[Leica] PAW June 22, 2005

[feli2 at earthlink.net (feli)]

PAW June 22, 2005

Two new shots here, both taken with the 4/180 Elmar-R:


http://tinyurl.com/88sw8




I've been putting my recently acquired 4/180 Elmar-R through it's  
paces and here are some observations.

The 4/180 is light and compact. Mounted on a R6.2 it will even fit in  
a Domke 803. For me it handles better on the SL, than R6.2. My hands  
are on the large side and I find the smallish R6.2 a little difficult  
to hold, with a long lens. If I add the motor, I'm ok. Today I went  
out with just the R6.2 body, no motor.

The lens weighs about 500 grams, so it's rather light for a 180. This  
makes it a little difficult to hold steady, when it is mounted on a  
light body.

Optically it's ok, Not bad, but not great either. I shot some APX100  
and Tri-X, handheld and on a tripod, across a range of stops. What I  
found was a low/med contrast image, without much 'bite'. So far, this  
lens doesn't have the snap I see in my other Leica glass. It's  
signature reminds me of the Japanese lenses I owned back in the early  
90's.
Not bad, but not great either. Leica has spoiled me.

The shot of the girl feeding the pigeons was taken at f5.6 and  
1/500th, from about 15 yards away. The fine textures in her clothing  
and in the feathers of the birds are simply not there. It's almost as  
if past a certain frequency, information is being clipped. Stopping  
down, doesn't seem to improve performance.

I compared the 4/180 shots to material I took with my 2.8/180 Elmarit- 
R (thin) and the Elmarit appears to beat the Elmar hands down. The  
Elmarit resolves more detail and the image has more bite. There is no  
contest between either of these lenses and the 3.4/180, 2.8/180 APO  
and 2/180 Summicron, any of which will eat both for breakfast and ask  
for seconds. The current Nikon 2.8/180 ED easily beats the 4/180  
Elmar. I'm not sure how it stacks up against an early version of the  
Nikon.

The corners look a little soft, but I need more samples to make an  
accurate judgment.

Bokeh appears to be nice and smooth.

The 4/180 focuses closer than the 2.8/180 Elmarit-R (thin), which is  
nice.

The Elmar seems to be reasonably flare proof and the built in hood is  
deep.

Did I mention how nice and compact this lens is?


Here's my verdict, so far:

If you are looking for compact, light weight 180, this is pretty much  
the only choice, since all the other 180's are bigger.

If you are shooting 400 asa film on the street and printing 8x10, it  
may turn out to be ok.

I think this may turn out to be a very nice portrait lens, due to  
it's gentler rendering of very fine details (i.e. pores, blemishes etc)


This is not the lens for you if:

If you are shooting animals ala Doug Herr and want razor sharp results.

If you are looking to make detail filled 11x14 prints.




So far, that's the story. I'm going to keep shooting with it and  
we'll see what happens.




Feli




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www.elanphotos.com


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