Which ONE lens above 50mm for landscape/urbanscape?

[Franka373]

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The 90 elmarit is very good and a top 2 or 3 M lens for me. However, when I get the 135 APO focused it is amazing. and worth the effort   

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[wizard]

vor 7 Minuten schrieb Franka373:

The 90 elmarit is very good and a top 2 or 3 M lens for me.

Same here. If limited to just one lens above 50mm, I'll take a 90mm lens any day. Just so versatile for both landscapes and portrait. F2.8 is a good compromise between speed, size and weight. 

[erniethemilk]

1 hour ago, Franka373 said:

The 90 elmarit is very good and a top 2 or 3 M lens for me. However, when I get the 135 APO focused it is amazing. and worth the effort   

 

1 hour ago, wizard said:

Same here. If limited to just one lens above 50mm, I'll take a 90mm lens any day. Just so versatile for both landscapes and portrait. F2.8 is a good compromise between speed, size and weight. 

Elmarit over Summarit? Trying to decide if I want a 90mm at present. 50mm is currently my longest lens, thinking a 90mm would be useful for the bit of woodland and landscape I shoot. 

[wizard]

Gerade eben schrieb erniethemilk:

Elmarit over Summarit?

They are both very good. The former has an integrated hood, the latter doesn't, which makes it a little more cumbersome to use. Optically, there is hardly any difference (except for the half stop more speed of the Summarit lens).

[Ronazle]

There are several M mount lenses that I have not the slightest regret in buying and using:  the 90mm Cron ASP is one of them. regards, Ron

Edited April 26, 2022 by Ronazle

[Herman.]

Very happy with the 90 elmarit,

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[Herman.]

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[Franka373]

The M 90 APO is excellent.  I liked it a lot and keep toying with the idea of having one again.  Why I hesitate is the M or the SL?  I cant make up my mind. The 90 elmarit is a Mandler design that I really like and for the occasional portrait shows it's excellence too. 

[hdmesa]

On 4/1/2022 at 4:42 PM, pmendelson said:

I have the M11 and the SL2-S, and my longest lens on both is 50mm (APO f/2 for both).  I am thinking about a telephoto for landscape/urban shots that I can use on both cameras (I don't shoot portraits), and size/weight is somewhat important to me.  I tried the 90mm Macro-Elmar and the Voigtlander 90mm APO, and they just didn't wow me at all for some reason.  I am thinking now about the 90mm Elmarit, or the 135mm.  If you had to choose one M mount lens above 50mm for landscape/urban shooting that isn't too huge or heavy, which one would it be?

Thanks!

Did you ever decide on a lens?

I've been using the CV 75 1.5 for landscape even though it's mostly thought of as a portrait or subject isolation lens like the 75 Lux. It has high microcontrast and saturated color that pair well with the CV 50 APO. Corners are sharp and contrast/color is excellent by f/5.6 with only minor improvements to the corners at f/8.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRVStdALimk

[Fedro]

I personally dont have one at the moment, but after 50 I would go for 90

For landscape you may find your self wanting, though.

The 135 APO is great, I would use Visoflex though for landscapes

As an added bonus (again, for landscapes) it goes to f22 - i.e. it goes to 11 ... twice!

[pedaes]

10 minutes ago, Fedro said:

As an added bonus (again, for landscapes) it goes to f22

Interesting to learn from a recent David Farkus (Red Dot Forum) video that diffraction starts much earlier with high mp sensors, and we should not go above f5.6/ f8 if you want zero degradation. I expect he is correct. 

Edited April 26, 2022 by pedaes

[budjames]

On 4/1/2022 at 6:42 PM, pmendelson said:

I have the M11 and the SL2-S, and my longest lens on both is 50mm (APO f/2 for both).  I am thinking about a telephoto for landscape/urban shots that I can use on both cameras (I don't shoot portraits), and size/weight is somewhat important to me.  I tried the 90mm Macro-Elmar and the Voigtlander 90mm APO, and they just didn't wow me at all for some reason.  I am thinking now about the 90mm Elmarit, or the 135mm.  If you had to choose one M mount lens above 50mm for landscape/urban shooting that isn't too huge or heavy, which one would it be?

