Leica Leica 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit (goggles)

asiafish

All-Pro
Location
Bakersfield, CA
Name
Andrew
I was at the Leica Store in San Francisco last week and bought one of these in like-new condition at a very low price. It's a strang beast, but actually easier to focus than I expected, though without the benefit of viewing what is going on outside of the frame, kind of like an SLR almost, but with a small, distorted finder with poor frame accuracy.

Has anyone here used this lens extensively? 135mm has long been a favorite focal length of mine for portraits and way back in the mid 1980s was the first accessory lens I bought for my Minolta SRT200 (a K-Mart Focal 135/2.8 made by Kiron, excellent lens) to supplement the 45/2 Rokkor that came with it.

I've recently gotten back into 135mm with a Zeiss APO Sonnar for my Canon system, but I greatly prefer the Leica CCD rendering to the Canon CMOS, and of course I just like using Leicas more.

I'd love to hear from someone who has used this lens, what its strengths and weaknesses are and any advice for its use in the field.
 
It is an excellent lens. I even used it for basketball games handheld.


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It's very good- I use it wide-open. You must be very careful to keep your eye centered on the RF patch, viewing at an angle can throw things off.

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Spring 2015 by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

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Spring 2015 by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

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135/2.8 Tele-Elmarit on the Leica M8 by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

On the Leica M8- like having a Nikkor 180/2.8.
 
The second to last shot was (I thought) focused on the gentleman's eye. I took ten or twelve shots of people in the store and most were out-of-focus. I also shot some very easy subjects, like the license plate on my car at near distance and the results were also slightly out-of-focus.

I will play with it more.
 
I use both the Elmarit and the APO F/3.4

The Elmarit is the most underrated M lens I can think of. LOL, it's a really superb 135, in every respect, except form factor.

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Yum
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Snow Removal
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For overall yummy character, it's the best 135 I've ever seen. I have 10 135s of many descriptions.

It's not well thought of for several reasons. 135 has fallen out of favor with the RF crowd in general, this lens is pretty big, and it's also very hard to CLA, like the 75 Lux, it must be cooked to disassemble (or so I read), so it's best to find a very clean one. The googles also may need adjustment.
 
I think my lens may be front-focusing at distance. All shots wide-open on the M-E.

For this selfie, I focused on the serial number on the lens. This one looks good to me.

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by Andrew F, on Flickr


Here the focus is on the round bolt head in the center of the frame. Focus looks great on the fence post, but looks soft on the bolt head.

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by Andrew F, on Flickr


Focus is on the round drain hole in the curb, which looks soft, while the street slightly in front of the drain looks sharp.

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by Andrew F, on Flickr


Focus on the letter G in Parking. Looks decent, but the dirt in front of the sign looks sharper.

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by Andrew F, on Flickr


Focus on the girl. The dirt on the ground slightly closer to the camera looks sharper.

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by Andrew F, on Flickr
 
Decided to return it, just too hard to focus especially as I hate tripods. Picked up a very clean 90mm f/2 Summicron (pre-ASPH) instead, chrome on brass, very heavy, very nice and easily focused handheld with no weirdness from the goggles.
 
I have this lens too. I used to have 2 different versions, the older one has a better focus tap. Can't get used to weight and the focal length, still something is keeping me from selling the one I still have.
 
I bought my 135/2.8 over 20 years ago - it was secondhand and from the external condition, it had seen some action, though optically it was (and is) fine, which is what matters (to me anyway - I like a lens that's seen things!).

It doesn't get used all that often - as others have said, it's a bit of a lump, at least by M standards, but when it does come out, it acquits itself well. I've attached a couple of pics it and my M240 produced at last year's Silverstone Classic meeting (my aged back was complaining about the previous day cargo of D810 plus large lumps of glass and demanded a lighter alternative). Of course a 135 is quite short for this sort of thing but then again, including more scene-setting background than usual isn't always a bad thing.
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