Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/15

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Subject: [Leica] 4/180 Elmar-R
From: feli2 at earthlink.net (Feli)
Date: Wed Jun 15 18:39:39 2005
References: <20050616011645.79246.qmail@web81210.mail.yahoo.com>

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


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Replies: Reply from telyt at earthlink.net (Doug Herr) ([Leica] 4/180 Elmar-R)
In reply to: Message from leirex at sbcglobal.net (David Lee) ([Leica] 4/180 Elmar-R)