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 Leica 90mm Elmarit 2.8 or Summarit 2.4 on M246? | |
rscheffler wrote:
If you go the Summarit direction, the f/2.5 version is optically identical (IIRC) to the current one and considerably less expensive on the secondhand market.
I had it for about 4-5 years and really not much to complain about it. Some may not like the separate hood, but I don\'t like most built-in slide-out hoods, so this didn\'t bother me. Only complaint would be the focus throw is quite fast, whereas it seems the Summicron designs, being greater in circumference, have somewhat longer throws for more precise focus adjustment, particularly at longer distances. Not sure how the Elmarit compares as I have no experience with one since my return to Leica (I had the \'thin\' Elmarit briefly ~20 years ago...)
The Summarit is optically very good. Slight CA, but probably less a problem with the Monochrom. I\'d guess it will be slightly more modern in rendering than the Elmarit. Not sure the extra ~1/3 stop amounts to much.
I moved to a 90AA and the differences in final image quality weren\'t that considerable. Given how little I use 90mm, I probably would have been just as well served by the Summarit, but you know, curiosity about the AA had to be satisfied. I\'ve since gone the other extreme to the 90 Macro Elmar for portability... though have kept the 90AA for now. In hindsight the Summarit was a good \'compromise lens\' for its size, speed, weight and image quality.
Thank you much for your input Ron! A few questions regarding the Summarit 2.5 since you\'ve owned and used the lens. Was it challenging to nail focus because of the short focus throw or did the smaller aperture 2.5/2.8 make up for any bit of potential off focus? I know the 90mm frame lines are smaller than the 50 or 75 frame lines, so I\'m just curious about focusing. I\'ve never used the 90 pre-asph on a rangefinder before as at the time I had it adapted to my only mirrorless camera, the a7. I\'d imagine the feel of the build quality may seem inferior to the summicron (pre-asph and apo), but how did the Summarit feel in your hands? Especially, the rubber focusing ring...did the rubber ribbed focusing ring feel like it would slip, since I\'d imagine the rubber isn\'t mechanically fastened to the metallic focusing housing. I do appreciate the smaller size/stature of the Summarit compared to the longer (heavier) Elmarit.
I\'m attracted to the Elmarit because of it\'s sharp contrasty rendering and pop, which is different than the pre-asph. I haven\'t seen much on the 90 summarit lenses as most sites wax on about the other wonderful summarits (35/50/75). Even YouTube is lacking with information on this lens. 
I\'m hoping that since the Summarit is a newer lens, that it should behave like the Elmarit (sharp, contrasty, pop, near zero field curvature, etc.), but with a smaller and lighter footprint while saving a few pennies.
Do you have any experience with the \"fat\" Tele-Elmarit lens? I see those going for pretty cheap on FleaBay, but I\'m assuming they have a much more classical rendering compared to the Elmarit and Summarit lenses.
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