Minolta CLE & Konica M-Hexanon 90mm?

[paulchan]

Hi I just brought the Minolta CLE with the Rokkor 40mm f2, and I gonna say I love it so much.

 

So I'm looking for a 90mm len for the camera. It seems that the tele-elmarit is very flare-prone, while the elmarit-m is a bit too big. Thus I am considering the Konica M-Hexanon 90mm.

 

I'm just wondering if anyone here could verify whether the Hexanon 90mm works with the CLE? If you're a CLE owner, what 90mm lens would you recommend? thanks.

 

(P.S. I'm looking for the dedicated flash for the CLE as well, if anyone wish to sell it please contact me.)

[Greg M]

Here's a must-read, if you haven't already, for anyone new to this camera. It will answer the questions you have asked here, and probably ones you haven't thought about yet.

 

Leica Minolta  CLE

[paulchan]

Thanks Greg.

 

I've read practically all the online info on the web and just want to hear more user's feedback, specifically with the Hexanon 90mm since I couldn't find any info anywhere.

 

Truly thank you for your help tho

[james_elwing]

The 90mm Elmar-C was made for the Leica CL and L/M CLE. It is an excellent smallish and lightish lens. I can't imagine you could do much better. I am sure I payed under $300 AUD, but some ebay prices are bizarre.

[Gus Lazzari]

I've read practically all the online info" paul c.

Did you try this one?

Ken on the Konica 90mm M <<< click

[Robin Smith]

What about the Minolta Rokkor-M 90mm f4? This was expressly designed for the CLE, and it is reputed to be very good. It is essentially the same as the 90mm Elmar-C, except it does not have a "steep focusing cam" (not required for the CLE), and takes more normal filters (40.5 mm(?) rather than the series filters of the Elmar-C). Ken Rockwell's views of the Hexanon strike me as a little out of left field: I have not heard anything bad about it, but he may be right that if the Hexanons have approached the price of the Elmarit-M then it probably is worth getting the Elmarit, which is a great lens. There was some debate at the time as to whether Hexanons were truly compatible with the Leica M focusing cams: some said yes, some said no: but of course the Minolta is something else again. I would be tempted to get the Rokkor-M 90/4, but check there is no separation (common in the 28mm Rokkor-Ms), and see if you can live with an f4 90mm. Personally I would find it too slow, so I would certainly consider the Hexanon 90mm, depending on the price. I handled the Hexanon 90mm once and found it be a well-made lens, so I am a little surprised by KRs review. As you can tell, I have never used it on a CLE, so this is just an "armchair opinion".

[paulchan]

Thank you all so much. I've taken the the plunge and brought the Hexanon so I may be the first to offer actual user experience with the Hexanon+CLE combo.

 

For anybody interested in this topic. My research shows that the Rokkor-M 90/4 and the Elmar-C 90/4 are best suited to the CLE and are actually good performers themselves. But I do need a faster lens so the options are the Tele-Elmarit-M (Light, good but flare-prone), the Elmarit-M (heaviest of all, but online comments show it's the best 90mm lens of all), or their older versions.

 

My budget is limited so I've decided on the Hexanon. Here I shall point out that Ken Rockwell's statement that "the Hexanon & Elmarit-M are selling used for about the same price" is not true. On ebay the former is roughly half the price of the latter. (I've also seen a lot of posting selling the old Elmarit under the Elmarit-M name but that's another story).

 

I've read his website again and he mentioned that Hexar-M lens should work on CLEs but further explanation is lacking. My biggest concern for the Hexanon is that (a) Hexanon lens are known to have back-focusing problems and (b) apparently any 90/2.8 lens wouldn't focus well on the CLE wide-opened anyway. Nevertheless I'll test it out and post the results here for future reference. Really thank you all so much for your inputs!

Edited June 9, 2017 by paulchan

[gary_b._herbst]

I once had a CL as well as a CLE and I would say that using anything faster than f4 in the 85-90mm range would be problematic. The range finder windows are closer together than you find on a full size M. If I was to use something faster than f4 I would stop down at least a stop. I have used 3 lenses faster than f4 and found that they worked best stopped down a little.

[Greg M]

Gary's comment would be my reason of concern in using a 90mm f2.8 lens on these cameras. No one made anything faster than f4 specifically for the CL-CLE, probably for a good reason. It's on that thin borderline of what's reasonably easy, especially at closer distances and using the shorter rangefinder base.

 

I cannot consistently accurately focus a 90mm f2 Summicron on a Leica M body for the same reason. It's a little easier with the 75mm Summicron, but I miss with it too at times.

[Robin Smith]

Well this is true, but as long as you are aware of this, you can still find the f2.8 of use. The further the distance from you the less it becomes a concern, it is when you focus close with a 90 mm at f2.8 that you may have focusing issues. I used a 90 mm Elmarit on a CL and found it useful, and I think the CLE has a greater r/f baseline than the CL, even if it's viewfinder mag is less.

[paulchan]

Just an update. The hexanon fits fine on the CLE. I took a test roll with f2.8-f4 at a low-light concert and the focus are a bit off. I then took my camera and the lens to a local repairman and he said that the lens is fine. It is my CLE that is misaligned.

 

So I'll shoot one more roll after my CLE is fixed to further confirm the usability of the hexanon, thanks!

[paulchan]

In my test roll I could nail the focus using the hexanon 90mm for around 1 out 3 shoots wide open. (Sorry for not uploading pics, my friends don't want to show their portraits)

 

For shooting portraits I'll probably stick to f4 and use f2.8 only when needed. Nevertheless the lens perform very well and I think I'll keep it instead of down-grading to the Rokkor 90.

[Greg M]

That's probably a good strategy to follow. The RF base on the CLE is short enough it'd probably need to be in perfect alignment to work with the 90 at f2.8, and even then it can be a crapshoot due to the user's vision and/or the process of focus and re-compose can take you out of the plane of sharp focus. I had to send my M262 in to have the rangefinder adjusted and started using the 1.25x eyepiece magnifier before I could get anything in-focus with a 75mm f2 Summicron at f2. Still often miss due to the razor-thin depth of field at f2 and find myself resorting to f4-5.6 just to be on the safe side with that lens.