yellow cast in 90mm Elmarit-M?

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I bought a used 90mm Elmarit-M from Don Chatterton a month or so ago, and in my prints I've noticed a slightly yellow cast (Reala). I can't say that slides felt more neutral (Provia F). The other day, I looked down the barrel and noticed a slightly yellow hue in the lens, in full sun. Have people seen this? In contrast, looking into a 35cron/Asph I see no cast.

-- Tse-Sung Wu (tsesung@yahoo.com), August 27, 2001

Answers

If there is a color cast with your 90 Elmarit, I doubt that you would see it on prints from negative film; transparencies, yes, not prints. It sounds as though the correct color channel is not being used by your color lab on its printer. My suggestion is to shoot more transparencies (especially those without exagerated color saturation) to determine if what you suspect is legitimate.

-- David (pagedt@attglobal.net), August 27, 2001.

I just looked through my Elmarit M, serial number 3521131 and I get two distinct hues from the coatings... purple and green, but no yellow. If you were really concerned, I would re-accomplish a test with a neutral slide film to cut out the opportunity for a photo finisher to cause a color shift. Use other lenses (of known quality) on the same roll of film and compare the slides side by side on a quality color accurate light table.

Incidentally, all of my Leica lenses have a slightly different coating hue, but on the light table, every slide looks the same... color wise. Color matching between optics has always been bragged about by Leica in their literature.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), August 27, 2001.


Many types of optical glass have some color but it is usually very slight. One can see the color in thick pieces but lens elements are generally thin enough to where it does not show up on film. But, there are lenses that will have a slight color cast due to the glass types chosen. Not sure if your "M" is one of those.

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), August 29, 2001.

I purchased a new 90mm Elmarit-M and have used both colour print film and transparency film but have never detected any yellow cast. It sounds to me the problem is in the processing, not the lens.

-- John Alfred Tropiano (jat18@psu.edu), August 31, 2001.

As previous posters have noted, you can't tell much of ANYTHING about lens color from prints; there are just too many variables in the printing process.

BUT...

I have seen very distinct yellow tints in a random selection of Leica lenses (none of them "current" manufacture). It shows up on slide film and also looking through the glass at a well-lit white wall (NOT the coating reflections!!). On average it has been about equivalent to 1/2 the color of an 81a filter. Recently I tried out an old DR 50 Summicron that was 'way yellower than an 81a (and foggy/flarey to boot). There is at least one other post here RE a yellowish 90 Summicron-R. My (slightly) yellow lenses (Canadian 1989-era) were/are a 90 Summicron-M and a 21 Elmarit-M.

I think we need a paradigm shift here, from "photographer's imagination" to "another interesting Leica lens idiosyncracy". Some lenses DO have a yellow quality, but I have no idea if it's an aging factor or specific batches of glass or the number of cemented elements (?).

Personally, living in Denver and shooting between 5,000 and 14,000 feet high, where there's lots of extra UV light, I find the yellow lenses do a nice job with Velvia, which has a tendency towards excessive pink clouds and skies under heavy UV. The "yellow" lenses clean this right up - and I filter my "normal" Leica glass to match.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), September 01, 2001.



Well that's interesting news, Andy. I'm in the middle of running some slide film through it now- a previous roll of slides looked a little yellowish too, but I didn't make a real test. I'm now comparing the 90E with the 35/2Asph. If it turns out to have a yellow cast to it- what filter might I use to get it back to 'normal'? BTW, TMAX-CN (machine) prints came out really nicely with this lens (had a med. yellow filter on it too).

-- Tse-Sung Wu (tsesung@yahoo.com), September 01, 2001.

The 'inverse' filter to an 81A is either an 80a or an 82a (whichever is lighter - I'm pretty sure it's the 80a) Anyway it's a very, very pale blue filter designed for toning down the yellow light of sunset, just as an 81a warms up pictures shot in shade or at high altitude.

But unless you have a very yellow lens equal to a full 81a yellow, even the 80a may be too blue and over-correct. As I've said, I prefer things a little too warm to things a little too cool. One person's yellowish lens may be another person's nicely-neutral lens.

You also could get a graded gelatin filter (say .02 or .05 blue) but gels require a big holder, which may be sort of contrary to the small size of the Leica-M, but would work for tripod-mounted landscape-type pictures.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), September 01, 2001.


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