Super-Elmar Demo

[MarkP]

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Stephen,

 

really good, both the photograph and the lens.

 

Mark

Edited February 13, 2012 by MarkP

[Prosophos]

This lens is just a winner. Here's an image from today, first full frame and then cropped to show detail. B&W conversion in Silver Efex Pro 2.

 

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Very nice indeed.

 

Peter.

P r o s o p h o s

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[thighslapper]

I agree that it is too easy to sit in your armchair fantasizing about lens specifications in abstracto. But we live in a real world, and there's somthing like practicality. Some of it is expressed in the price dimension, but not all. A 21mm Summilux, or a 50mm Noctilux, would not be practical lenses to me, even if I could have them for free. To me, the core of the Leica ethos is that it is a small, handy and flexible camera to capture life as it happens around us. That was what behind the Leica success story in the past century, and that ethos is not obsolete now.

 

L.B.

 

I agree ...... having tried everything that Leica has to offer I am shrinking my lens collection both in size and number. I didn't escape from Nikon to load up the another overweight heap of metal and glass......

 

The slower lenses offer image quality that is more than enough for me ...... and at the end of the day if they are too heavy for you to take them with you then f1.4 is completely useless.

 

The only one I cannot part with is the Noctilux 0.95 where the unique wide open look is worth the weight (and wait)... If its on the camera thats all I take out with me for the day.

 

I ordered a 21/3.4 yesterday and it will be here after the weekend...... I have finally realised that big lenses (by M series standards) defeat the whole point of having a Leica......

Edited February 17, 2012 by thighslapper

[pgk]

My 21/3.4 SE arrived yesterday.... now if it would only clear up a bit I might get chance to use it. First impressions are favourable. Very compact, focus is smooth and its resistance is about spot on. Aperture clicks are lighter than my other lenses but quite positive. The hood fits well (but is ever, ever so slightly angled) and build quality inspires confidence. I look forward to using it.

[adan]

I know next to nothing about lens design but I guess there's got to be some sort of construction/design-related reason for the 21mm being f3.4 and the 24 and 28 Elmarits being 2.8 and so much smaller than the 21mm.

 

Regarding the 24 Elmarit - it is, in fact, NOT smaller than the 21 f/3.4.

 

24 f/2.8 - Length 45mm, Dia. 58mm, takes 55mm filters

21 f/3.4 (Super-Elmar) - Length 43mm, Dia. 53mm, takes 46mm filters

 

As to the 28 Elmarit ASPH - yes, it is much smaller than the Super-Elmar. However it only needs to "see" a much smaller part of the world (75° vs. 91°). The 21 has to bend light rays further than the 28.

 

There are lots of factors that go into designing a lens, beyond the simple equation focal length and "focal length divided by lens opening" (= f/stop). Distortion control, FoV, other corrections (chromatic aberrations).

 

Or simply resolution. The 21 Super-Elmar is a "better" lens, according to Leica's MTF charts, than the 28 Elmarit ASPH, especially in the picture corners. I'll avoid techno-speak about sagittal and tangential resolution - but just look at the charts below for the two lenses at f/8. Note how widely the dotted and solid lines diverge in the 28, compared to a tight fit for the same lines with the 21. And how low the lowest dotted line remains even stopped down, for the 28 (= "fuzzy").

 

The 28 is optimized for "as small as possible - period." The 21 is optimized for "as small as possible WHILE retaining very high corner resolution, even capturing a scene 40% wider."

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Edited February 18, 2012 by adan

[philipus]

Regarding the 24 Elmarit - it is, in fact, NOT smaller than the 21 f/3.4.

 

24 f/2.8 - Length 45mm, Dia. 58mm, takes 55mm filters

21 f/3.4 (Super-Elmar) - Length 43mm, Dia. 53mm, takes 46mm filters

 

Yep, you're right, Andy. I mistakenly looked at the specs for the 24 Elmar-M 3.8 Asph. Thanks for spotting the error.

 

Speaking of that one, though, and reading what Puts says about it, would I be right in thinking that that 24mm lens is based on a design philosophy similar to that of the new 21?

[01af]

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... would I be right in thinking that the 24 mm [Elmar] lens is based on a design philosophy similar to that of the new 21?

Yes, definitely! Just have a look at the lens cross-section diagrams of the Elmar-M 24 Asph, Super-Elmar-M 21 Asph, and Super-Elmar-M 18 Asph; they are very similar to each other. They are siblings, off-spring from the same parents.

 

Also the Elmarit-M 21 and 24 mm Asph lenses are pretty similar and clearly belong to the same family ... however they are not siblings to the Elmars but more like cousins.

[jneilt]

fyi...saw one on the shelf at the Houston Camera Exchange this Saturday...

[Paulus]

There have been some doubts about the Super-Elmar-M 1:3.4/21mm ASPH (to give it its full solemn name). The winter has not been very inducive to outdoor photography, to be sure. Today however we had some decent though cold weather here in Stockholm, so I took the lens and my M9 out for a walk.

 

This is just one picture: Full frame, and then cropped. F:8, focus on the statue, and the sun is just behind it.

 

I used that lens in the subway, along the icy waters and inside the Museum of Modern Art, where I enjoyed an exhibition of the photo collection. Where else can you see within a few minutes Robert Capa's D-Day landing picture, Ansel Adams' Moon and Half-dome, August Sander's fat pastry cook and Julia Margaret Cameron's Mountain Nymph, all in original prints? Not in too many places. But it all boils down to a confirmation of what I knew already: This is one hell of a lens. Period.

 

The old man from the Age of the Contax 21mm Biogon

.

 

You are right Lars,

 

initially I had some problems with my lens, but after a few thousand photos I begin to realize that it is really a great lens! It's amazingly sharp! And very easy in use!

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[pgk]

A simple 'test' shot. Stunningly sharp - the best 20/21mm lens I've ever used (by quite a margin) from my initial examination! The level of detail held in the corners is clearly well up to 18MPixels and probably more. Very little chroma/fringing indeed and only visible at 100% if looked for; most can be cleared in post. This is a little masterpiece of a lens - I'm impressed.

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[WeiterWinkel]

One of the first pictures with my brand new SE 1/3.4. I'm sure, it's going to be my favorite lens.

Slight corrections in LR: lightened the foreground.

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[Double Negative]

This lens is beginning to haunt me in my sleep.

[egrossman]

I took my new 21mm Super-Elmar out for a spin today. Anothe great weather day in the Bay Area

 

I am absolutely stunned by the resolution of this lens!

 

The third picture is a crop of the right-hand side of the closet pillar in the second shot of the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

21mm is much wider than I'm used to shooting. Oh well... practice, practice, practice...

 

Erik

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[pgk]

I am absolutely stunned by the resolution of this lens!

Me too. Here's a shot full of detail from yesterday, together with a 100% crop from the bottom right hand corner (the corner-most 600x400 pixels) on the M9, so full frame.

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[Giacomo.B]

One shot with Super Elmar...

 

Ciao

 

Giacomo

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[lars_bergquist]

I took my new 21mm Super-Elmar out for a spin today. Anothe great weather day in the Bay Area :)ed to shooting. Oh well... practice, practice, practice...

 

Erik

 

Ah, the Golden Gate Bridge! I used to fly my Sopwith Camel under it (and then over Alcatraz ...) Well, that was in an airplane simulaor, but it was great fun.

 

LB