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Elmarit 135mm: Opinions on an M8?


due163

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Hi I just purchased one of these, and was wondering what some of you thought about it? Anything I should be aware of or watch out for?

 

I really like the longer lenses , so now I have a 50/90 and a 135 on the way, I do realise its a 180 with the crop on my M8 :)

 

Post some rad photos if you have em

 

[edit} ElmariT lens not Elmarir, I know Leica is magical glass, but its German not Elven

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Happy to change the typo in the thread title :)

And the Elmarit is quite a nice lens on the M8, although the older versions are a bit lacking in contrast. However that can be easily fixed in postprocessing.

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The final Elmarits were optically excellent; the earliest ones were still very good, as Jaap said, but with less "snap."

 

The first thing to check is infinity focus: I'm assuming your rangefinder lines up properly at infinity. It should still do so with the Elmarit mounted. If it doesn't, the optical finder may need adjustment. That's the only problem area on the Elmarit, because it's fairly easy to give it a knock when it's in the bag.

 

And remember, the magic is that 1.5x finder magnifier. With that lens, the Effective Measuring Base Length of the M8 is magnified enough to work comfortably and focus accurately with the 180-equivalent lens.

 

Congratulations on the acquisition! It's a very nice lens.

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I would not expect high hit rates at f/2.8 w/o additional magnification.

About 86mm EBL is needed at that aperture where the M8 + 1.5x goggles of the Elmarit gives only 70mm due to the crop factor and 0.68x mag of the finder.

If i'm not wrong...:eek:;)

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You can compare it with a lowly Elmar 135/4. I have this one on Flickr

plus a few others.

 

I like it, but I second the warning about handling it and the M8 carefully. There's enough weight to do serious damage in a fall, and the distribution of the weight of an M8 with a 135 on it makes it prone to move and fall as though possessed.

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It can make very beautiful images. I'm not overly fond of mine because the goggles reduce the contrast in the finder. However, that's due to the glass being scratched and will not apply to yours, I trust.

 

Some shots with it on the M8:

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/nature-wildlife/145366-not-sleepy-just-bored.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/nature-wildlife/145368-scrutiny.html

 

The comment about the white balance in the first thread is not true. It's a user's error. :D

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...I like it, but I second the warning about handling it and the M8 carefully. There's enough weight to do serious damage in a fall, and the distribution of the weight of an M8 with a 135 on it makes it prone to move and fall as though possessed.

I would think of it as a 180mm lens slightly smaller and significantly lighter than the 180/2.8 for Leica R. In fact the Elmarit-M and the M8 are well balanced around the tripod socket of the lens and are not more difficult to handle than a corresponding dSLR combo.

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Looking at tthe shots I have seen on the m8/135 combo, it looks to be the same length as my elmar 90/4 but thicker ( E30 vs E55) Plus the goggles of course

 

I will let you know how it looks/works once I get it!

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Looking at tthe shots I have seen on the m8/135 combo, it looks to be the same length as my elmar 90/4 but thicker...

You mean the Elmar 135/4 i guess.

The Elmarit-M 135/2.8 is 114 x 66mm, 780 g, 55mm filters.

Whereas the Elmarit-R 135/2.8 is 93 x 67mm, 730 g, 55mm filters.

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