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50mm Elmar-M question


rpsawin

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I did a very informal test between three 50mm lenses I will be using on my M (tip 262). The three lenses I used were the Leica Summicron ver. vi, Leica Elmar-M and a CV Nokton. For my purposes I am happy with each lens but it seemed to me tat the Elmar-M rendered less saturated colors than the other two lens. Does this square with your experience? Thoughts, comments...

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1 hour ago, rpsawin said:

I did a very informal test between three 50mm lenses I will be using on my M (tip 262). The three lenses I used were the Leica Summicron ver. vi, Leica Elmar-M and a CV Nokton. For my purposes I am happy with each lens but it seemed to me tat the Elmar-M rendered less saturated colors than the other two lens. Does this square with your experience? Thoughts, comments...

What do you mean by Summicron ver. vi ? The current one is v5 (with built-in hood). Also are your sure your Elmar is an "Elmar-M", not just an "Elmar"? Just curious as i have no experience with the CV 50/1.5 sorry.

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I did a similar 50mm lens experiment a couple of years ago with a version 4 Summicron, an (early) M-mount collapsible f2.8 Elmar and a 7 Artisans f1.1.

FWIW my results showed the Elmar to be a hundred degrees or so cooler (in Kelvin terms) than the Summicron; i.e. whilst the saturation of the Elmar was pretty similar to the Summicron overall the Elmar favoured the blue end of the (visible) spectrum rather than red end. Perhaps that's what you are seeing as well?

The Elmar (if nice and clean optically) is a great lens and once collapsed really does allow the camera-unit to be 'pocketed' (in, admittedly, a large-ish pocket!).

Philip.

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1 hour ago, lct said:

Elmar and Elmar-M are not the same lens. Elmar is from the sixties and Elmar-M the nineties. Elmar-M is more contrasty with more saturation and less flare. Reason why asked the OP what Elmar he was referring to.

Yes; I understood where you were coming from in your post, lct, which is why I specified my own test was with the early version of the M-mount lens. As the OP mentioned he had expreienced less saturated colours I was wondering which version he was using in his comparison as the later lens should (I would have thought) have been rather different from what he experienced.

Philip.

Edited by pippy
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As stated in my op I am using a collapsible Elmar--M and my Summicron is silver with a built in hood and according to the serial number was made in 1996. I am pleased with both lenses and was just interested to know if anyone else had the same experience as I.

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24 minutes ago, rpsawin said:

As stated in my op I am using a collapsible Elmar--M and my Summicron is silver with a built in hood and according to the serial number was made in 1996. I am pleased with both lenses and was just interested to know if anyone else had the same experience as I.

I would also really like the answer or performance observations others have had with the 50mm Elmar-M.  

I currently own the latest 50mm f2 Summicron.

Thanks, jDD

Edited by m410
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10 minutes ago, rpsawin said:

As stated in my op I am using a collapsible Elmar--M and my Summicron is silver with a built in hood and according to the serial number was made in 1996. I am pleased with both lenses and was just interested to know if anyone else had the same experience as I.

My Summicron 50/2 v5 and Elmar-M 50/2.8 are black, i like both of them for their different character, the Elmar-M being my favorite for subjective reasons, but i would not say that it renders less saturated colours. Now i'm a raw shooter so i don't pay attention to OoC results at all. Here on the M240. 

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44 minutes ago, rpsawin said:

As stated in my op I am using a collapsible Elmar--M

Just to clarify, Bob, there are three different 50mm Elmar-M lenses (in bayonet mount), all collapsible:

  • 50/3.5 Elmar-M (1953 -1962) Serial # 1,302 - 1,700,000
  • 50/2.8 Elmar-M (1957 - 1972) Serial # 1,402,001 - 2,503,100
  • 50/2.8 Elmar-M (1994 - 2007), Serial # 3,668,031 - n/a

Which did you mean?

Pete.

 

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9 minutes ago, farnz said:

Just to clarify, Bob, there are three different 50mm Elmar-M lenses (in bayonet mount), all collapsible:

  • 50/3.5 Elmar-M (1953 -1962) Serial # 1,302 - 1,700,000
  • 50/2.8 Elmar-M (1957 - 1972) Serial # 1,402,001 - 2,503,100
  • 50/2.8 Elmar-M (1994 - 2007), Serial # 3,668,031 - n/a

Which did you mean?

Pete.

 

Pete,

Mine was made in 2003. 

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5 hours ago, farnz said:

Just to clarify, Bob, there are three different 50mm Elmar-M lenses (in bayonet mount), all collapsible:

  • 50/3.5 Elmar-M (1953 -1962) Serial # 1,302 - 1,700,000
  • 50/2.8 Elmar-M (1957 - 1972) Serial # 1,402,001 - 2,503,100
  • 50/2.8 Elmar-M (1994 - 2007), Serial # 3,668,031 - n/a

Which did you mean?

Pete.

 

Hi Pete, I think you should refer to M mount Elmar for the first 2, the Elmar-M was the much later version which is where the confusion arises.

 

 

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11 hours ago, rpsawin said:

I did a very informal test between three 50mm lenses I will be using on my M (tip 262). The three lenses I used were the Leica Summicron ver. vi, Leica Elmar-M and a CV Nokton. For my purposes I am happy with each lens but it seemed to me tat the Elmar-M rendered less saturated colors than the other two lens. Does this square with your experience? Thoughts, comments...

Photos or it didn't happen.

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I would agree that Elmar-M colours are fine. Here on a M9

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Edited by pedaes
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The suffix "-M" appeared on Leitz lenses in the seventies if memory serves and i have never seen it on any Elmar 50/3.5 or 50/2.8 so far, but i may be wrong as often. Otherwise a good way to avoid misunderstandings is to call "Elmar" the Elmar and "Elmar-M" the Elmar-M as the OP did. They are described this way on Leica catalogs BTW.

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8 hours ago, lct said:

Are you sure? Just an Elmar i believe but i may be wrong. 

I've called it "Elmar-M" for simplicity because it's the bayonet mount variant of the original 50/2.8 Elmar although it's actually called a "ELMOM" according to Hove 8th Edition.  The screw mount variant is the ELMOO.

Pete.

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2 hours ago, earleygallery said:

Hi Pete, I think you should refer to M mount Elmar for the first 2, the Elmar-M was the much later version which is where the confusion arises.

Yes fair enough, James, as per my post above I've added the "-M" to make it clear that they're both bayonet mount lenses and to differentiate them from the screw mount variants but I accept that the 1994 version that was released with the M6J is the official Elmar-M.

Pete.

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Just the good old triplet vs double gauss story. Now the Elmar-M is perhaps the best triplet 50 ever made whereas the Summicron is outperformed by the Summicron apo. 

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