Is this Elmar worth it?

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lawnpotter

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I found an uncoated Elmar 3.5 50mm in excellent shape overall except for a couple of "very slight cleaning marks" on the front element. I have bought from the seller before and like him very much. he also has a good return policy. would you keep looking for a perfectly clean uncoated Elmar or is this one a reasonable price for $300.00 plus shipping. Bye the way, I have a very clean coated Elmar 3.5. I also want an uncoated one. Thanks
 
Prices of Elmar 50/3.5 lenses have risen in recent months. It's not a bargain price, but I don't think it's ridiculous in the current market. If the glass is in good shpe and you can return it if dissatisfied, I'd go for it.
 
I paid $170 for mine about 5-6 months ago. But I had to spend another $170 getting it into decent shooting condition (a trip to Youxin followed by a trip to DAG). $300 seems reasonable given the current market.
 
Buy 3 Industar-22 for 10$ each, keep the best and sell the other two. They are on par with the Elmars optically (mechanically not so) and don't have the scratched front elements most of the time.

Don't get me wrong, the Elmar is a very nice lens and I like to use mine, but would I pay 300 bucks for one? Defintely not!
 
$200-$300 is a good range these days for a clean Elmar 5cm/3.5. It used to be that $100-$175 was a good lens price for the same lens. A Leica lens is appreciating in value.

In a nutshell: if you trust the seller, go for it.
 
Cleaning marks?

Cleaning marks?

As you can - carefully - clean an uncoated lens without fear of damaging the coating these marks are either easily removable or they're scratches/ erosion of the front element.
If they're scratches I wouldn't touch the lens and especially not for $300. I have seen early pristine nickle Elmars sell for more but the chrome ones are neither rare nor that expensive - I paid $110 for mine a couple of years ago and that was near mint.
 
Dunno about the prices. I an "EXC++" coated elmar, with lens shade, yellow filter and front cap, been up at $300 for a good few weeks, no buyers, which seems odd, price definitively nice if I judge by eBay prices. The prices for Elmar really confuses me 🙂
 
I Love Film said:
Why would you need to send an Elmar to both of them?
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I sent it to Youxin first, the aperture was frozen and there was some haze (neither mentioned by the seller). It came back with the haze still there so I sent it to DAG. He said focus was off by a few feet at close range (!), performed his voodoo magic, cleaned it up properly and I've been happy ever since. So I could have saved $60 by sending it directly to DAG.
 
I love elmars, even my nickname comes from those lenses.

You´ve better be carefull because they flare a lot,the first i had was coated, not red scale thou.
After selling it and regreting always doing so i bought a sencond one, mint but uncoated it was unusable to the point of having to return it, it didn´t have a single wipe mark or brassing, but...

The elmar desing leaves the front element unprotected from light entering from every side, the use of a ficus hood will help a lot.

The elmar has a unique signature and can be used from 3.5 on!

Everytime someone talks her about an elmar i remember i have to buy a new one....

The Industar 50 is another great example of a collapsible sharp lens, nice price they have and sometimes it rivals the elmar.

Bye!
 
ray*j*gun said:
I haven't seen I-22's (collapsable) that cheap for a long time. Of course I haven't looked that hard either. Also, un-coated is harder to find.
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You won't find an uncoated I-22 because there weren't any. The I-10 as fitted to early FEDs is uncoated but you may need to have it re-shimmed to focus properly on a "standard" Leica. I have two uncoated I-10s and in honesty they produce just about the same results as the I-22 - more flare-prone, of course.
 
... chrome..., in that case it should be in really good condition. Nickel Elmars are more sought after than chrome ones and collectors are willing to pay the extra price.
 
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