[Leica] Elmarit R35 user report

["Dan S" <dstate1@hotmail.com>]

With the great start below I thought I would put my 2-cents in on the 
performance of the 35 Elmarit R.  All comments below regard the FIRST 
version.

Let me begin by saying I am sure as hell no Erwin Puts, so if you are 
looking for scientific method you should move on :)

I have owned an Elmarit 35 for the last 3 months.  I purchased it for 270 
usd in EXC++ condition including the metal hood and the series uv filter.  
Since 50mm is my primary working focal length I was willing to give up a 
stop or two in speed if the quality of the lens held up.

So far I have not been disappointed.

At full aperture the lens shows little noticeable light falloff.  Edges of 
the frame are noticeably lower in contrast and resolution. (I believe it is 
called "overcorrected spherical aberration" but don't quote me).  At any 
rate bright spots tend to "radiate" when they are outside of the central 
circle of the frame.

By F4.0 quality is greatly improved, though still not up to the center.

At f5.6 quality is even across the frame, with med to high contrast and 
excellent resolution.  (A 20x enlargement of a sky scraper showed equal 
resolution to my non ASPH Summicron 35M.)

From 5.6 through f11 the lens is capable of rendering texture reasonably 
well, though not up to the SummicronM.

For some reason I have found the quality of the Elmarit at F11 and smaller 
to be better than my Summicron M?!?

Color rendition is different from my Summicron R 50 (latest version) and 
there is a very small amount of lateral color, though MUCH less than with 
many modern 35's from Nikon, not to mention zooms.

In comparison to the older Nikon 35 f2.8 this lens is noticeably better at 
f2.8-5.6, with better freedom from flare


In my opinion this lens is a great bargain in the Leica R line.  The vast 
majority of users will find it an excellent alternative to faster and more 
expensive Leica 35's.

Remember, this review is of the FIRST version of this lens, and I would 
suspect the later to be of higher quality, particularly at full aperture.

I hope this is useful to LUG participants.

Best Wishes
Dan States


>
>Mike wrote:
>
> >>>
>However, there is not much on the Web (aside from the
>LUG) about using the Leicaflex and two-cam lenses.   I'd really appreciate
>a
>listing of some sites which comment about older R lens performance and
>general user info?  Of course, individual LUGger comments on this subject
>are
>welcome and appreciated.
><<<
>
>Mike,
>
>This is the best source of Leicaflex info anywhere on earth.  In general:
>There are no crummy R-lenses, and newer R-lenses are even better.
>
>I'm using the first version of the 135mm Elmarit-R and an old 90mm
>Summicron-R.  These were both originally 2-cam lenses that I've had
>converted to 3-cam; I'm delighted with both of them.  The optical
>performance of your 90mm Elmarit-R is outstanding by any measure, and the
>old 50mm Summicron-R is supposed to be more succeptible to flare than the
>latest but otherwise is no slouch.  (I have extremely limited experience
>with the 35mm Elmarit-R.)
>
>IMHO the difference in optical performance between old R-lenses and the
>current ones of the same focal length and aperture is small and the most
>significant differences are mechanical.  There are exceptions to this
>generalization like the 50mm Summilux-R (the new one blows EVERYTHING ELSE
>away), and an APO lens will always outperform a non-APO lens.  Mechanical
>differences would include tripod sockets (rotating or not), minimum focus
>distance, filter size, lens hood (built-in or clip-on) and size & weight.
>
>You won't lose much if any optical quality by choosing older R-lenses but
>you may lose some conveniences found on the latest equipment.  There are
>also some lenses that protrude deeper into the mirror chamber than the
>Leicaflex allows and these won't fit on the camera (the new 50mm
>Summilux-R, for example).
>
>Doug Herr
>Sacramento
>http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt

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