ELCAN replica lens posts

[raid]

Drawing with Light, Ed! Very nicely done with this lens.

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

Thanks, Raid. This time of year I trend towards color, but I couldn’t resist these ferns in monochrome.

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

Last night, before the rain. Apple blossom time in Vermont.

Ed

L1002970-Edit copy by woodswoman57, on Flickr

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

A informal portrait, wide open.

L1000220-Edit copy by woodswoman57, on Flickr

Ed

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

Nobody is posting here, alas. Here is a shot made a f/4.5 in open shade that has a "noir" feeling to it.

Ed

L1003142-Edit copy by woodswoman57, on Flickr

 

[Duofold RF]

Drawing with Light, Ed! Very nicely done with this lens.

you should get one for your 3D portrait. Screen shoot from YouTube @f2, the edge is horrible, if this lens is from other Chinese makers surely will be trashed

 

[raid]

These are wonderful images, Ed. I wonder how few RFF members have bought this replica.

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

I am not clear what Duofold RF is trying to say here. If it is about the ELCAN Replica, yes the edges are not good. But the main use of this lens is for portraits and street photography, wherein the center is what is important, and this is top notch for this lens. I am not doing copy work, architectural photography, or other tasks with it which might require sharpness to the edges.

And while I have not been able to compare this lens with an original, Kevin had done this and has shown little difference. Regardless of where such a replica is made, China or elsewhere, good lenses are good lenses. The lens (I have a prototype, remember) is well made, operates smoothly and predictably, and has become one of my two most used optics.

And as too Raid's compliment, I appreciate it. I wish others would try this lens and post their images here.

Ed

 

[raid]

I wonder whether the CV Heliar Classic is somehow similar to this ELCAN when used wide open, Ed.

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

If I understand things correctly, both the classic Helier, and the Ultrastigmat from which the ECAN formula is derived are both (much) modified Cooke triplets in layout. As is the Tessar and the Elmar. And the ELCAN has the roundedness and the feeling of separation of subject from background that is the classic triplet look. So it is possible that the new Helier would perform similarly.

Ed

 

[raid]

I have the Heliar 50/3.5 and the 50/2. I bought them when they came out, so I do not have the last versions of these lenses. Both lenses are very sharp. The (new) Heliar Classic seems to be special. Maybe it is new" version" of the old ELCAN?

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

I think the “thing” about the ELCAN is that it only has 4 lens elements and 8 air/glass surfaces and is f/2.0. That may well account for something that is not fully describable by such things as MTF curves, something about light transmission. I own a 50/3.5 Heliar and it is an incredibly sharp lens, but the ELCAN is incredibly sharp at center and at f/2. Peter Karbe describes the ELCAN formula as “good”, especially as ”implemented with only 4 lenses”. High praise indeed coming from the designer of the 50/2 and 35/2 Apo aspheric M lenses, which have 2x and 3x+ more lens elements respectively to accomplish their goals.

 

[raid]

This is from the Voigtlaender website:
The Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM is a deliberate counterpart to the high performance lenses of today. It is designed to show a shaping-classic image at open aperture by intentionally leaving aberration. The lens configuration consists of six lenses in three groups, and interprets the original heliar type. In particular, at the F1.5 aperture, a bokeh effect is apparent, creating spherical and comatic aberrations at the edges of the image that would be difficult to create through digital processing. This effect decreases with increasingly smaller aperture and from aperture F4 the Heliar behaves largely distortion-neutral. The overall image effect can be described as picturesque and velvety.

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

Sounds intriguing, Raid. I hope you will try it and post images.

 

[raid]

I am using the Heliar Classic, and I am trying to get used to it.

 

[Erik van Straten]

The (new) Heliar Classic seems to be special. Maybe it is new" version" of the old ELCAN?

The Heliar Classic 50mm f1.5 has the same optical construction as the Leitz Hektor 73mm f1.9. The only differences are that the focal length is not 73mm, but 50mm and the speed is not f1.9, but f1.5, so the angle of view is significantly larger. Because the angle of view of the 73mm lens is smaller, the angle of view of the 50mm is actually too large for what the lens is designed for, so "image errors" occur at the edges.

Aside: the Hektor 73mm f1.9 was originally intended for making passport photos. There was a great need for this in the "new" Germany after January 30, 1933. That is why the Hektor 73mm f1.9 is quite easy to find today.

Erik.

 

[raid]

Thank you very much for this information, Erik. One day I will get a Hektor.

 

[Doug]

Thank you very much for this information, Erik. One day I will get a Hektor.

The Cosina/Voigtlander Heliar Classic 75mm f/1.8 has the same 3-group 6-element design as the 73mm Hektor, FWIW. 🙂
Maybe more than you wanted to know, but....
This is described as a "portrait" lens. Sean Reid's group review including this lens on the Leica M9 shows a soft lower-contrast rendering wide open, sharpening up well by f/4 but the edges remain a bit soft through f/8 but that may just be from curvature of field. Very nice feel and construction quality; precise aperture clicks and smooth well-damped focus movement. There's some luminance vignetting wide open decreasing notably at f/2.4, quite neutral-color across the frame so he recommends no need for coding, and to leave lens detection on the M9 turned off. Setting the menu to emulate 75mm Summilux 11814/11815/11810 slightly over-corrects luminance vignetting, neutral color (just a bit warm to f/2), so this is the better choice than 75/2. Wide open on-center it's slightly soft though it still renders fine detail quite well, and with a kind of "glow" reminiscent of Noctilux. The bokeh is very smooth. Quite soft in corners wide open possibly exacerbated by field curvature, and this persists through f/8. In field use it doesn't seem all that soft, but it suffers in comparison to the strong resolution of the 75 Summicron. On center it perks up nicely by f/2.8 and is nearly equal at f/4. No focus shift to this lens. Heliar is vulnerable to chromatic aberration, with red/purple color fringing in strong backlight (minimal by f/4), but is unusually resistant to flare, keeping contrast well even at small apertures. There's a small amount of barrel distortion. So, the lens is predictable as to focus, soft but still detailed wide open, definitely soft in the edges which seems to emphasize the limited DoF there, very attractive. And at f/4 it's as sharp as any 75. An interesting option with personality.

 

[raid]

Thank you Doug. I read a lot online on how users like the CV Heliar 75/1.8. I can see why.

 

[intangiblethings]

The CV 75/1.8 has been really easy locally for me in HK. It seems a lot of people are upgrading to the 75/1.5.

I thought about selling mine but realized I hardly ever shoot with my 75 and the prices are on the way down, so I might as well keep it.