40 year old Elmarit 28 mm for M10

[tonyniev]

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I am waiting for the M10 to be available and thinking of getting the Sumicron 50mm because I have the Elmarit 28 mm I used with my M3 and occasionally use with my Sony A7r...I am getting the M10 to have smaller and lighter camera in my travels...currently, on my travels, I shoot mostly with the Sony A7r with Canon 17-40 mm and Sonnar T 55 mm, and the Sony A6000 with Sigma Art 19 (24 mm eq)...I shifted to Sony 4yrs ago to lighten my load, from DSLR I still have my Canon 5D2 and &D, but see the Sony lenses getting bigger and the new A9 price is going up....time to go back to Leica.

 

Should I consider using the ELmarit 28 and get the 50mm, if I don't have the 28 mm I would buy the Summicron 35 mm

 

Thanks

[lct]

Not sure if the M10 is smaller and lighter than your M3 and A7r  but you own an Elmarit 28 already don't you so you ask if you should keep it for the M10 if i understand well your question. Depends on the vintage of the lens then. If it has a serial number inferior to 2314921, metering will only be possible in Live View mode according to the M10 instructions manual (page 136). I have no experience with the M10 though so take what i say with a lump of salt.

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[tonyniev]

Thanks, I will go to the Leica store with this information

the sn is 2197153

[adan]

According to the SN, your 28 Elmarit is actually over 50 years old - 1966.

 

As such it is the first version of a 28 EM ever made. With a very protruding rear element. Should look like this: https://www.yaotomi.co.jp/upload/save_image/07061828_4c32f73e01213.jpg

 

Another tip-off is whether it requires the special extra-deep rear cap for the 21 and 28 lenses of that era. https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pS6STzFfcUg/WEP0wPXmMpI/AAAAAAAARbQ/Xa07G6V47LkQ6CpZh7KKkz4EB4chUhdrACLcB/s1600/IMG_0344.JPG

 

If so, then as lct states, the protrusion of the rear element into the camera will block the metering except in live view (where the metering is off the image sensor itself). In addition, you may notice some weird color effects around the edges of the picture, due to those old, deepset, film-era, wideangle RF lenses' interactions with how sensor pixels are built (not like film!) See attached - actually made with a 15mm Voigtlander, but gives the idea of how "film-era" M-mount wideangles often behave on digital - note red/purple "stain" down the left side.

 

In B&W pictures it is not an issue - strictly a color problem.

 

Leica supports post-1980 wide and superwide lenses with in-camera corrections to remove that color staining. A 1966 28mm is not directly supported by Leica (too early). However, you may find that the color corrections for a supported lens may remove most of such color issues - just depends.

 

I'd recomment taking your 28mm along to the Leica Store with you, and testing it for color problems as described, on a sample M10's sensor. (Or an M240, if there is no sample M10 available). Just so you know what you are getting into.

 

Otherwise - that is a really nice 28mm Elmarit. First M lens I ever owned, decades ago. Now something of a collectors' item due to rarity.

 

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[luigi bertolotti]

Indeed the 1st type Elmarit 28 is setting to the status of collectible (expecially if "Wetzlar"... your one ought to be "Canada", I think) 

See fresh prices on an auction 2 days ago :

 

http://www.westlicht-auction.com/index.php?id=4

 

A 1994 item fetched HALF the price of a 1964 1st type Wetzlar (and it is a BETTER lens.... I have both - 1964 and 1995 - and am well sure of...  )

Edited June 12, 2017 by luigi bertolotti

[tonyniev]

Luigi

Thanks for the information... yes it is Canada, but with lower serial number than the one in auction. 

Edited June 29, 2017 by tonyniev

[tonyniev]

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the M3 is Wetzlar sn 830593

[luigi bertolotti]

Thanks, I will go to the Leica store with this information

the sn is 2197153

Just as a note of curiosity.. the Elmarit 28 in that s/n range have an odd alternation of RED and YELLOW for the distance scale (feet scale - the meters one is always white) : in my files I have record of :

 

2197142 - Yellow

2197168 - Yellow

2197179 - Red

2197221 - Red

2197222 - Yellow

 

(not to blame Canadians for this... same happens for Wetzlar items in the 2.063.xxx range)

Edited June 29, 2017 by luigi bertolotti

[tonyniev]

yellow scales

[tonyniev]

Got the first light on the 60 year old Elamrit 28 on th  eM10 I got last night, using file transfer, a couple of shots, it works

[euston]

You’re off to a very colourful start. I can see you’re going to enjoy the combination. There's plenty of life left in that lens!

[tonyniev]

an image on the M10 Red Rock Canyon at high noon with Elmarit 28 made in 1966

 

[tonyniev]

I am so grateful to your comments to use the Elmarit 28 on the M10, I am liking and amazed how this old lens produces good quality images.

Took this snapshot last night