Leica 3.8/24 mm Elmar-M and the 2.8/25 ZM Biogon

[MarkP]

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Well I 've had a 2.8/25 ZM Biogon which initially had little use, but more so lately - a technically impressive lens. Anyhow I had the opportunity of buying a less than one year old mint 3.4/25 Elmar-M (with papers/box, receipt, etc). for an obscenely good price so I did. It seemed like it was a brand new lens as I opened it up!

 

My thoughts were that I'd keep which ever lens was better and if that happened to be the Biogon I'd not lose money on the transaction - may even make some as the Elmar was such a good price.

 

I had to test around the house as I'm still grounded after surgery on my ankle/foot.

 

The Elmarit had a clear edge on sharpness/resolution at all comparable apertures, and colour rendition was remarkably similar compared to the other Zeiss/Leica comparisons I've done on 50 & 85/90mm lenses.

 

I'm less fussed about the 0.7 of a stop difference between the lenses.

 

The difference between 24 and 25mm is obvious on my computer screen but in real life I think would make little difference. On the M240, comparing the 24mm OVF for the D-Lux 4 with live-view the OVF was remarkably accurate (just shows a bit less of the top of the image).

 

 

So the 2.8/25 Zm Biogon will go up for sale.

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[Joakim]

The Elmar is hard to beat, good call in my opinion.

[MarkP]

Well that was also my experience with the 4.5/21 ZM C-Biogon. Again, a great lens: compact, good ergonomics, relatively cheap, minimal distortion, excellent sharpness/resolution, less than a stop slower than the SEM. At least until I put it up against my new 3.4/21 SEM - the 21 Zeiss was also sold, red edging being the other issue. Having said that, it is spectacular performance for less than a third the price of the 21 SEM. This also applies to the 2.8/25 ZM!

 

The 1/3 stop intervals on the aperture ring are also a pain when the Leica lenses and shutter-speeds are 1/2 stop intervals. Can forget sometimes when working quickly.

[Bill W]

I acquired my 24 Elmar-M as a used lens about two years ago for a VERY reasonable price. It is a great lens, very compact and very sharp from my perspective. It had not been used as far as I could tell. The 24 is sort of a love hate focal length. I had a previous 24 and sold it but hated that I did.