I have an Leica M3 with a a 35mm 2.8 Summaron lens which is nothing short of spectacular. Candidly every time I see the results from this lens, I am amazed at is sharpness, contrast and clarity.

So why do I need help? I want to purchase a 90mm and or 135mm lens for the M3 and want to whatever I buy to be just as sharp as the 35mm that I have.

Can anyone help with which of the 90mm and 135mm lenses are the better ones? Elmarit and Summicron are the ones that I see most often, and each of these has a few different speeds to choose from. Is one better than the other? Are older lenses from Germany better than the ones produced in Canada? Are the lenses that collapse/extend better or worse than those that are fixed?

I appreciate the advice from this group that knows much more about this than me.

-- Rick Shae (rshae@yahoo.com), November 08, 2001

Answers

Have you been at Erwin's site? Highly recommended! http://www.imx.nl/photosite/leica/leicahome.html

-- Bert Keuken (bkkn@wanadoo.nl), November 08, 2001.

Amen to Bert's advice re: Erwin Puts. Also, you need to determine your weight and size tolerance. For travelling, I find the 90mm Tele-Elmarit-M extremely satisfactory. It's small and light weight. If that isn't a consideration, the newest 90MM Summicron is reportedly fantastic. Remember to use a fast shutter speed with telephoto lenses. This effects sharpness greatly...1/250th or faster for 90mm works well fo

-- George L. Doolittle (geodoolitt@aol.com), November 08, 2001.

I too was blown away when I got the first images back with my 2.8 Summaron on my m3. I can say without hesitation that the current 90 f2.8 Elmarit is at least as good as the Summaron at all apertures, and so is the 135mm Tele Elmar

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), November 08, 2001.

I also have a 35mm Summaron but mine is a bit slower than yours. It is an f3.5, but the results are spectacular. I recently purchased a 90mm Elmarit 2.8 and have used it on a few occassions. An excellent lens but I really don't use it very much. As for the 135 I have the Tele- Elmar f 4.0. An excellent lens I used probably less than 10 times in the last 3 years!. Most of my photographs are made with my 35 Summaron or with my 50 Summicron. You really need to think of what applications you need the 90 and 135 for or else you are purchasing a lens or two that will get little or no use.Best of luck making your choice (s).

-- John Alfred Tropiano (jat18@psu.edu), November 08, 2001.

I have a question about the 35mm lens for the M3 with the eyes. When mounted I assume the 50mm frame is brought into view. When one looks through the viewfinder just what does one see? Do the framelines show the field of view of the 35mm lens? How hard is it to focus? I know this sounds rather dumb but I have never looked through this adaptation of the 35mm lens to a M3 and I was just wondering. Thanks, Tim

-- Tim Spelich (tspelich@us.ibm.com), November 08, 2001.

The so-called goggles changes the magnification of the viewfinder so that what you see is the 50mm framelines alone but with reduced magnification so that it shows just what you will obtain with a 35mm lens.

I had a 35 Summicron with the goggles (called the RF Summicron). I replaced it with a new Summicron for a couple of reasons. The goggles results in some distortion through the viewfinder and the early 8-element 35 Summicron produced somewhat warmer results with Kodachrome than my later lenses.

My current 35 Summicron doesn't have the goggles so what I do is put a piece of black electrician's tape over the center viewfinder window which eliminates all frames in the viewfinder. I then use the outer limits of the viewfinder which is a close approximation of the acceptance angle of the 35mm lens.

-- Bud (budcook@attglobal.net), November 08, 2001.

I use two 90mm Leica lenses. The 90mm Apo Asph Summicron lens is razor sharp at f2 through f16. My older 90 Elmarit is a very good lens that can be picked up for under US$500 on the used market. I would recommend the Elmarit without hesitation; it doesn't have quite the contrast of the SAA at the wider apertures which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The new Elmarit-M is even sharper f2.8-f4 than the older Elmarit. All of these lenses are very good. I bought the 90 SAA because I wanted an f2 lens. My advice would be to borrow or rent one / all for a few days to make a comparison based on YOUR needs. I use and enjoy both of my 90mm lenses.

-- David (pagedt@chartertn.net), November 08, 2001.

Rick: I have a 90 Elmar (3 element), 90 Summicron (1964), 135 Hektor, and 135 Elmarit. I use the 90 Summicron where light is critical and the 90 Elmar when I want something light to use. I have not used either of the 135's very much as they do not suit my perspective. I have been considering the latest 90 Elmarit as a balance between speed, weight and sharpness. I would agree with others, try to rent or borrow some of the lenses you are interested in. The M3 handles the 135 very well with it's viewfinder. The Elmarit is nice for it's magnification, but it is HEAVY.

Good Luck.

Mark J.

-- Mark A. Johnson (logic@gci.net), November 08, 2001.

I've recently bought the new 90 Elmarit-M. I've only shot a couple of films with it, so it's early days yet, but so far I'm very pleased with it. I have a lot more experience, though, using the 90 Elmarit- R, which has the same optical configuration as the M version (4 elements in 4 groups). I have found it to be superb (including wide open and at closest focus) in terms of colour clarity, sharpness, contrast and resistance to flare. For what it's worth, the 90 Elmarit lenses are often given the highest rating of all Leica glass by lens testers. Not everyone trusts lens tests but I can say, in this case, that their high ratings are consistent with my own experience.

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), November 08, 2001.

The current 90mm Elmarit is completely superb, in terms of absolute performance, in terms of convenience/weight/size and in terms of price/quality ratio: one of the very best buys in the Leica range. For me the best tele for "normal" 0.72 M usage.

As Ray, I also use what was the latest R version, and completely agree with his assessment on useability wide open.

I am lucky enough to also own the 100mm f2.8 apo-macro-elmarit, and, for all non-macro purposes, find the 90mm elmarit every bit as excellent. Since it is much lighter and compact, I use it much more frequently. And, as it is only available 2nd hand, it costs 1/4th of the price !!!!

-- Alan (alan.ball@yucom.be), November 08, 2001.