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Archive 2014 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?

  
 
Peire
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


Hello everybody,

I'm thinking about buying one,so your feedback will be much appreciated.



May 29, 2014 at 10:22 AM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


I mostly very much liked this lens. It is sharp from wide open and pretty much across the frame. It has nice bokeh and is very nice for close-up especially with the Elpro 3 close-up lens. The one slight flaw in that is has six aperture blades. They don't show in highlights often, but when they do I am not a fan of hexagons. Keep in mind there are also two versions of this lens. The second one is a nice improvement and costs a bit more.


May 29, 2014 at 10:31 AM
Conner999
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


What he said. Ver 2 is a great lens.


May 29, 2014 at 10:33 AM
Samuli Vahonen
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


I have v2, and like it very much. Great boke quality, even on complex difficult backgrounds. Focus/boke transition is different than in Zeiss lenses, what I'm usually using, and I use this to get different look to photos. Compared to Zeiss options (C/Y 3.5/100, C/Y 2.8/85, G 2.8/90) I also enjoy shorter minimum focus distance, when I use it.

On negative side wide open contrast could be little better. Mostly I'm not bothered by 6 aperture blades but sometimes it bothers. With Sony A7(r) it also feels quite heavy (lens is quite small but weight quite a lot).

Samuli



May 29, 2014 at 10:42 AM
freaklikeme
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


If the number of blades is a big concern, you can solve that problem by going to the comparable M-mount lens. You'll have to pay more and give up a little MFD, but you'll get better stopped down bokeh.

Alternately, the pre-AA Summicron-R has eight blades, though it's not quite as good in the corners as the Elmarit until f/4.

I prefer the Summicron, but if it weren't available, I take the Elmarit over any other 90 available.




May 29, 2014 at 01:00 PM
Peire
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


Samuli Vahonen wrote:
I have v2, and like it very much. Great boke quality, even on complex difficult backgrounds. Focus/boke transition is different than in Zeiss lenses, what I'm usually using, and I use this to get different look to photos. Compared to Zeiss options (C/Y 3.5/100, C/Y 2.8/85, G 2.8/90) I also enjoy shorter minimum focus distance, when I use it.

On negative side wide open contrast could be little better. Mostly I'm not bothered by 6 aperture blades but sometimes it bothers. With Sony A7(r) it also feels quite heavy (lens is quite small but weight quite a lot).

Samuli


What is the difference between v1 and v2?Is it only E60 vs E55 filter thread or different optical design?



May 29, 2014 at 01:08 PM
Samuli Vahonen
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


Peire wrote:
What is the difference between v1 and v2?Is it only E60 vs E55 filter thread or different optical design?

I don't know, but you can see from Leica wiki that v1 has 5 lens elements, and v2 has 4. Weight, dimensions and almost everything is different except camera mount:
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/90mm_f/2.8_Elmarit-R_I
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/90mm_f/2.8_Elmarit-R_II

Samuli



May 29, 2014 at 01:37 PM
naturephoto1
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


Reports have indicated that of all of the R 90mm lenses only the Leica R 90mm Apo Summicron lenses are superior to the performance of the 90mm V2 Elmarit lens. The Elmarit V2 is supposed to approach the performance of the 90mm Apo Summicron and have better performance than the well regarded R Summicron.

Rich



May 29, 2014 at 01:59 PM
AhamB
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


I seem to remember Denoir/Luka showing a comparison between the Elmarit-M 90 (not sure which version) and the Canon 135/2 L, and the Elmarit had nice colors but quite a lot of lateral CA at infinity subjects (snowy mountain), at least compared to the 135 L which had none. Does the R version also have this? It would surprise me a bit, but I don't know too much about Leica lenses.


May 29, 2014 at 02:51 PM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?



AhamB wrote:
I seem to remember Denoir/Luka showing a comparison between the Elmarit-M 90 (not sure which version) and the Canon 135/2 L, and the Elmarit had nice colors but quite a lot of lateral CA at infinity subjects (snowy mountain), at least compared to the 135 L which had none. Does the R version also have this? It would surprise me a bit, but I don't know too much about Leica lenses.

Are you sure it was the Elmarit and not the Pre-AA Summicron? I know Denoir had the Summicron, but I don't remember him ever having the Elmarit. It would also be consistent with my experience with the R lenses as well, where the the Summicron had more CA than the Elmarit.



May 29, 2014 at 03:04 PM
Ulff
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


The Elmarit R 90 2.8 v2 (55mm) has long been my favorite lens in the 90-100mm range. Sharpness, contrast and bokeh are all great and I like the smooth rendering a lot. The MFD of 0.7m is great, too. It performs very good in all distances. The build-in hood is something I wish every lens has. As has been said, it is very small, but surprisingly heavy.

I wish I would use it more, but nowadays my ZE 100mm 2.0 gets more use because of the faster aperture. If I travel light and am not sure if I need a tele lens, the C/Y 100 3.5 is more often in my bag because of its size and weight, although I like the images from the Leica more. I also have a Canon 90 TS-E which performs in my IQ tests identical in every respect to the Leica.

Here's an older example from the Leica wide open I have online:
http://www.paintingwithlight.de/FilesEx/l90_01.jpg



May 29, 2014 at 04:16 PM
Peire
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


Thank you all for your feedback!


May 30, 2014 at 04:04 AM
AhamB
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


Steve Spencer wrote:
Are you sure it was the Elmarit and not the Pre-AA Summicron? I know Denoir had the Summicron, but I don't remember him ever having the Elmarit. It would also be consistent with my experience with the R lenses as well, where the the Summicron had more CA than the Elmarit.


Looks like you're right. Couldn't find that specific post yet, but he did post images taken with his Summicron-M V3: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/989050/0&year=2011#9387701



So what about the Elmarit-R v1? Not that special? The v2 is about 2-3 (or more) times the price of the v1.



May 30, 2014 at 07:43 AM
Qwerty64
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


I used to have one (ver 2). Loved its rendering, just not the sharpest lens around. I ended up eventually selling it for a Tamron 90mm f2.5 which I found sharper and lighter.


May 30, 2014 at 08:46 AM
redisburning
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Do you like/dislike your Elmarit R 90/2.8 and why?


this is just me but I've been looking at buying one of these Leica 90s and my pick is the pre-AA 90 Cron-R.

the A7r has changed my priorities with lenses. Now, instead of having to max out on lens resolution, I think you can depend on the extra resolution of the sensor to make up for giving some of that back for a better overall style. It's sort of the opposite of shooting tri-x in D76 but with the same effect.

I just greatly prefered the OoF transition of the 90 Cron-R to the other Leicas.



May 30, 2014 at 10:24 AM





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