A sick F2.8 Tele-Elmarit 90MM?

[atatexan]

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Have a new (to me) Version 2 lens for my M8. It does not seem to be focussing correctly. If focused with the camera's range finder. The image is blurred at the focus point. This is not the case with my new (to me) Elmarit 28MM which consistently turns in very sharp pictures.

 

Do these lenses get out of adjustment?

[adan]

Anything is possible - but the 90 TE v.2 has a pretty simple helical focusing mechanism, without a lot to actually shift out of adjustment. Unless it was serviced at some point and rebuilt incorrectly.

 

There are other potential factors:

 

1. Keep in mind the vast difference in depth of field between a 28mm lens @ f/2.8 and a 90mm lens @ f/2.8. It is very possible for a given M8, or other camera, to be out of adjustment itself, and still focus a 28 within the range of acceptable sharpness, while revealing poor adjustment with a 90mm. For the same reason, a 90 is much less tolerant of any user error than a 28 (assuming same aperture and similar focus distances).

 

2. Leica cameras and lenses have always been build to "tolerances" - not to "perfect." Leica's tolerances may have been tighter than other manufacturers', but there was always a little room for error. If a given copy of a lens is within tolerance, but just barely within one end of the tolerance range, while a given camera was built within tolerance, but just barely within the other end of the tolerance range, the combined error can be large enough to show as a problem, even though both devices separately are within tolerance.

 

3. Lenses can also vary occasionally in actual sharpness or imaging quality. I've owned about 4 of the 90 TE v.2, and three were very sharp wide open. But the most recent copy I tried was simply not as sharp as the others, even correctly focused. It was an early copy (before Leica started engaving the focal length in big yellow numbers on the lens mount), although I don't know if the specific build date makes a difference itself. Maybe it was just a "Monday morning" lens.

 

4. For those reasons, I learned very quickly, when starting to use Leica Ms, to test every lens I planned to buy, longer than 50mm, on my own actual camera. To make certain that THAT specific copy worked well on my camera.

 

The famed music (and Leica) photographer Jim Marshall was once quoted as saying, "When I find a lens that works well on a body, I never take it off." (Which may explain why he carried a dedicated camera for every lens: http://themusicsover.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/jimmarshall1.jpg?w=300 )

 

5. Leica has tightened their tolerances even more since going digital, because digital is more revealing of small focus errors. But that wouldn't apply to a lens built 25-40 years ago (and the M8 was Leica's first digital M, and thus a learning experience itself).

 

Anyway - if possible, I would recommend finding another longish lens with limited DoF and trying that out as a control against your 90. You may find that your particular body has trouble with anything longer than 35 or 50 mm - or you may find that it is actually your particular 90 (or at least the combination of that particular lens and your particular M8) that is at fault.

[lct]

Yes 90/2.8 lenses are more demanding than Noctiluxes DoF wise and they behave more or less like 110mm lenses on the M8 so your "thin" Tele-Elmarit 90/2.8 may need some calibration. Mine was OK but i've had to send in my latest Elmarit 90/2.8 for that and my Summicron 90/2 pre-apo should be calibrated as well.

[luigi bertolotti]

Before sending lens+camera to check/calibrate try to find if the problem is really on lens side only... Even if you haven't another 90, with abit of patience you can make some tests (which were unpractical at film times.... Make some pictures of plain subject (newspaper or magazine is a classic...) at different distances and each one with small focusing movements (+ and -) around the theorical focus (RF coincidence), of course on tripod : if you find a consistent behavior (to say, always front or back focusing) the lens needs calibration... The TE 90 2nd had a very light mount, and is surely an item of several years ago... Nothing strange if needs a little readjustment.

[Lenshacker]

How far off is the focus? Is the focus off used close-up and at distance? Is the actual focus in front or in back of what the RF indicates?

 

Try shooting a ruler, set the RF on the middle of the ruler. Place the ruler at minimum focus distance, and then move it out to 10ft or so. This should give an indication of how far off the lens is. I sold my 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit, the focus was perfect on my M9.

[Maarten]

For me the first thing to check is whether the rangefinder patches coincide correctly when you have the lens on infinity. You need to go outdoor with good light and check with a high contrast subject. Also test your 28 mm, this test is critical for both lenses.

When the patches do not coincide correctly usually the rangefinder is off. In that case the 2 mm Allen key is is your friend.

Otherwise the lens might need calibration and that will take more effort/time to get fixed.

[Jean-Michel]

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Hi,

There are a numbr of focus check methods available. This one from Squit Photo is fairly easy to construct and use.

Jean-Michel