135mm Tele Elmar

[paulmac]

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Just out of interest:

Was the 135mm Tele Elmar an APO lens in all but name. Reason I ask is, I have one and if the focus is right it's an amazingly good lens.

[Michael Hiles]

I believe it is for all good purposes an apo lens (others will know for sure). I have one and it is outstanding. Excellent contrast, very sharp - it holds up well against current lenses, IMO. But I don't use it much. It fits very well with my M3 and its .92 viewfinder.

[wosim]

I love this lens because of its sharpness, but I don't think, that it is an APO-lens.

The first apochromatic lens - as far I know - was the Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar 1.4,5 105mm from 1952 for the large 4x5 inch format.

I think, - referring to Marco Cavina (LEITZ - sorry, it is in Italian) - that the first 135mm Leica Apo-lens is the 1998 introduced Apo-Telyt, which underlines the class of the Tele-Elmar.

[lct]

The Tele-Elmar 135/4 has 5 elements in 3 groups, none of them being apo AFAIK.
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-...f/4_Tele-Elmar
The Apo-Telyt-R 180/3.4 is from 1975 BTW.
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-....4_APO-Telyt-R

[sandro]

It is an amazing lens, especially taking into consideration that is was first produced in 1965! I bought one a few years ago and I like it a lot. I use it much more often than the Elmart 135mm (II) that I also have. The Tele Elmar handles a lot easier and is amazingly sharp, and I like its color rendition a lot.
And as an extra, I can use the lens head on the Bellows II on Visoflex.
Lex

[k-hawinkler]

Originally Posted by paulmac

Just out of interest:

Was the 135mm Tele Elmar an APO lens in all but name. Reason I ask is, I have one and if the focus is right it's an amazingly good lens.

Yup, I agree.
In any case it's a high performance, inexpensive lens and
my most often used lens for landscape shots.
The terrain here in Northern New Mexico is well suited for that.

With an adapter and short mount the lens head also works very well on my D800E.
Unless you have the latest version where the lens head is firmly attached.

[lct]

The Elmar is taller but lighter and is very good as well.
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-...ar_1:4_/_135mm

[tobey bilek]

not APO, but very close

[algrove]

I have a Tele-Elmar with removable head, 2420xxx. Does anyone know about the Tele-Elmar-M E46 with the telescoping hood? Is this latest iteration much better than the one I currently have?

[lct]

I have no experience with them but they share the same optics AFAIK. I don't know if they have the same coating though.

[UliWer]

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The prefix "Apo" has not so much to do with resolution, sharpness or contrast. It suggests that the lens has been corrected against chromatic aberrations: Apochromat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You may try it by taking a photo of fine dark structures with much light in the background. (Tree brances without leaves against the open sky for example). With a "normal - non "apo" lens - you will see "fringing" or violet/green/orange rims on the black structures: chromatic aberrations. With very high resolution and contrast the risk of high chromatic aberrations rise - the 50mm Summilux asph sometimes shows rather high chromatc aberrations in certain situations.

I recently tried out different lenses in the 90mm-range. The 4/90 Elmar with three lenses, which has rather high resolution and contrast showed some chromatic aberrations. The 90mm Summicron Apo-Aspherical - which is supposed to be especially corrected for these situations - showed certainly less, though still some. The 1.5/85 mm Summarex - more than sixty years old - showed none at all - with resolution and contrast rather high at f/8 but still behind the other two lenses.

[algrove]

I so seldom use my APO 135, I have taken my Tele-Elmar 135 with removable head down to my Palm Beach dealer along with a Visoflex III and a Visoflex I. Perhaps a mistake, but it's done now.