Several members have asked about 90/2.8's sharpness. Then lens finally arrived today and I think this shot about says it all. Taken @ F2.8, no sharpening. Artifacts courtesy of JPEG compression. This is the second version of the 90 - model number 11806.
John; I totally agree.
I also have one of the later (E55, serial 3XXXXXX something) and I lack nothing in this lens. It's all there: the build, the bokeh, the sharpness. It is one of those rare near perfect lenses.
I was going to get a 100 Macro but since I have a macro, the 60, and the 90 Elmarit came up cheap I thought I'd give it a go and don't regret the "trade off".
I can sort of understand why Leica stopped production of it; it competes too well with the 100 Macro and the APO 90 for pure performance though the later lenses of course have other characteristics.
If I remember correctly the last version improved especially in the near focus range over the previous versions and maintains sharpness at all distances. I had the second to last version prior to this one and it was a notch behind at close range in comparison.
Henrik - Are you talking about the 11154? The serial number on this one 3,3xx,xxx and I have the box, so I know for sure it's a 11806. I've been trying to finding out if 11154 is actually a different formula, or if they just added ROM contacts or something like that.
I wonder how the Elmarit would stack up against the Canon 85mm f1.8. I have been amazed by how good the Canon is, even wide open, shooting at f2.8 I can see every skin pore in a face.
The biggest flaw I see in every Canon lens I own is CA. Sure, there are post production fixes, but it's nice to get a cleaner file to begin with. Saves time, and its just sharper to have all the light rays in perefect register, especially at the edges.
Qwerty64 wrote:
I wonder how the Elmarit would stack up against the Canon 85mm f1.8. I have been amazed by how good the Canon is, even wide open, shooting at f2.8 I can see every skin pore in a face.
I compared my Canon 85mm f1.8 to an older 1970's Summicron and the Leica seemed to perform better. The Canon is sharp in the middle and has good bokeh, but the Leica was a touch better overall. The 90mm Elamarit discussed here is supposed to be a much better performer than the Summicon, so I would assume the 90mm Elmarit would be quite a bit better than the Canon.
There is nothing wrong with the Canon 85mm perfomance as long as you are not concerned about the whole frame, rather than a central subject. The Canon is quite cheap too on the used market.
Another point in favour of a f2 lens is that it is much quicker and easier to focus than a f2.8 lens. An infocus image from an inferior lens will always look better than the out of focus image of a much better lens. A good example of this is shooting moving people with the EOS 85mm and AF versus an adapted Leica lens on the Canon.
On My EOS 1D I use the microprism screen, which really snaps into focus with fast lenses. It is the EC-A screen.
Or you could keep shooting the pretty ladies with the non APO Summicron. These was nothing wrong with your portrait shot with the 90mm and posted a few days ago.
90 Elmarit is quite sharp and has very good performance at close distance. Yet, both Canon 85/1.8 and Leica 90 Elmarit have strong purple fringing on high contrast area. The following photo was taken with late 90 elmarit @ f4. http://home.so-net.net.tw/pr_ting/R90Elmarit.jpg
If you want an 85mm to the 90mm focal range and you want to attenuate the CA, the Zeiss Planar T* 85mm F1.2 50th/60th Anniversary is such a lens. The bokeh from the ninja star blade at fast f stops is another bonus. These are the focal lengths that are very sensitive to CA particularly the fast lens and even with the Zeiss lens (which are known to be resistant to color fringing in the wide angle range with their Distagon T* formulas) from 50mm to 85mm fast lens have problem with CA. The only two lens from Zeiss that will attenuate the CA at these focal lengths are the Planar T* 55mm F1.2 100th Jahre and the Planar T* 85mm F1.2 50/60th Jahre.
