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Archive 2016 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

LightShow
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

retrofocus wrote:
I recently bought a good used copy of version I of the 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit which works wonderful at all aperture stops on my A7R camera. I am amazed by the sharpness of this old lens design on a 36MP FF camera. At f/2.8, I got beautiful (and sharp) portraits with this lens.

This lens?
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/90mm_f/2.8_Tele-Elmarit_I
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/images/thumb/d/de/M-90f28t.jpg/400px-M-90f28t.jpg
This is my version, can you share some WO shots please? S I can compare it to mine. Thanks.

Oct 21, 2016 at 10:58 AM

Henning
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

I have the 90/4 Macro Elmar as well as some other Leica 90's, and the Elmar is definitely one of the best. Unfortunately it's not the best on the Sony A7Rii; the 90/2 AA and the discontinued 90/2.8 Elmarit-M are both better than the Elmar on the Sony. On the Leica 240 the Elmar is outstanding and better than the Elmarit-M and s good as the 90AA. The 90AA is excellent on both, especially at greater distances.

It's not only Leica wideangles that suffer on the Sony. The 50mm lenses suffer, as does the otherwise outstanding 75/2 Summicron. The longer lenses aren't really bad, just not nearly the exemplary imagers that they are on Leica bodies.

Oct 21, 2016 at 03:35 PM

arduluth
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

LightShow wrote:
This lens?
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/90mm_f/2.8_Tele-Elmarit_I
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/images/thumb/d/de/M-90f28t.jpg/400px-M-90f28t.jpg
This is my version, can you share some WO shots please? S I can compare it to mine. Thanks.

I'd be curious as well. I've considered the 90mm f/2.8 Tele-Elmarit II a few times as a replacement for the Contax G 90mm f/2.8, to get a real focus ring and helicoid adapter capability. Alas, from what I could find the Contax was in another league compared to the Leica. Not a huge surprise considering the fact that the 90mm f/2.8 Tele-Elmarit II can be had for not much more than the Contax G 90mm, dead mount and all.

Oct 21, 2016 at 07:09 PM

Luvwine
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

The 75/2 apo is outstanding on the Sony from what I can tell.

Oct 21, 2016 at 08:56 PM

Jeff Kott
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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

Henning wrote:
I have the 90/4 Macro Elmar as well as some other Leica 90's, and the Elmar is definitely one of the best. Unfortunately it's not the best on the Sony A7Rii;

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I'm skeptical of this statement.

I've seen John Hinkey's shots where he compared the 90/4 Macro Elmar to the ZM 85/4 on an A7Rii, and the lenses were pretty comparable. Extrapolating John's comparison, which I've seen, and taking into account the great praise that the ZM gets from several respected forum members in addition to John, like Fred and Guy, I would guess that the 90/4 performs well on the A7Rii.

Putting my money where my mouth is, I just bought a used Leica 90/4 and hope to get a little time soon to compare it to my 90 APO - but I only have an A7R.

Oct 21, 2016 at 09:42 PM

retrofocus
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p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M


	http://martinbluhm.zenfolio.com/img/s4/v62/p661815427-5.jpg

Oct 22, 2016 at 08:01 AM

retrofocus
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p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

Henning wrote:
I have the 90/4 Macro Elmar as well as some other Leica 90's, and the Elmar is definitely one of the best. Unfortunately it's not the best on the Sony A7Rii; the 90/2 AA and the discontinued 90/2.8 Elmarit-M are both better than the Elmar on the Sony. On the Leica 240 the Elmar is outstanding and better than the Elmarit-M and s good as the 90AA. The 90AA is excellent on both, especially at greater distances.

It's not only Leica wideangles that suffer on the Sony. The 50mm lenses suffer, as does the otherwise outstanding 75/2 Summicron. The longer lenses...Show more →

See my post above - on my A7R the 90/2.8 version I is an excellent performer, very sharp in the center wide open. I don't have any issues with my Summicron 50/2 on my A7R either - also stellar performer. I can't say how good or bad those lenses perform on the A7R II since I don't have this camera.

