A much underated lens ?

[Dave Wilkinson]

It seems that most of the lens talk here revolves around ultra fast, exotic, and expensive optics. Most of my work ( street, documentary etc. ) is done in good light, and my fastest 50 ( f1.4 Nikkor ) is not often used wide open. Recently I aquired a bargain-priced f2.8 collapsible Elmar ( 1962, bayonet ) to make my M2 a more compact, pocketable, daily user. So far, after a few rolls of b+w, this lens has proved very satisfactory indeed, - probably as good as anything I've used, - given that I don't make huge enlargements these days. I wonder how many more here, use this seldom mentioned lens regularly?

Regards, Dave............mmmm....not many, it would seem!

 

[Sparrow]

It makes lovely pictures, but it’s a PITA to use, butt ugly when one extends it and hasn’t got any bragging rights, so you can see why it’s not universally popular

PS do you have much snow on the coast?

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

V. nice pic, Stewart, do you have a colour example? ( I have'nt tried yet )....no snow here!, just much wind and rain!
Dave.

 

[Sparrow]

I think this is……… the first photo is my “bad” copy, it has a little haze, that’s why the highlights are a bit flarey, I don’t use it a lot because the handling is so poor compared with the little cv f2.5/50 and the size difference isn’t great

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

Looks like there's just two of us!.....or perhaps the freebies on the other thread are too great an attraction!! 😀

 

[grainhound]

There are a few here who have and like this lens. I'm one, though I haven't used it often enough. Here's a shot from the second roll after I got it.

 

[peter_n]

I think a number of people use variants here, some the earlier version and some more recent. The sad thing is that Leica have chosen to discontinue the lens, which is odd because it is an important lens in the history of the company. It used to have a bad reputation in comparison to the Summicron, but that was just internet talk. I use the last version, and it is an excellent lens.

 

[MCTuomey]

can't speak to the early elmar. may be off-topic, but i think the little canon 35/2.8 is a gem, dave. i bought it earlier this year from another RFFer, inexpensively. on a biz trip break i shot a bunch of pics in an afternoon walk in central London w/it on a R-D1 and was really pleased. great feel in use on my M2, now that i'm back to just film. i'm down to just one fast RF lens, a Canon 50/1.5. i do prefer the more modest glass that often gets overlooked, like my T-E 90/2.8, size and handling-wise.

peter & dave & stewart, really nice shots there ...