Thanks!

I shoot with an M10-R, M11 and SL2. For a prime M lens that works on all of these bodies very well, I use my APO 75mm and APO 90mm. The 75mm is preferred for travel because it weighs less and is more compact. With the 60MPX of the M11, I can “zoom” by cropping and still have plenty of image data to work with.

Both lense are razor sharp, even wide open at f/2.

Regards,

Bud James

 

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography.

[adan]

2 hours ago, pedaes said:

Interesting to learn from a recent David Farkus (Red Dot Forum) video that diffraction starts much earlier with high mp sensors, and we should not go above f5.6/ f8 if you want zero degradation. I expect he is correct. 

I expect what Farkus actually said was diffraction becomes visible sooner with smaller pixels - just like any other aspect of resolution and/or aberrations.

Unless of course he was engaging in the form of technical simplification known as "lies to children."

Diffraction occurs at the lens aperture. After that the diffraction does not change. A higher Mp sensor won't change that diffraction, but it may reveal it when a lower-Mp sensor would not.

But the estimate is about right - for a 60Mpixel 24x36mm sensor (pixels 3.8 microns across), the Airy disk "blurs" will start to show at around f/7.1. Assuming the lens is "diffraction-limited," and has no other aberrations.

 

[LarsHP]

One lens only, which is longer than a 50? That's a 90mm lens. I think that's the general consensus, one that matches my experience and taste. For reference, I now use 15, 28, 50 and 90mm. Previously, I had 21, 35 and 90mm. (That was before the 75mm focal length became available). 

I have owned the (slim) Tele-Elmarit, Elmarit-M, Summarit-M (f/2.5) and now own the Apo-Summicron-M. For landscape and cityscape I would clearly recommend the Apo-Summicron-M.

If that's too expensive or big, then the Elmarit-M. To be honest, I see no advantage going for the Summarit. The Elmarit-M is better than it in every single way and (at least in Norway, they sell for the same, used of course). 

[Jeff S]

25 minutes ago, adan said:

I expect what Farkus actually said was diffraction becomes visible sooner with smaller pixels - just like any other aspect of resolution and/or aberrations.

Unless of course he was engaging in the form of technical simplification known as "lies to children."

Diffraction occurs at the lens aperture. After that the diffraction does not change. A higher Mp sensor won't change that diffraction, but it may reveal it when a lower-Mp sensor would not.

But the estimate is about right - for a 60Mpixel 24x36mm sensor (pixels 3.8 microns across), the Airy disk "blurs" will start to show at around f/7.1. Assuming the lens is "diffraction-limited," and has no other aberrations.

 

Exactly what David articulated, even down to the f/7.1 figure.  See at about 11 minute mark.. 

 

Jeff

[erniethemilk]

And what of the Elmar-C 90 f4?  Would it stack up against the other lenses mentioned here? 

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[wizard]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb erniethemilk:

And what of the Elmar-C 90 f4?  Would it stack up against the other lenses mentioned here? 

Very good lens, too. I own the Minolta copy, a Rokkor-M f4/90mm made for the Minolta CLE, which has the same optical construction as the Elmar-C, but different (improved) coatings. There is also an earlier M Rokkor 4/90 for the Minolta CL, which despite carrying the Minolta name was made by Leitz in Germany (an exact copy of the Elmar-C). All those lenses perform very similar to the later Elmarit-M 2.8/90mm (except for their lesser speed) and I would be very hard pressed to say, from viewing the results, whether one or the other lens was used. My Rokkor 90mm has a slight amount of vignetting at full aperture, which the Elmarit-M at the same aperture (f4) oviously does not have, since the latter lens is already stopped down somewhat at f4. Of course, the f4/90mm lenses are even more compact and lighter than the Elmarit-M 2.8/90mm.

[ianforber]

I’m in the same position as the OP but prioritise having a small lens, which leads to the current 90mm f4 Elmar. Given the ability to crop the point of view on a M11 with 60 MP, I’m not fussed about needing anything longer. I’d be happy to have a 75mm or 85 mm but can’t find one smaller than the collapsed Elmar. I’m still saving my pennies but if anyone can steer me towards alternatives that would be helpful.