Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 03:11 PM 5/3/98 EDT, Larry Zeitlin wrote: >I have this lens in a late model black mount. It is extremely sharp right to >the edges and has very little flare. It consists of 3 components, 4 elements >and is a true telephoto design. Its main liability is weight. The center >element is almost two inches thick and the lens weighs nearly a pound. It >focuses well on my M3 Leicas, but focusing accuracy might be marginal on later >models with reduced RF magnification. It is better than the Elmar but I don't >have any other equivalent focal length Leica lenses to compare it with. - This lens is a theft of the Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar design. It is a true telephoto, unlike the Leitz contemporary lenses. (The design continued in production in West Germany for the Postwar Contax, Contarex, and Rollei QBM family; it also survived in the former Soviet Union in both Contax and LTM mounts as the Jupiter-11 and continues in production in the latter in LTM to this day. The Russian lens can probably be had today for a few dollars less than the Canon lens.) I would be surprised if the Sonnar/Canon/Soviet variants of this lens would outperform the Leitz 4/135 Elmar, though I would expect they would blow the earlier 4.5/135 Elmar into the weeds on almost all optical parameters. Marc > msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!