Which 90mm for my M3

[Dpingr1]

I bought the Elmar-C recently. The prices on those are pretty low. It is harder to find filters because they are Series 5.5, but I was able to find the rubber lens hood (which holds in the drop-in filters) and a couple of 5.5 filters on the auction site for next to nothing with a little patience. It is a spectacular lens, and focuses properly on my M4 at all distances and apertures so far. A great deal.

 

[leicapixie]

The replies so far bar a few exceptions, praise the 90's.
Well as for my experiences, is different.
I only use film, so digital Leica, does NOT apply.
The early 90 Elmar f4 are horrible.
One version I had was so bad, focussing had no effect!
The Elmarit ( long lens) with vulcanite covering was beautiful.
Soft wide open, neat for portraits.
The 90mm Tele-Elmarit, fat one, was sharp basically to full aperture.
Mine was stolen, so never replaced.
At that point, haze had begun to show in many samples.
The Grease/oil/glass itself were all blamed.
Check for haze.
The Minolta-Leitz 90mm simply focussed wrong on my M3, M2 and M6.
So again check before purchase..
The 90mm Summicron was my "dream" lens.
One day I was offered one!
Zap it was on my body and I looked thru..
There was an elephant in the viewfinder.
A huge piece of area blocked..
The New and APO 90 are excellent.
The latest Leica 90's are all great.
The Canon 100 and Voigtlander 90 simply good.
I prefer to crop my pix than change lenses.
I use frame as a guide.

 

[DominikDUK]

"The replies so far bar a few exceptions, praise the 90's.
Well as for my experiences, is different.
I only use film, so digital Leica, does NOT apply.
The early 90 Elmar f4 are horrible.
One version I had was so bad, focussing had no effect"

Must have been a very bad example as Tessars that are longer than normal lenses are rather sharp and have decent to very good contrast. The Tessar designs also doesn't need coating as much as other designs.
weird.

 

[Calzone]

"The replies so far bar a few exceptions, praise the 90's.
Well as for my experiences, is different.
I only use film, so digital Leica, does NOT apply.
The early 90 Elmar f4 are horrible.
One version I had was so bad, focussing had no effect"

Must have been a very bad example as Tessars that are longer than normal lenses are rather sharp and have decent to very good contrast. The Tessar designs also doesn't need coating as much as other designs.
weird.

The new 90 Macro Elmar is a rather exceptional lens. It is a Tessar design. One of the reasons for the low flare and good contrast is that there are few elements and less transmission losses.

Also equipted with the hood from a 50 Elmar version 3 mentioned above collapsed the lens is about the size of my 50 Lux ASPH.

Cal

 

[x-ray]

"The replies so far bar a few exceptions, praise the 90's.
Well as for my experiences, is different.
I only use film, so digital Leica, does NOT apply.
The early 90 Elmar f4 are horrible.
One version I had was so bad, focussing had no effect"

Must have been a very bad example as Tessars that are longer than normal lenses are rather sharp and have decent to very good contrast. The Tessar designs also doesn't need coating as much as other designs.
weird.

Of the 2 copies if the old Elmar neither were sharp until f8. They flared easily and were quite low contrast. One was an early uncoated version and the other a coated E39 version.

I'd say we all have different expectations of a lens.

In addition I've owned 3 or 4 of the v1 Elmarit and they're quite respectable wide open.

 

[giulio stucchi]

Elmarit-M 90 2.8

Elmarit-M 90 2.8

Hi,

I was looking for a 90 to pair with my 35 cron asph and I finally went for the Elmarit-M 90 2.8

I just got the lens 2 weeks ago and only shot few frames so I cannot really comment on the optical quality yet but the ergonomics and the balance of the lens on my m2, m6 seems perfect to me.

Despite beeing a design from the early 80s (as prototype) for what I´ve seen online it should pairing well with the cron.

Here below a quick shot I took the same day I got the lens:

003.16 by Giulio Stucchi, on Flickr

I wouldn´t mind adding a Fat Elmarit later on for a vintage kit with the lux 35 pre asph

Hope it helps.

Cheers
Giulio

 

[Bingley]

Minolta Rokkor-M 90/4.0 (made by Leitz):

Track Meet by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[Krosya]

I used to have a "Fat" Tele-Elmarit, not a bad vintage lens:

hexar-with-fat-te3 by George, on Flickr

but later I tried Nikkor 85/2 and M-Hexanon 90/2.8 and was hooked:

hex 90-1 by George, on Flickr

hex 90-21 by George, on Flickr

 

[nasmformyzombie]

If you don't need the f/2 speed of the Summicron, the Elmarit-M 90mm f/2.8 is unsurpassed, especially when factoring cost. The Macro-Elmar-M 90mm f/4 is a fantastic lens but is very pricey. All of the other 90mm screw mount/M mount offerings from Leica and from Konica are not as good optically as the Summicron, the Elmarit-M and the Macro-Elmar-M.

 

[jaapv]

If you don't need the f/2 speed of the Summicron, the Elmarit-M 90mm f/2.8 is unsurpassed, especially when factoring cost. The Macro-Elmar-M 90mm f/4 is a fantastic lens but is very pricey. All of the other 90mm screw mount/M mount offerings from Leica and from Konica are not as good optically as the Summicron, the Elmarit-M and the Macro-Elmar-M.

But the Zeiss Tele-Tessar 85/4.0 is at least as good as the Elmarit-M an considerably lighter.

And there is of course the Zeiss 85 ZM Sonnar. Short quote from Sean Reid's 90 mm lens test:

it’s really impossible to ignore the exceptional performance of the Zeiss 85/2.0 Sonnar. This is a first rate optic…. (it) may, in terms of technical performance, be the best telephoto lens I have yet tested.

 

[nasmformyzombie]

But the Zeiss Tele-Tessar 85/4.0 is at least as good as the Elmarit-M an considerably lighter.

And there is of course the Zeiss 85 ZM Sonnar. Short quote from Sean Reid's 90 mm lens test.

It’s really impossible to ignore the exceptional performance of the Zeiss 85/2.0 Sonnar. This is a first rate optic…. (it) may, in terms of technical performance, be the best telephoto lens I have yet tested.

I didn't mention Zeiss, only Leica and Konica. 😉

 

[thawkins]

Considering purchasing a 90mm for my M3. What is the difference between a 90mm Tele-Elmar, 90mm Elmarit and the 90mmTele-Elmarit? Which one is the preferred lens? Eagerly await all of your replies.

Thanks for all the replies. Now I am thoroughly confused!! HaHaHa but good stuff anyway while I peruse the 90mm lens markets.

 

[WJJ3]

+1 for the ROKKOR-M; the CLE version with the proper M-Mount focus cam. The Tele-Elmarit is too expensive, and bigger tele lenses are for SLRs

 

[David Hughes]

Nice quote David, but there was nothing about "watcheth for the haze" 🙂

Hi,

That is also covered but later in the forum when Paul told Titus that "to the pure all things are pure".

By today's standard the forum is rather clunky being printed in a book and suffers from translation problems but that's not a new problem...

Regards, David

 

[icebear]

Almost all my concert shots are taken with my 2/90 'cron (pre-asph.). After it had been 6 bit coded and adjusted it is a stunning performer on my MM. I use a 1.2x eyepiece on the VF to ease focusing, on the M3 it will work brilliantly anyway. The lens is pretty heavy but it helps to steady the camera. Not exactly a walk around lens but it's so good that I never long for the asph. version.