicron. Mine is from 1979 and all I can say is....wow! This lens is a new addition for me because I found it at a irresistible price and I thought, "hey, its a Mandler lens, it might be OK".

Um....yeah its OK. I've been lugging that giant lens around with me ever since I got it. Trying it out on lots of situations. I'm sure I'll go back to my usual ways of using the 90 on an infrequent basis, but for now I'm smitten. This enormous lens is magic with people...

45109726.b132c207.640.jpg
 
I have four Leica 90's. 90 Summicron '64, 90 Thin TE, 90 3 element Elmar, 90 SAA. The 90 TE is the least used. I did a comparison of all four one evening and the TE lost due to the OOF areas harshness. My favorite is the '64 Summicron, with the 90 SAA being the second. Again they are used for less than 10% of my shots, but I generally carry one with me. The '64 is heavy, but wide open the backgrounds are dreamy. The 90 SAA is very crisp wide open. I choose which one by what I will be shooting.
 
I do love longer lenses and habitually use them in preference to my others both on my Leica gear and with other gear. 85mm-90mm would have to be optimal in my regard when shooting. I have been using both a 90mm f2.8 Tele Elmarit and a 90mm f2.8 Elmarit and while they are fine lenses I have not fallen in love with them for some reason perhaps because my M8 needed its rangefinder tweaking and found them a little challenging to use. That has now been corrected.

Never the less I recently bought a lovely 1970 dated Summicron f2 90mm. My search for the perfect 90mm goes on. To date (it is very early days so far) the lens is looking good and not just for portraits. Then again I have always had a soft spot for "character" lenses over the hard crisp sharpness of more modern "super" lens designs.

I will try to post some comparative shots.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom