Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/17

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Subject: Re: [Leica] What do you think of ELMAR 90/4.0?
From: Karen Nakamura <mail@gpsy.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 09:35:30 -0600

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?
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Replies: Reply from "Don Dory" <dorysrus@mindspring.com> (Re: [Leica] What do you think of ELMAR 90/4.0?)