Leitz Elmarit 135mm f2.8 performance...

Hi,

 

I just want to ask your experiences with the Leitz Elmarit 135mm

f2.8... I just bought one lastweek at SAMY´S and try it in my old R3

as soon as I got home. OH! I also have a TAMRON SP

70-210mm f3.5.

 

I fixed the Tamron at 135mm and I took as a test, the SAME

pictures using both lenses, and using same apertures, 3.5, 4,

5.6, etc. Maybe my eyes are not so educated, but the truth is that I

cannot find any difference in the pictures.

 

I will be glad hearing your experiences with these lenses...

maybe the Tamron is really good, or maybe the Elmarit is not the

best, and maybe that is why is no longer in production.

 

Best regards,

RicardoVillagran

It's your money to waste. If your Tamron is that good, why on Earth did you buy an Elmarit?

Ricardo

 

Yes, what is the point? What exactly was your test and how did you compare them etc. etc. What film, subject time of day blah blah...

 

The Tamron zoom is probably not terrible and the 135mm Elmarit is a 1965 and long discontinued design.

 

I don't know what to say except that if you find the Tamron fine then I would sell the Elmarit very quickly.

That Tamron zoom has had good reviews over the years, and 135mm may be a point where it's at its best. The 135/2.8 Elmarit is not known as one of the legendary Leica lenses, though it isa decent performer. I'm not surprised at your results. Most people looking to see a huge advantage between R lenses overall and other brands have to exercise some subjective imagination.

Ricardo:

Yes the Elmarit 135 f2.8 is not a super sharp lens, but what you

won't get with the tamron lens is that Leica colours on slides.

Try shooting under the shadow and you will get a wide variety of

blues that are a Leica trademark. Try shooting with the first rays

of sun in the morning and you will get very rich colour tonalities. I

am sure your Tamron will not do as well. I know because my

Nikkors were not as good as my Emarit 135mm F2.8. Good luck

with your tests. ( try Fuji Provia 100 ).

I agree with Marco completely. The 135 Elmarit was never one of the legends from Leica but i've tried many other makes and to my eyes it has the most pleasant color rendition of them all. I must stress that this is very subjective:) Try a roll of slides and look at the shadow details as Marco suggested, you might be surprise. Happy shooting.

The reason that the 135mm f2.8 Elmarit R was not legendary was because it was a Minolta design maybe?

Trevor

 

Not true. A real Leica design.

OK I had a search and found a 15mm Zeiss(Hologon?) design , a 24mm f2.8 Minolta design , a 28 - 70mm Sigma design and a 70 - 210mm Minolta design all for the Leica R series. (As well as a Schneider w/angle shift lens) and a Minolta 500mm mirror rip off I think.

 

I did genuinely think that the 135mm R f2.8 was also MInolta design. Thought I had read it in Brian Bower's Leica M photography a while back.

 

Sorry.

Brian Bowers "Leica R Photography" of course. (God I'm not concentrating today am I?)

Trevor: Robin is right re the 135 - but to add to your list:

 

15mm Super-Elmar - Zeiss (now 15mm Super-Elmarit - Schneider)

 

16mm Elmarit-F fisheye - Minolta

 

21 f/3.4 or 4 Super-Angulon-R - Schneider

 

Both 28 and 35mm R shift (PA) lenses - Schneider

 

70-210, 80-200 (4.5), 75-200 zooms - all Minolta.

 

You can see why we have to defned the honor of the 135 - it's one of the few R-lenses Leica really DID design (joke! joke!).

 

For some reason most manufacturers do 28mm f/2.8 lenses really well and 135 lenses RELATIVELY poorly. The only 135's I've ever used that really stood out were the Nikon 135 f/2 AIS (stopped down a little it surpasses the legendary 105) and the Zeiss/Contax f/2.8 Sonnar.

Surely THE legendary Leica 135mm is the APO Telyt f3.4 M?

 

I am , primarily , a Contax SLR / Zeiss user and I do actually have a recently acquired Sonnar 135mm f2.8. It is indeed a very nice lens and I had the bonus of buying a mint condition used one for a nice price. (Good time to buy used Zeiss manual focus leneses at the moment)

 

However my previous 'stop-gap' 135mm lens was a Yashica 135mm f2.8 ML (until I could find a good used Sonnar) this was also very good quality. (especially as it only cost me £45 UK)

 

Before the Contax Gear I had Minolta MD Rokkor lenses and used the 135mm f2.8 and f3.5 models at different times. (I actually preferred the f3.5)

 

My move into Leica will not be including tele lenses (nothing beyond 75mm) so Leica's 135mm efforts are academic to me.

The 135mm Elmarit may not be legendary, however there are two versions (at least optically) and the later (probably starting around 27XXXXX)

is and excellent lens. While it may not be a "killer" design, it will certainly outperform a Tamron zoom, and most non-Leica medium telephotos. Once again choice of a high quality film is important in the evaluation process, Try some Kodachrome 64 or Velvia.