CV 90/3.5 APO Lanthar

[grdglass]

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For occassional use, I am thinking of buying the CV 90/3.5 APO Lanthar. It's in the $300 price range and that is appealing for a 90mm lens that I will not use often. Any comments on the lens or pictures from it would be appreciated.

 

Also, is there a used 90mm Leica lens that would be better? F/2.0 or 2.8 would be nice. I want to stay around $500 give or take.

 

Helene

[scho]

For occassional use, I am thinking of buying the CV 90/3.5 APO Lanthar. It's in the $300 price range and that is appealing for a 90mm lens that I will not use often. Any comments on the lens or pictures from it would be appreciated.

 

Also, is there a used 90mm Leica lens that would be better? F/2.0 or 2.8 would be nice. I want to stay around $500 give or take.

 

Helene

Helene,

 

I have a Lanthar on order that should arrive later this week. I'll post some test shots in my pbase M8 gallery.

http://www.pbase.com/scho/leica_m8

 

Carl

[stunsworth]

Helene, I have the lens and it's excellent value for money. I don't use 90mm very often, but it's useful to have 'just in case'. I have a few shots taken in France last week. I'll upload one or two later this evening when I have access to the files.

 

Be aware that the paint on the black version wears very easily. I can't comment about the chrome version.

[wizard]

Be aware that the paint on the black version wears very easily. I can't comment about the chrome version.

 

In my own experience, the chrome CV lenses wear very easily, too. Have them touch another lens in your bag and the brass shines through.

 

Helene, I have no doubts that the 90mm Apo Lanthar will perform admirably, optically that is, but so will a used Leica 90mm lens. If I were you, I'd try to find either an Elmar-C 4/90 (small and light) or a Minolta Rokkor 4/90 (almost identical to the former lens), a Tele-Elmarit-M 2.8/90 (small and light, too, but a little faster) or a current Elmarit-M 2.8/90 (optically superior to all, including the Apo Lanthar, but probably hard to find for 500 US). Any of these lenses will perform very well and in addition will have a mechanical quality the Apo Lanthar can't rival. If later you want to sell it, it is very likely that you will get what you paid for originally. Just my 2cts.

 

Andy

[Bavaricus]

Also, is there a used 90mm Leica lens that would be better? F/2.0 or 2.8 would be nice. I want to stay around $500 give or take.

 

Hallo Helene,

 

only a Leica-Lens is a Leica-Lens! Thats no snobism. I had a Minolta M-Rokkor 90, sold it and now i have a Tele-Elmarit 2,8/90. And suddenly the pictures have the undescribeable "leica touch". Think you'll easily get one below $500.

[stunsworth]

Helene, here's a full frame and a section at 100% magnification. It was hand held, but the shutter speed was 1/750th.

 

No sharpening on either image, this is how it came out of the M8 (after RAW conversion of course :-)

 

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[NickR]

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Helene, I had this lens and I don't think any of the older Leica designs can beat it. The finish is delicate to put it nicely but for the price who cares. You say you'll only use it occasionally and that's probably true because when you see any used 90 for sale it's usually followed by the line "I'm selling it because I hardly use it." It's the same reason I sold mine but when I owned it I never felt the need to upgrade.

[cme4brain]

For occassional use, I am thinking of buying the CV 90/3.5 APO Lanthar. It's in the $300 price range and that is appealing for a 90mm lens that I will not use often. Any comments on the lens or pictures from it would be appreciated.

 

Also, is there a used 90mm Leica lens that would be better? F/2.0 or 2.8 would be nice. I want to stay around $500 give or take.

 

Helene

 

I agree that the CV 90mm Lanthar is a great lens. I am awaiting Sean Reid's review of 90mm lenses, and I think that all will find that the voigt lenses on the whole are great lenses. Are they leica lenses? Not so (however the CV 50mm Nokton out-resolves Leica glass in some cases) however they are 1/10th the cost and are 98% the lens of a Leica. In fact, I believe that if one would post two pictures taken with a CV/Zeiss lens and the identical pix taken with Leica glass, most professionals could not tell the difference. And for me, that miniscule difference is not worth spending $3500 per lens instead of $300.

[Skippy Sanchez]

i have an extra. contact me at skippysanchez@excite.com.

[wilfredo]

Has anyone used this lens on a Leica Monochrom?

[NickR]

Despite what I wrote eight years ago, the older Summicron 90mm's are quite the bargain now.  It's a great lens which because of its size, I suppose, is largely shunned by most users.  I can't make a direct comparison because when I owned the CV 90 I was shooting film and now I'm shooting the Summicron with digital but contrast is great and having f2 is very handy.  At present, I convert color DNG's to B&W so I can't directly answer your question, Wilfredo, but I'm well satisfied with the Summie.

[bideford]

If it is only for occasional use (although worthy of much more) maybe you could consider the Canon 100mm 3.5 ltm?  A legend for being tack sharp wide open and tiny (as well as light).  Took me a while to find an nice black one but cost somewhat less than your budget.

 

A sleeper lens - as are a number of other Canon ltm lenses!

 

James

[menos I M6]

Careful when looking for a Canon 135/3.5 LTM - this is a lens that is notorious for developing a bad haze on the lens group behind the aperture which after years of neglected storage conditions can be so bad to not be fully removable.

When you find a nice sample - grab it and keep it - great little lens.

 

Any Leica 90/2.8 of any vintage is great - some different characters you will get according to vintage but generally they all have their charm.

 

As for performance, size, price, the diverse 90/4 Minolta and Leitz lenses are hard to beat.

 

If you look for a really great, modern 90/2.8, look for a Konica Hexanon 90/2.8 or a Leica 90/2.8 M (latest version is optically the best) but both are generally above your stated budget of 500 USD (the Konica not by mutch).

 

If you look for a ~90mm lens with some very special qualities (portrait lens ?) and do not plan to carry it around every time, there is not much that is a better bang for the buck as a Nikon 8.5cm f2 LTM lens (1950's era).

Find a nice sample, preferably already properly adjusted to modern digital Leica standards and it is a lens that just delivers beauty.

 

Another really great lens (if not 90mm, but rather 75mm) is the Voigtlander 75/2.5 Color Skopar LTM.

It generally sells for a little less second hand than the 90/3.5 and is a very, very sweet lens - compact, lightweight, decent performance and offers f2.5.

 

When I want to find out about a certain lens I have never used before I usually look if there is a flickr lens pool dedicated to the specific lens in question.

I then just look for things I like and things I do not like in such a lens.