Canon f1.9/85mm LTM

[01maciel]

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Although there are some photos of this lens in the forum and also some that have been taken with the lens, there are unfortunately too few to be able to assess the lens a little. Does anyone know what characteristics can be attributed to the lens on a digital body like M10?

[UliWer]

Wide open you should not exspect much overall contrast though sharpness can be astonishing:

The original all chrome version is a rather heavy lens, focussing is slow though this helps to be precise when you use it fully opened. 

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[Ecar]

Which version? According to Peter Kitchingman, there are 5 (he calls them "types" in his book). All are Gauss designs.

Indeed, the first 4 are brass'n'chrome heavy chunks of metal and glass with 20 (!) aperture blades IIRC. Mostly cosmetic changes from one version to another.

The last one (v5) is black, lighter (by about 200g - 400g vs 600g), slimmer, with *only* 12 blades and easier to focus - same look as the 85/1.8 and the 100/2 (both great lenses, btw).

I have v4 and v5. Not my most used lenses by far, but I must have posted a few pictures in the view through older glass thread.

The chrome ones are really beautiful and relatively cheap, the good black ones have become quite expensive lately. In my experience, finding an LTM->M adapter that plays nicely with any of them is a challenge due to the fact that focusing is achieved via a brass "finger cam" that may not be in the "right" position. Maybe I wasn't lucky, but all my copies needed adjustment, irrespective of the adapter.

Otherwise, both will produce excellent, sharp images with any digital body.  As may be expected, the v5 seems to show higher contrast than the v4 and appears a tad sharper wide open. But I haven't done side-by-side comparisons, so this is just an un-scientific impression.

Bottom line: if you want an inexpensive new toy (at the cost of weight/size and long focus throw), get a chrome one. At the current price levels, I'd actually get the 85/1.8 instead of the black 85/1.9. And if you are in the Sonnar camp, get a Nikkor 85/2 (ideally the lighter, all-black version if you can find one).

Hope this helps. 

[01maciel]

Thanks for all the details about the lens. I have the chrome version with 20 blades - or rather, I will receive the lens in the next few days. It is in the mail. It'll be a nice toy together with my M10 and S1R. I actually also have the Nikon Nikkor 85mm 1:1.8 with a Nikon-F bayonet, which is significantly lighter than the expected Canon lens and I also like the results very much.