Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/07/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]<< How come nobody writes about the 135 lens? Is is worth considering >> This is a great question. You are right - no one talked much about this lens. They don't talk about its optical performance or about using it. More Leica M users seem to be oriented toward the shorter end of the focal length range. A 135 mm lens is a favorite length of mine. I find it wonderful for very tight head portraits, which I generally prefer. I also like the length for many scenes. Optically it seems fine although I don't know if it is outstanding. I have not done any detailed comparisons. I can say that prints up to 8 x 10 look very fine. For what it is worth, CDI gave it three stars. The 135 4.0 balances well on an M. It is not too heavy. I find the lens useful on an M. However, even with the HM, the image size is pretty small. Focusing is not too difficult but requires care. One interesting thing about this lens is the coatings. When looking at the front element of all of the other Leica lenses (as with almost all present day lenses), one sees multi-color reflections caused by the different coating layers on the lens elements. In this lens, one sees only white reflections. It would be interesting to see what others think of this lens. There has been a rumor of a new 135 3.4 coming sometime down the road.