Light and sharp zoom lens for Leica M10

[wolan]

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Hi,

can you recommend me a light tele zoom lens for my Leica M10?

It should be as light as possible, sharp, and without rotating front-element, so that I can use the filters.

Thanks.

[wda]

No zooms. The nearest lens to meet your requirements would be a Tri-Elmar.

[Marac]

The one I always turn to is the Leica 80-200 R 

[a.noctilux]

For M10, we are lucky to be able to use LV/Visoflex for every lens we mount on it.

Light would be very hard to find but "sharp enough" can be reached with ease (plus adapter ! ).

So my point is we can choose with adapter to mount on M10 most of zooms made (with manual aperture setting and focus ! ).

For many years, I use zooms that I have like 3x70 Angenieux ( text in french ) one of the best that I own in Leica R mount.

I use also some SLR lenses as Nikkor, Zuiko, Canon, etc. (zoom or not ) for decades ( beginning with film Ms as challenge ).

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an example of exotic use of Canon FD 20-35 L on Leica M : results can be fantastic or soso depending on some parameters...

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metal high grade zoom can give nice results but need some practices.

I use also the very nice (big/heavy for OM lens) Zuiko AUTO zoom 35-70mm f/3.6 and Zuiko AUTO-Zoom 75-150mm f/4.0

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this 25-50 AI was used before I purchased the Leica MATE 28-50

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as side note, avoid those cheap plastic zoom lenses

Edited December 27, 2020 by a.noctilux

[farnz]

28-90/2.8-4.5 Vario-Elmarit-R.  It's very light, its performance is exceptional and outdoes many primes, and the zoom occurs inside the lens so the filter thread doesn't move.  It won't be cheap though.

Pete.

[luigi bertolotti]

You speak of TELE-Zoom, so i suppose you intend to start in the 70-90 to 200 around : the various Leica R (70-210 / 75-200 / 80-200) are all in the 750g weigth... no light but not heavy like the 70-180 APO or the very praised 105-280 : of course, one can rely on some 3rd party adapter and find dozens of choices... also with the old standard M42 mount.

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by luigi bertolotti

[FrozenInTime]

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Adapters, SLR era lenses and the visoflex will always have compromises.

The CL + 18-56 TL zoom makes a nice pairing with a M10 and fast 35...50mm.

[jaapv]

Olympus OM 75-150. Light and compact, very sharp. Very cheap and plentiful on eBay. There is even a decent 2x extender. There are two  downsides; one is that it exhibits distortion, but that is the easiest thing to correct in digital images, the second one is that the aperture ring turns the wrong way.

[farnz]

Oh, I'd forgotten the Carl Zeiss 80-200/4 Vario-Sonnar, which is both light and inexpensive, and is a Contax/Yashica mount lens.  The zoom action is push-pull so will be ideal for graduated-ND filters etc.  You'll need a C/Y to M-mount adaptor of course but they're plentiful and inexpensive on the online auction site.

Pete.

[wolan]

2 hours ago, farnz said:

Oh, I'd forgotten the Carl Zeiss 80-200/4 Vario-Sonnar, which is both light and inexpensive, and is a Contax/Yashica mount lens.  The zoom action is push-pull so will be ideal for graduated-ND filters etc.  You'll need a C/Y to M-mount adaptor of course but they're plentiful and inexpensive on the online auction site.

Pete.

Thanks, I have it and I like it, but it has a rotating front element, which prevents me from using filters.

 

 

[farnz]

4 hours ago, wolan said:

Thanks, I have it and I like it, but it has a rotating front element, which prevents me from using filters.

Agh yes, the front element rotates when focussing.  Sorry, I never thought to check while I was 'playing trombone' with the zoom. 

Leica's 80-200/4 Vario Elmar's front element doesn't turn when focussing or zooming and it's an excellent lens right through the range of focal lengths.  The performance is not quite as stellar as the 28-90 Vario-Elmarit-R but it is an excellent lens nonetheless and less than one third of the price of the Vario-Elmarit-R.

Pete.