Elmarit 90/2.8 vs Elmar 90/4?

[Landberg]

Hi!
I have two Leica 90mm lenses. One Elmarit 90/2.8 and one Elmar 90/4. Both from the 60's and both are clean and smooth. Which one should I keep? Both look almost the same at different apertures.

 

[Gregm61]

I don't think either are so valuable that you lose much by simply keeping both. If you can't decide which one to sell, don't sell either. The Elmarit is a newer design and I would keep it as the faster of the two, but that's just me. Is the 90 the rigid version or the one that can be collapsed?

 

[venchka]

There are worse decisions to be faced with.
My current inventory:
90/2.8 Elmarit, first version.
90/2.8 Elmarit, last version.
85/2.0 Nikkor LTM.
At least 1, probably 2 have to go.
Decisions. Decisions.

Wayne

 

[ferider]

Hi!
I have two Leica 90mm lenses. One Elmarit 90/2.8 and one Elmar 90/4. Both from the 60's and both are clean and smooth. Which one should I keep? Both look almost the same at different apertures.

Easy: keep both, and start looking for a Summicron.

 

[Pioneer]

I use my Elmar 90/4 LTM in all daylight scenarios. It has been cleaned and serviced by Youxin so it is works very smoothly and is clean and sharp. Of course it is sharpest in the center and when stopped down a bit but I haven't noticed that lens quality has been at all limiting.

I did pick up a Tele-Elmarit 90/2.8 last year thinking that f2.8 would really help in night baseball and softball games. Since I usually am using Portra 800 and Delta 3200 I really haven't used it much. It too is a good lens (as are most all Leica lenses) but I seem to prefer the older 90.

The Tele-Elmarit does produce contrasty images, much more so than the old LTM 90. I suspect if I printed more often in the darkroom I may be more inclined to work with the Tele-Elmarit a little more often, but when scanned and processed I prefer the image quality from the LTM lens. I could be seeing a slight front of back focus issue with the newer lens and that is affecting my preference but when I do pixel peep (not too often) I can't see anything that would suggest a lack of sharpness.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

My criteria in these situations is to sell the item I use the least or would miss the least. The lens you use the least is the one you won't miss once it's gone.

 

[FrankS]

IMO your question would make more sense if it were which lens should I buy, because you would have no first hand experience with either. As it is, you have both lenses to determine which to sell for yourself.