Oct 22, 2016 at 08:05 AM

Jeff Kott
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p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

retrofocus wrote:
See my post above - on my A7R the 90/2.8 version I is an excellent performer, very sharp in the center wide open. I don't have any issues with my Summicron 50/2 on my A7R either - also stellar performer. I can't say how good or bad those lenses perform on the A7R II since I don't have this camera.

Same here. I don't have an A7Rii, but my 50 M Cron is my favorite lens on my A7R - performance is fantastic.

Oct 22, 2016 at 09:26 AM

Henning
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p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

Jeff Kott wrote:
Same here. I don't have an A7Rii, but my 50 M Cron is my favorite lens on my A7R - performance is fantastic.

I have to qualify my remark about the 50's because I haven't tried all. I have 5 right now, from an old Nickel Elmar through to the 50/1.4 ASPH and a Noctilux f/1. The Noctilux doesn't matter since it's never sharp in the corners anyways, but the 50/1.4 is definitely better on the M240 than the A7Rii, as is the dual range Summicron. As for the 90's: I tested them to my satisfaction, and right now, since I don't have the 90AA anymore, I mostly use the 90 Elmarit-M and the pre-ASPH Summicron (which is of course not close to the 90AA in the corners at any reasonable aperture, but renders nicely). The 90/4 Elmar isn't at all bad on the A7Rii by any means; it just doesn't have the absolutely flat corner to corner performance that it has on the M240.

Oct 22, 2016 at 11:52 AM

uhoh7
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p.2 #10 · p.2 #10 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

Henning wrote:
I have to qualify my remark about the 50's because I haven't tried all. I have 5 right now, from an old Nickel Elmar through to the 50/1.4 ASPH and a Noctilux f/1. The Noctilux doesn't matter since it's never sharp in the corners anyways, but the 50/1.4 is definitely better on the M240 than the A7Rii, as is the dual range Summicron. As for the 90's: I tested them to my satisfaction, and right now, since I don't have the 90AA anymore, I mostly use the 90 Elmarit-M and the pre-ASPH Summicron (which is of course not close to...Show more →

I believe you re performance on A7r2. Charles K ditched his 75 lux because of the way it worked on the r2. He liked it on the older Sonys. To really judge, you need a M9 or 240 alongside the A7 version in question.

50 Lux APSH, which we noticed right away, before the cameras were even released, is proof Sony issues with RF glass are not limited to 35 and wider. But it's case by case.

The plain A7 is pretty good with 90/2.5, but not like the M9 or Kolari.

Oct 22, 2016 at 12:23 PM

rico
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p.2 #11 · p.2 #11 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

To clarify the 90/2.8 situation in M mount, the following optical formulae exist:

Elmarit 90 version 1 (chrome, black chrome)

Tele-Elmarit 90 version 1 (chrome, black chome), the "fat" TE90

Tele-Elmarit 90 version 2 (black chrome), the "thin" TE90

Elmarit 90 version 2 (chrome, black chrome)

I think the latter may also be available in black paint as a limited edition. Here's my copy of the first Elmarit:

Beautiful handling and solid as a tank, but doesn't perform to modern standards.

Oct 22, 2016 at 05:07 PM

retrofocus
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p.2 #12 · p.2 #12 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

rico wrote:
Beautiful handling and solid as a tank, but doesn't perform to modern standards.

Why not? Mine works also perfectly fine on the A7R. I don't see a difference in images taken at 90 mm with this lens and 70-200/4 L IS or 90/2.8 TSE (unshifted and untilted of course). Possible that I am lucky with the copy of mine.

Oct 24, 2016 at 06:13 PM

uhoh7
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p.2 #13 · p.2 #13 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

retrofocus wrote:
Why not? Mine works also perfectly fine on the A7R. I don't see a difference in images taken at 90 mm with this lens and 70-200/4 L IS or 90/2.8 TSE (unshifted and untilted of course). Possible that I am lucky with the copy of mine.

the TE 90 thin was my go to 90 for years with nex and other cameras, but on the M9 it did not quite bite like my best lenses. I bought about 10 90s...well, several anyway. Now I'm using the TE again

L1054135 by unoh7, TE90 thin @5.6

That lens is smaller and lighter than the CV 90/3.5, and I don't think it's any softer. It is alot faster, though

DSC05747-2 by unoh7, on Flickr

I finally have the right hood for it (not shown), because that's the achilles heel of the little TE, flare.

