Elmarit-M 21 f2.8

[luuca]

Hi, I looked for a thread dedicated to this lens and I didn't found anything.
If there is already something similar I hope moderators could fuse this new discussion with the older one.

I've always had mixed feelings about ultra wides; I love them in theory, but in practice they put me in difficulty each time I decide to come out with one of them.

my comfort zone is 35/50mm (I'm a little narrow minded 😆 )

last week I found a good deal and now I own a beautiful Elmarit-M 21 f2.8 with a Leica 21mm viewfinder



After disassembling and cleaning the viewfinder (it had dust, fungus, fingerprints... everything you can imagine) I put a kodak gold on the M2 and come out headed to the near park.

Here you are the scans, apertures between 2.8 and 11, sunny16 and a bit of struggle trying to find the right angles to use a 21mm properly

f2.8


f4


f8


f8


f8


f8


f11


f11


f4


f11



f2.8



it look so good to my (inexperienced) eyes for a ultrawide.
I will force myself to use it for street

 

[sebastel]

I love the 21mm, whether elmarit, or super angulon. even if I'm a 35/50mm person, too. (usually)
enjoy yours!

cheers,
sebastian

 

[rfaspen]

The E60 elmarit 21/2.8 is the very worst Leica M-mount lens I own (and I have a few Leica lenses 😎). I have it in the cupboard but I never use it. Just awful performance. For 21, I use my CV 21/4 LTM on the film bodies and the CV 21/3.5 v2 on the digitals. I very nearly splurged for the SEM but my time with the CV 21/3.5 was so satisfying I decided to stick with it....and I favor 21 for some of my photo endeavors. I also saved a couple thousand dollars. But the Elmarit.... such a massive disappointment ☹️. Bought it from Tamarkin and should have sent it back. Too late now. Although my experience was disappointing, I'm glad someone is finding it acceptable. It's possible I just have the total lemon unit from the production. Those sample images above already look better than what I remember from mine.

 

[luuca]

maybe it's terrible on digital, on film it's okay for me!
I don't usually need clinical rendition, so I can't see particular flaws.

At max aperture too it's very good to my eyes (for example the little chapel shot)

 

[sebastel]

I agree - I find it capable enough. A lot depends on the condition of the actual copy.