Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi - I have an older Elmar 90mm f/4.0 LTM (serial #372,49x), black, "skinny". I think I was told by the store person I bought it from that it was from 1951 (?). I bought it for $75 which seemed to be a reasonable price. It had some fog and grime in one of the interior elements, but the nice thing about the skinny Elmars is that you can take it apart fairly easily to clean. After cleaning up, the lens is quite nice. The photos are very nice. The lens has 15 aperture blades which means the lens has a fairly nice bokeh. The problem is that the lens has only a very minimal coating so it flares pretty significantly. Otherwise, it's a nice sharp lens for its age. It's only 3 elements in 3 groups (classic Cooke triplet) but it's a good example of what could be done with the lens technology of the day. http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/Lens-LSM.html For the price, it's a keeper. Compare it against the Canon long focus lens of the same vintage on my page. The leica is smaller and lighter. Karen p.s. I'm a bit confused about the construction of the lens. The manuals I've read said that the lens should be 4 elements in 3 groups, but I only can count 3 elements. Am I missing an element somewhere? Someone help me: was there ever an Elmar in 3/3 form? - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html