Advice on buying 90mm elmar

[malfaris]

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6 minutes ago, Pyrogallol said:

Those four are the same optics just ranging from the 1930's to the 50's. The 1950's ones are coated unlike the prewar lenses so should perform better. With all old lenses the condition of the glass, haze/ fungus etc makes the greatest difference in performance. The only difference between the two chrome ones is that for a short time around 1949 they made the "all chrome" version without the vulcanite band round it.

I have since traded in two of those four. The favourite is the"brass" one. It had lost most of its black paint so I polished and laquered it.

If you are looking to buy a screw fit lens I would get the most recent one you can find, without any haze or fungus. Then add a screw to M adaptor to use it on an M camera. Or if you want something more modern a Voigtlander 90mm in screw fit.

what about the versions that have M mount compared to the screw mount are they any better?  most of my cameras are M mount one one and have 3 screw mount already.

found one on Ebay that say all chrome and expensive didnt know why it says rare selling for 850$ now I know why . I bet the chrome is more heavy?

Edited June 17, 2024 by malfaris

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[Pyrogallol]

1 minute ago, malfaris said:

what about the versions that have M mount compared to the screw mount are they any better?  most of my cameras are M mount one one and have 3 screw mount already.

M mount lenses of the same model or vintage as the screw ones will be exactly the same, just with different mounts. After the M bayonet cameras came out in the 1950's you could buy the same lenses in screw or bayonet mount. But after the early 60's they stopped making screw cameras and then lenses and new designs of lenses that came out were only available in M bayonet mounts. Until Voigtlander started making modern lenses in Leica screw mount.  Any more modern lens should be better because of improvements in the design of the optics and less likely to have faults.

[malfaris]

4 minutes ago, Pyrogallol said:

M mount lenses of the same model or vintage as the screw ones will be exactly the same, just with different mounts. After the M bayonet cameras came out in the 1950's you could buy the same lenses in screw or bayonet mount. But after the early 60's they stopped making screw cameras and then lenses and new designs of lenses that came out were only available in M bayonet mounts. Until Voigtlander started making modern lenses in Leica screw mount.  Any more modern lens should be better because of improvements in the design of the optics and less likely to have faults.

Great information thanks a lot 

[spydrxx]

I thought you might be interested in how the LTM version renders. The color shot was on my digital - you can see the telephone lines 1800 ft away. The B&W shots were on expired plus-x film, and received a little contrast boost to match what I had seen in the forest the day I ran the test roll. 

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[earleygallery]

The 90 f4 is a lovely lens and also about the least expensive Leica lens you can buy.

Look for a nice example, they are about.

[malfaris]

2 hours ago, spydrxx said:

I thought you might be interested in how the LTM version renders. The color shot was on my digital - you can see the telephone lines 1800 ft away. The B&W shots were on expired plus-x film, and received a little contrast boost to match what I had seen in the forest the day I ran the test roll. 

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Very kind of you, nice details

[malfaris]

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52 minutes ago, earleygallery said:

The 90 f4 is a lovely lens and also about the least expensive Leica lens you can buy.

Look for a nice example, they are about.

Found some clean ones but they are 500+$

[a.noctilux]

13 hours ago, malfaris said:

500+$

Cheap in Leica world.

[lct]

Can be found for about 300$ on eBay at reputed dealers.

[lct]

AFAIK the latest black Elmar 90 is the Elmar-C 90/4 made for Leica film CL in the seventies. It is a fine lens the same size as the "thin" Tele-Elmarit 90/2.8 but it has a sloped focus cam and Leica did not advise it for use on M bodies. I never got the least focus issue with it TBH but it is just for info.

[TomB_tx]

5 minutes ago, lct said:

AFAIK the latest black Elmar 90 is the Elmar-C 90/4 made for Leica film CL in the seventies. It is a fine lens the same size as the "thin" Tele-Elmarit 90/2.8 but it has a sloped focus cam and Leica did not advise it for use on M bodies. I never got the least focus issue with it TBH but it is just for info.

My Elmar-C also focuses fine on all my M bodies. I think Leica's "warning" was marketing driven to push people to more expensive lenses.

[lct]

Or to push people towards buying C lenses for C bodies and M lenses for M bodies. At that time the Leica CL's rangefinder had a very short effective base length (18.90mm vs 50.60mm for M10/M11) so that the f/4 aperture has been preferred to f/2.8 for Elmarit and Tele-Elmarit.

[TomB_tx]

I also have a 1939 90 Elmar that was pretty hazed over with an almost frozen focus helicoid when it was given to me. Now (after clean & lube) it seems as sharp (resolution) as my later Elmars, but uncoated of course, so veiling flare pointed into the light - really needs a hood.

One of the M-mount 90 Elmars I have seemed to have clean optics, but had a bad blob of central veiling flare most of the time. I finally realized that the flat-black ribbed baffle tube that is a friction-fit into the long, empty barrel from the rear was missing, so it had reflections off the smooth black barrel, I slipped in the baffle from another Elmar and the flare went away. So I made a liner from flat black paper and fitted it, and it seems to work as well as the normal baffle. So if you try an Elmar and find the blob veiling flare, check the baffle in the rear of the barrel.

[lct]

Leica leaflet 120-5O/Engl:

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