Elmarit 21mm asph - the leased loved Leica lens?

[Muso]

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On 2/12/2021 at 5:08 AM, lct said:

Gnothi seauton Socrates said . Dunno for you but the problem is generally me when i dislike something with no apparent reason. As far as lenses are concerned i'm not fond of the 50/2 apo for example and the only reason i found is i don't like perfection. Lenses like 21/2.8 asph are not perfect but have no obvious flaws or qualities and may feel boring for this reason. Those are tools one can rely upon, kind of Yamaha piano sort of .

I'll second you on the Yamaha pianos lol.  I'm a musician, and I can't stand them.  Oh, they sound fine, and they're perfectly functional, but Yamaha is what you take on tour because it doesn't matter if it gets dropped off the truck or otherwise mangled.  You can just take the insurance money and get another one.  It'll be exactly the same.  It's an engineer's piano, not an artist's (IMHO).  So, they get toured with, but at home you'll find a Baldwin, Fazioli, Steinway, Bösendorfer, Bechstein... 

To remain somewhat on topic:  I do love my 21mm Super-Elmar.  It's a fantastic lens, especially while touring about in the city.  The color and contrast and overall "look" are just stunning.  

[rtai]

The 21mm Elmarit Asph is a wonderful lens and sort of a bargain these days for a Leica lens. I owned for a while the 21mm SEM as well as the 25mm and Biogon and thought both were too high contrast for my taste. I have read great things about the 21/4.5 Biogon but never tried one. I might one day for the size. Another 21mm I liked was the F3.5 Super Angulon so that should say something about my preference for character. I tried using the 21/3.4 SA on an M8 and it worked rather well surprisingly with no corner fall off due to the crop but metering had to be handheld. 
 

Anyway the 21mm Elmarit Asph is a sharp lens and medium contrast at larger apertures and I enjoyed using it for street. 21mm is currently my primary focal length. I owned a silver chrome version and it was heavy. I sold it last week when my order for the 21mm Summilux arrived. It’s just a bit heavier and does not disappoint. 
 

Here’s a recent street shot with the 21/2.8 asph at 4.0 for the dof.

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Edited June 4, 2021 by rtai

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, rtai said:

The 21mm Elmarit Asph is a wonderful lens and sort of a bargain these days for a Leica lens. I owned for a while the 21mm SEM as well as the 25mm and Biogon and thought both were too high contrast for my taste. I have read great things about the 21/4.5 Biogon but never tried one. I might one day for the size. Another 21mm I liked was the F3.5 Super Angulon so that should say something about my preference for character. I tried using the 21/3.4 SA on an M8 and it worked rather well surprisingly with no corner fall off due to the crop but metering had to be handheld. 
 

Anyway the 21mm Elmarit Asph is a sharp lens and medium contrast at larger apertures and I enjoyed using it for street. 21mm is currently my primary focal length. I owned a silver chrome version and it was heavy. I sold it last week when my order for the 21mm Summilux arrived. It’s just a bit heavier and does not disappoint. 
 

Here’s a recent street shot with the 21/2.8 asph at 4.0 for the dof.

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Interesting what you said about medium contrast,,,i really love my 28mm summaron remake and voigtlander 40mm f1.4 sc lenses over and above my previous more modern lenses like the zeiss 35 distagon or 35/50 summarit and have struggled to work out why?

Maybe its the ultra contrast of the modern lenses that does not quite work for me? 

I reckon if somebody gave me an apo 35mm summicrom it would stay at home while i used my above mentioned lenses.

[rtai]

11 minutes ago, steve 1959 said:

Interesting what you said about medium contrast,,,i really love my 28mm summaron remake and voigtlander 40mm f1.4 sc lenses over and above my previous more modern lenses like the zeiss 35 distagon or 35/50 summarit and have struggled to work out why?

Maybe its the ultra contrast of the modern lenses that does not quite work for me? 

I reckon if somebody gave me an apo 35mm summicrom it would stay at home while i used my above mentioned lenses.

For black and white I see more grey tones with a less contrasty lens. I tried nearly all the Leica wides including the 28mm Elmarit Asph and 24/3.4 and they are very high contrast. Here’s a recent shot from the 21mm Summilux at max aperture. I’ll spend more time with it on Lr when I get the time but here’s a quick two minute adjustment on Lr cropped to a square. It was zone focused and not completely spot on.

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Edited June 5, 2021 by rtai

[Guest]

Just now, rtai said:

For black and white I see more grey tones with a less contrasty lens. I tried nearly all the Leica wides including the 28mm Elmarit Asph and 24/3.4 and they are very high contrast. Here’s a recent shot from the 21mm Summilux at max aperture. I’ll spend more time with it on Lr when I get the time but here’s a quick two minute adjustment on Lr cropped to a square. 

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Thanks,i like other peoples black and white images but i love colour photography for myself and i think the medium contrast lenses are more appealing to me in general because i like that look and for me that means in colour.

[rtai]

2 minutes ago, steve 1959 said:

Thanks,i like other peoples black and white images but i love colour photography for myself and i think the medium contrast lenses are more appealing to me in general because i like that look and for me that means in colour.

I don’t have an eye for color so like looking at other people’s work from the sidelines!

Edited June 5, 2021 by rtai

[crony]

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Hi, the other day I went to Mannheim/D with the Elmarit and my M9 to take Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) pics ... :

 

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The Elmarit is highly versatile - it can even be used for portraits ( 😉) :

 

 

 

[wda]

37 minutes ago, crony said:

Hi, the other day I went to Mannheim/D with the Elmarit and my M9 to take Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) pics ... :

 

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The Elmarit is highly versatile - it can even be used for portraits ( 😉) :

 

 

 

These pictures are excellent examples of what I expect and enjoy from my Elmarit 21 mm ASPH lens. I think that the reason for OP's question is that this fine lens has too much competition from other Leica lenses in 21 mm focal length. Plus the fact that in some newcomers' eyes, newer versions must be better. Rendering is excellent from all Elmarit lenses in my possession. It encourages me to give mine more use.

[ianman]

Don't know about leased (sic) loved, but I like it.

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[ianman]

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[ianman]

All on M9

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[a.noctilux]

I use some 21mm lenses,

in my view, this 21mm asph. even at f/2.8 can give very nice results

this is in a dim Cathedral, hand held at 1/12s

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M9, 640 ISO, whole image

...

let's see 100% details of center

(that please me a lot, nothing to add ! )

Edited June 11, 2021 by a.noctilux

[crony]

On 6/11/2021 at 11:36 AM, wda said:

These pictures are excellent examples of what I expect and enjoy from my Elmarit 21 mm ASPH lens. I think that the reason for OP's question is that this fine lens has too much competition from other Leica lenses in 21 mm focal length. Plus the fact that in some newcomers' eyes, newer versions must be better. Rendering is excellent from all Elmarit lenses in my possession. It encourages me to give mine more use.

Hi, I am very happy with my 21mm Elmarit asph. I also have the Voigtländer 4/21 and the ZEISS 4,5/21. I have no personal experience with the other, current  Leica 21mm lenses.

Of the 24mm Leica lenses I have the Elmarit asph. and the Elmar. The Elmar is contrastier and sharper when open. At higher apertures they are very much the same....

I expect the same for the 21mm Elmarit and the SEM. For me, there is no (rational) reason to get the SEM, too, for my M9s. (On a M10-R, it might excel more ...)

New is not always better, but different generally. --- (We have the same thing with cars in Germany. V8 engines have fewer CCs now, but turbo-chargers are added for performance.

I do not like this trend --- )