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90mm MACRO ELMAR - worth the $$$ for the closer focussing?


msap7222

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Hi all, 15 year professional user of Leica cameras and have a collection from M1 thru M9

 

Have used for portraiture 90mm f2 (non apo) a well as thin 90/2.8 tele elmarit and most recently the later style built in hood tele elmarit-m 90/2.8

 

This latest lens does not focus terribly close.

 

I was wondering if the investment of time, money and ultimately bag weight (I travel a lot and would carry both the macro 90 plus my 90/2.8) would be worth it for the 90/4 MACRO?

 

I think without the adapter, it focuses down to 80cm? And with the adapter - 50cm?

 

Man, even used these lenses carry a $4k price tag! But happy to invest that if someone has first hand experience and can advise me of her positive experience.

 

Is the image quality of he 90/4 macro as good as my existing 90/2.8?

 

Or am I better off simply cropping my images from my existing 90 to get a closer cropped look that I would achieve with the closer focussing 90 macro? I mainly use M9 with M8 as backup.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

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A viso is better for precise close ups, focus, composition, debth of field control. The best lenses are 90 2.8 Elmait and 135 4.0 tele Elmarit lens heads. Mine are used on a viso and Nikon D700 and they are as good or better than current Nikkors.

 

However if you need a quick and light carry, the Macro Elmar is a superb lens. The performance under 6 feet or 2 meters is better than 90 APO or 90 2.8 last version or the thin 90 2.8. Way better than your 90 2.0.

 

It gives modern optical performance to to the close range which no other RF lens can offer. As far as infinity goes, it ranks right up there with the very best Leica offers.

 

Resolution is optimized from 4.0 right off and you gain debth of field only,both for close and far.

 

Speed is the only problem if you need a faster lens. Otherwise there is nothing to be gained by any other lens.

 

I posted a bunch of flower pictures in the nature section about 4 weeks ago. All were with the 90 4.0. I will go a search and try to make a link.

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/nature-wildlife/239688-spring-flowers.html

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/people/239687-mom-daughter-enjoy-spring.html

 

Second was an uncontrolled grab shot.

 

When I do film photography, The 352.0 V4, 50 2.8 last version, 90 4.0 macro are the go to lenses in my bag. Numerous other 90 mm sit on my shelf.

Edited by tobey bilek
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Absolutely super lens...... I use it more than any other.

 

With it being fairly short and light you can hand hold at much lower speeds than you would imagine. Image quality is second to none.

 

The macro adapter is a real bonus and small enough to carry without a second thought .... just dump the supplied case and use a slim mobile phone one instead. The metal hood however is a menace and I use a collapsible rubber one.

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regarding the close focus, I would comment that the covered area with the adaptor is significantly smaller than without of course but this is not a 'true' macro. However I found that focus accuracy (and framing) was extremely good and easy to use with the addition of the angle finder (which also includes magnification). See first link which is a crop at 100%. Subject approximately 50mm long.

Hedge Grasshopper in my garden photo - Geoff Hopkinson photos at pbase.com

Make up test photo - Geoff Hopkinson photos at pbase.com

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Or am I better off simply cropping my images from my existing 90 to get a closer cropped look that I would achieve with the closer focussing 90 macro? I mainly use M9 with M8 as backup.

 

This strikes me as a last ditch solution if nothing else is possible. The 90mm Summicron seems by common consensus to less than stellar at close distances - certainly much worse than the Macro-elmar. And then the idea is to sacrifice resolution by using less than the available sensor/negative. A guaranteed recipe for technically poor photographs. A terrible idea.

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msap, I think not. If it replaced your existing 90mm lenses, maybe. If you are serious about macro photography, adapting the M is not the best solution, even if you adopt an old Visoflex which is only practical in a studio. As you have a bagful of lenses, I sense you are not too keen on adding another for a marginal application. Hence my response.

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...if you need a quick and light carry, the Macro Elmar is a superb lens. The performance under 6 feet or 2 meters is better than 90 APO or 90 2.8 last version or the thin 90 2.8. Way better than your 90 2.0. It gives modern optical performance to the close range which no other RF lens can offer. As far as infinity goes, it ranks right up there with the very best Leica offers...

+1 and it is the smallest 90 i've ever used, even shorter than the 'thin' Tele-Elmarit when it is extended, let alone when it is collapsed of course. Its goggles don't take much room in my bags and are easy to use down to 0.50 meter. It is indeed an expensive lens but it is one of the very best Leica lenses ever made IMHO. Now at medium to long distance, it is not better than the last Elmarit 90/2.8 which is significantly lens expensive but you know it already.

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I sold my pre-ASPH 90mm Summicron recently. I wanted to get something sharper and smaller. I really like the pictures posted above and especially the grasshopper in Geoff's link. This is the lens I will be getting next.

Edited by magosak
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  • 3 weeks later...

The following is not directed at the OP personally.

 

We do often see here the question "is X really worth Y for Z?" But this is a completely subjective, individual matter, not far from the classical "what is the meaning of life?" It is all personal. The answer, whatever it is, is completely contingent on what you do, what you want to do, and what you feel about the pictures you don't get to take. (And like in sports fishing, the biggest ones are those that got away.) And nobody can answer that question for anybody else.

 

My own method has always been to think the thing though as well as I can – and then to hand the question over to my subconscious and wait patiently for the decision. Sooner or later you will probably know, wirh a kind of decisiveness, what the answer is. Is that Zen? Probably something like it. But remember that our intellect – our rationality – is something vastly bigger than the momentarily actual, conscious part of it, which is also often deceived by the fine talk of others.

 

But as long at the real purpose of the OP's question is "please let's have a discusion of this that I can feed into my subconscious decision-making machinery" then that's just fine of course.

 

The old man from the days of Sigmund Freud (who also undervalued the rationality of the subconscious, to be sure)

 

P.S. I do think that the M10 (or whatever) that we are expecting this autumn will have live view. That, and a coming electronic 'Visoflex IV' in the accessory shoe, will put the whole close-up question (and the R lens question, and some other questions) in an entirely new perspective. I think, but I know not.

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I love mine.

kaethe

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Does anyone know if the 90 mm Macro Elmar at say 50cm/70cm focus at F4 throws background out of focus similar to the 90 mm Elmarit-M at 1 meter at F2.8?

 

 

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Using geometrical optics: at a focus distance of 0.65 meter, pointsources at infinity produce equally sized discs in the image plane with a 90/4.0 as those in the image plane of a 90/2.8 focussed af 1 meter.

 

If required, formula and derivation can be given.

 

This geometrical approach does not take into account differences in bokeh (brightness differences accross the discs in the image plane of point sources).

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.

 

But as long at the real purpose of the OP's question is "please let's have a discusion of this that I can feed into my subconscious decision-making machinery" then that's just fine of course.

 

Certainly the discussion is what I wanted to stimulate, Lars. I am happy to own 2 90mm lenses but wanted to get the juice on the 90mm Macro for my subconscious processing.

 

That said, I am grateful for those that posted - I will get the 90mm macro and keep my 90/2.8

 

Mark

 

 

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I bought one this week, used for just over AUS$3K with macro attachment so think I did quite well.

 

It may sound like a stupid question, but is the adaptor ever 6-bit coded? Mine isn't... wonder if it could be done?

 

I tried a few shots in the garden and like the lens a lot.

 

L1008371-L.jpg

 

L1008341-L.jpg

 

I think we may have a glut on our lemons:

 

L1008335-L.jpg

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