Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Jun 15, 2005, at 6:16 PM, David Lee wrote: > Hi Feli, > > I think I have heard that the 180/4 Elmar-R is not as good a > performer as most other Leica R lenses. I would appreciate your > feedback on its optical performance. > > Best Regards, > David Lee From what I have read it performs on about the same level as the 2.8/180 Elmarit-R (fat and thin versions). That would place it in about the same territory as the Nikon 2.8/180 ED. All three of these lenses don't hold a candle to the other Leica 180's (3.4/180 Apo-Telyt, 2.8/180 APO Elmarit and 2.0/180 APO-Summicron), but then again you also get what you pay for. ;-) I also have the 2.8/180 Elmarit-R (thin). It's a nice lens. Medium contrast, sharp, with clean rendition of colors. It has good flare resistance and is very well made. It's optical fingerprint very much reminds me of the pre-APO/ASPH series of M lenses, like the 2/90 Summicron-M. Here are two shots I made with the 2.8/180 Elmarit-R (thin) (uncropped): http://www.elanphotos.com/ElanFotos/current_img/042305.0004.jpg http://www.elanphotos.com/ElanFotos/current_img/man.0001.jpg I made 4000dpi scans of these and they are plenty sharp. Both were taken at f16 on Tri-X(@400) The main reason why I got the 4/180, is due to it's compact size and low weight. I have fairly large hands and can almost make the lens disappear, when it's mounted on my R6.2. It will fit in to my Domke 803 and I hope it will draw less attention, when I shoot on the street. The 2.8/180 Elmarit is just too big. I think the optical performance will be more than sufficient for what I am doing. Now, if I could just learn how to hold the damn thing as steady as Doug Herr does, I would be getting somewhere... ;-) I'll let you know how it turns out. feli ________________________________________________________ feli2@earthlink.net 2 + 2 = 4 www.elanphotos.com no archive