{"id":15592,"date":"2016-10-14T20:59:31","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T19:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/?p=15592"},"modified":"2024-04-21T14:35:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T13:35:32","slug":"leica-r-mount-lenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/leica-r-mount-lenses\/","title":{"rendered":"Leica R mount lenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some time ago I had the chance to put several older Leica lenses to the test, here are the results.<\/p>\n

I have never actually used any of these lenses, I just had them for a couple of minutes to shoot a test series.<\/p>\n

I only had one copy per lens so my results might not be representative for other lenses,<\/p>\n

Leitz Super-Angulon-R 1:4\/21\"SuperAngulon21\"<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Typical performance for UWA lens of it’s era.<\/p>\n

The center is very good from f\/4, midframe is okayish and the corners are soft.<\/p>\n

Stopped down to f\/11\u00a0even the corners are\u00a0sharp but not very much so. CA is controllled quite well.<\/p>\n

My Canon nFD 2.8\/20 is\u00a0a better performer for a whole \u00a0lot less money, but there are many other legacy lenses in the 20\/21mm range which have worse corners.<\/p>\n

Test<\/a><\/p>\n

Leitz Wetzlar Elmarit-R \u00a01:2.8\/28\"Elmarit28\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

A pretty unremarkable performance, my 20 bucks Minolta MD 2.8\/28 is slightly better.
\nAt f\/2.8 the center is a lillte soft, the midframe is noticeably worse and the corners are pretty bad.
\nIt takes f\/11\u00a0for the corners to sharpen up to very good levels.<\/p>\n

Test<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Leitz Summicron-R 1:2\/50\"Summicron50\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n

This lens showed an interesting performance pattern.<\/p>\n

At f\/2 the center is only ok, \u00a0my other lenses like the Minolta MC 1.4\/50 or Canon nFD 1.4\/50 are noticeably sharper in the center at f\/2. What is remarkable is that the corners are the best I have seen in any legacy 50mm lens at f\/2.<\/p>\n

At f\/2.8 the center sharpens up a lot\u00a0to excellent levels.<\/p>\n

By f\/4 the lens shows very good sharpness from corner to corner which is a stop earlier than I would expect from my Canons or Minoltas.<\/p>\n

At F\/5.6 it is excellent from corner to corner.<\/p>\n

I think this is an excellent landscape lens \u00a0but for general purposes I would prefer other lenses because of the under performing center at f\/2. My analysis is based on the analysis of these infinity shot so my conclusion might be a different one if I would use it for actual shooting.<\/p>\n

Test<\/a><\/p>\n

Leitz Tele-Elmarit-M 1:2.8\/90\"Elmarit90\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n

This is a very small lens with very good performance in the center and midframe from f\/2.8 with a hint of purple fringing. The corners at f\/2.8 are soft.<\/p>\n

At f\/4 the center\u00a0improves to excellent levels, the other regions don#t see much improvement.<\/p>\n

By f\/11 the corners have reached a good level.<\/p>\n

I think this lens will work quite well as a very compact portrait lens but for serious landscape work I would leave it at home.<\/p>\n

Test<\/a><\/p>\n

Leitz APO-Telyt-R 1:3.4\/180\"telyt180apo\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n

Writing about a lens is always easier when there are no defects to describe.<\/p>\n

The lens shows excellent sharpness from f\/3.4 corner to corner with only the smallest hint of CA in the corners.<\/p>\n

Test<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h1>\n

Based on these results I don’t get all the fuss about Leica lenses.<\/p>\n

Sure, all lenses had a very nice finish, nicer than that of other manufacturers .<\/p>\n

But if I look at the performance<\/strong> it is pretty similar to that of other lenses of the same era<\/strong>. The only lens which stood out was the 3.4\/180 APO but I would suspect that a Nikon 2.8\/180 ED AI-S isn’t any worse.<\/p>\n

Of course there\u00a0are other very important aspects about lenses which I couldn’t experience like bokeh, color and contrast or handling etc. but I would be surprised if these lenses performed that much better in these aspects than other lenses.<\/p>\n

From what I have read and seen the more modern lenses from the 90’s and later are in fact often better than\u00a0the designs of other manufacturers, but that’s not the case here.<\/p>\n

\n

This site contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using any of the links marked as affiliate links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps support the creation of future content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some time ago I had the chance to put several older Leica lenses to the test, here are the results. I have never actually used any of these lenses, I just had them for a couple of minutes to shoot a test series. I only had one copy per lens so my results might not … Continue reading Leica R mount lenses<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLeica R mount lenses - phillipreeve.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/leica-r-mount-lenses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leica R mount lenses - phillipreeve.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some time ago I had the chance to put several older Leica lenses to the test, here are the results. 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