I love the soft effect my 50mm f/2 Summitar gives me wide open and now I'm trying to get a similar effect in a 85-90mm lens. My dealer has a 85mm f/2 Serenar (Canon) with almost perfect glass for $175 or a 90mm f/4 Elmar (Sharkskin) for $200. I'm leaning toward the former (despite the fact that it weighs about as much as my Olympus E-10!), primarily because of the wide aperture, which I figure will give very soft images at f/2. Any comments?

http://www.ravenvision.com/peterhughes.htm

-- Peter Hughes (ravenart@pacbell.net), August 18, 2001

Answers

I don't have that lens, but I do have an 85/1.5 lens of similar vintage. Both lenses have crummy reps, but my 85 is fine for me--it has a distinctly contrasty/creamy quality that doesn't seem Leitz at all. I don't think any of the Canon lenses, when they are acting at their worst, have the same _type_ of soft quality of the Leica lenses, in general. Maybe someone will back me up by saying the Canon teles are on Zeiss models rather than Leitz ones?

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), August 18, 2001.

I have one...it's marginal in my opinion and heavy. Nikkors of the same period with which I've had some experience seem superior. However, my advice would be to get the Elmar, if it's in good condition and make up for the slower speed with the excellent faster films we have available these days. One other thought...use a strong flashlight to look through the lens elements when assessing a used lens. A lot van be ascertained such as fungus, cleaning marks, debris or general cloudiness. Good luck and good stooting. George Do

-- George L. Doolittle (geodoolitt@aol.com), August 18, 2001.