But the Elmarit-M 90, last version is considered by everyone the sharpest elmarit. But it's more harsh than the older 90s, and that original Fat TE has a especially sweet render

Oct 24, 2016 at 10:22 PM

rico
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p.2 #14 · p.2 #14 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

retrofocus wrote:
Why not? Mine works also perfectly fine on the A7R. I don't see a difference in images taken at 90 mm with this lens and 70-200/4 L IS or 90/2.8 TSE (unshifted and untilted of course). Possible that I am lucky with the copy of mine.

My copy works as described by E Puts, meaning "one should stop down a few stops".

Compared to the slightly more modern CZ S85 C/Y, the lower sharpness of the E90 v1 is quite evident, as is the poor suppression of stray light:

The major vignetting is caused by a large tube that suppresses out-of-frame light. When removed, you can see how well Zeiss understands flocking and baffling within the lens to maintain contrast. The Sonnar is also T* multicoated versus Elmarit's single coating. The Elmarit is 15 years older and I do appreciate lenses with character but, then, I prefer the character (and weight) of the 4-element Elmar.

Images shot with A7ii and studio light, at maximum aperture.

Oct 25, 2016 at 02:11 AM

rscheffler
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p.2 #15 · p.2 #15 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

Henning wrote:
I have the 90/4 Macro Elmar as well as some other Leica 90's, and the Elmar is definitely one of the best. Unfortunately it's not the best on the Sony A7Rii; the 90/2 AA and the discontinued 90/2.8 Elmarit-M are both better than the Elmar on the Sony. On the Leica 240 the Elmar is outstanding and better than the Elmarit-M and s good as the 90AA. The 90AA is excellent on both, especially at greater distances.

It's not only Leica wideangles that suffer on the Sony. The 50mm lenses suffer, as does the otherwise outstanding 75/2 Summicron. The longer lenses...Show more →

Interesting... I recently got the 90ME and thought it looked quite good on the M240. Then I tried it, the 90AA and 85GM on an infinity scene with the a7RII and the 90ME was clearly not as good as the other two at the image edges (I may have posted this impression earlier). I wasn't sure if it was a single-copy variation problem, 42MP revealing more weaknesses than 24MP, etc... But to read someone else indicate similar implies there might be something else at play...?

Oct 25, 2016 at 07:56 PM

Jeff Kott
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p.2 #16 · p.2 #16 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

I finally got a little time to take some shots with my 90 Cron AA, 90 Macro Elmar and CV 90 (screw mount).

All shots taken with my A7R tripod mounted. There was some wind, so look at the buildings, not the trees.

Converted to an 8 bit Tiff in Capture One Pro at default settings with no adjustments and sharpening turned off. Tiffs were sharpened with Photokit Sharpener Capture Sharpening, no other adjustments or sharpening was done.

I did a set at F4 and one at F5.6, but I'm only posting the F5.6 shots because that's the aperture I would normally use for this type of shot.

First the entire scene:

Nov 05, 2016 at 11:49 PM

Jeff Kott
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p.2 #17 · p.2 #17 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

These are from around the center, first 90 Macro Elmar, then 90 Cron AA, then CV 90.

Nov 05, 2016 at 11:52 PM

Jeff Kott
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p.2 #18 · p.2 #18 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

Now, the upper left corner. Again, Macro Elmar, then Cron AA, then CV.

Nov 05, 2016 at 11:55 PM

Jeff Kott
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p.2 #19 · p.2 #19 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

Now, the lower right. Again, first the Macro Elmar, then Cron AA, then CV:

Nov 05, 2016 at 11:57 PM

Steve Spencer
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p.2 #20 · p.2 #20 · Leica 90/4 Macro-Elmar-M

They all three look very good, but I would rank them 90 AA, 90 Macro Elmar, 90 CV APO, but the differences are small--to my eyes at least. Thanks very much for the test.

Nov 06, 2016 at 07:13 AM

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