90/4 Elmar [Archive] - Rangefinderforum.com

terrafirmanada

08-27-2006, 08:02

Yes, this is the lense that never seems to fail for me too. If I could handle having such a long lense on the camera at all times it would be the one. It is the only one I am sure that I will not get rid of.

xayraa33

08-27-2006, 15:42

those are very nice photos Daniel.
even the portrait of your daughter turned out very well, even with the haze in the lens.
did you find that the haze added any softness to the photo?
or did it just lower the contrast of the neg.?

Bill58

08-27-2006, 16:55

Why is this lens such a dog? A rare Leica mfg. / design defect or just unkind old age?

xayraa33

08-27-2006, 17:18

Why is this lens such a dog? A rare Leica mfg. / design defect or just unkind old age?

I do not think the 90/4 Elmar is or was a dog.
Leitz sold many of these and are really common,
the 50/3.5 Elmar was in the same position a few years ago,
but people recognized the wonderful compactness and high the quality of this lens and now it is very popular.
most of the lenses longer than 50mm are not as desired in the rf world as they are in the SLR kingdom for obvious reasons.

payasam

08-28-2006, 07:02

Rebecca 1 is a delight. What aperture? The two out of focus highlights just by the head are unfortunate.

kaptain pip

08-28-2006, 09:30

Wonderful shots!!!

dadsm3

08-28-2006, 13:20

My contribution.....I love my 90mm Elmar, "people friendly" is the best way to describe it.

wlewisiii

08-28-2006, 13:54

The 90/4 Elmar is a wonderful lens. I've got a nice old prewar uncoated one that is wonderful for color portraits. Just yummy. I have no doubt that you'll be getting many good shots with yours - the ones you've shown us already are wonderful.

Thanks & Good Light,

William

reagan

01-19-2007, 11:20

Good info, Daniel. Thanks.

Graybeard

01-19-2007, 11:34

After physically removing the fungus, glass lens components are often further cleaned with hydrogen peroxide to inhibit the fungus from returning.

peterm1

01-19-2007, 11:57

I really appreciate this little lens. It is cheap, small and light and what is more, its optical character gives an image which is reasonably sharp (certainly sharp enough for selected applications) but very low contrast. When I use it with black and white it gives an image that really has that 1930s look (even though mine is from the 1950s and is coated) and when used with colour film the bright vivid colour of modern emulsions suddenly takes on a wonderful pastel look. Lots of fun to use and experiment with. I have a lovely shot of sailing boats on a lake but it is humungous in size as I scanned it at high res. I will see if I can resize and post it as an example of this lens' work.

peterm1

01-19-2007, 12:46

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o251/peterm1_bucket/Scan20005web.jpg

Solinar

01-21-2007, 06:20

Why is this lens such a dog? A rare Leica mfg. / design defect or just unkind old age?

The 90/4 Elmar once it has been cleaned and lubed performs as well any Tessar.

I like the 90/4 Elmar because it fits nicely into my satchel

http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~yue/BritCar/TopHat2w.jpg

Solinar

01-21-2007, 06:25

Not as elegant, but this was the best I could do hand-held while visiting a local garage. The reason this lens may be so inexpensive today is when you run out of light, it's time to use a tripod.

http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~yue/BritCar/BigHealy1w.jpg

tmessenger

01-21-2007, 07:56

Another inexpensive 90 is the Elmar-C 90/4, very good performance and more modern coating.

charjohncarter

01-28-2007, 09:07

I bought a 90mm Elmar, but I didn't want it. I wanted the IMERECT (sp) finder that came with it. Now I use the finder as expected and use the 90mm Elmar much, much more than expected. I don't understand why people think this lens is garbage. For a portrait, I think it is very 'one of a kind.'

payasam

01-29-2007, 02:20

CJC, the finder's the IMARECT, for all practical purposes the same as the VIOOH that I have. I'm not surprised you find yourself hooked on the Elmar: he's that sort of chap.

Nothing the matter with the picture, Daniel, except that the timing is a bit off. There's always danger when the subject is likely at any time to speak. For a while I tried to circumvent this by jabbering away myself while taking pictures, but I ended up with portraits of irritated people.

kondak

01-29-2007, 02:47

I think the big advantage of this lens, it is the price and the size.
As well as quality of a portrait.

raid

01-29-2007, 08:16

I have several 85mm~90mm lenses, but my two old Elmar lenses are favorites of mine for portraits beside a window. The vintage character of the lens comes through strongly with color film and it is even more beautiful with B&W film. The small size of the lens makes it also very useful for candids, compared to using the huge 90/2 Summicron. I find more differences between my tele lenses [in character] than between my 50mm lenses. I just packed up one of my pre-war time Elmar lenses to get it re-shimmed as the focusing is off. I have a chrome one and a black one. They have different apertures clicks. One goes to f 32 and the other to f 36. Both seem to be coated even though black pre-war-time Elmars typically are uncoated.

The posted images in this trhread show how great a lens the Elmar is.

I still wonder which lens hood is appropriate for an Elmar.

Raid

payasam

01-30-2007, 00:32

Doesn't work, Daniel. The more interested they are in what you're saying, the more they want to respond. I thought of carrying a placard saying "MONOLOGUE -- JUST LISTEN", but then decided that I didn't want pictures of faces screwed up in concentration or falling apart from boredom.

For my Steinheil 85, Raid, I searched high and low for a push-on hood. I finally found one which is a perfect fit and only needed the inside painted. From the size of it, it's clearly meant for a normal lens -- but I console myself with the thought that any damn hood is better than no hood.

edodo

01-30-2007, 10:09

I think this hood is the one! http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=004&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=140077730465&rd=1&rd=1

I just bought an elmar too, it is the old one with detachabe head but in M mount. I can't wait to try it too seeing the wonderful portrait here. I would like to see color example though...

raid

01-30-2007, 17:27

edodo: Thanks. However, this lenshood costs EURO35 plus shipping. This could be half the cost of a users condition Elmar.

Raid

edodo

01-31-2007, 06:54

I thought the 20 euros was kind of a good price considering china ersatz are 15 euros including shipping! I do regret missing that bid...

markinlondon

01-31-2007, 07:00

The Leica part for the 90 f4 hood is 12575 or IUFOO. I got one for £20 but have a thin Tele-Elmarit I use it on too. Often I'll use a hood from my 50, not so effective but better than nothing.

raid

01-31-2007, 07:44

FPjohn

02-03-2007, 16:50

Hello:

A FIKUS hood for any A36 version of an Elmar.

yours
Frank

tom_f77

02-09-2007, 06:03

Nice results from all these 90s; I never really get on with them myself...

So I have a FIKUS shade - that's the one that fits the 5cm or 9cm elmars (and the 13.5 whatever) I don't need. Free to anyone who's already posted on this thread; anyone?

Tom

edodo

02-09-2007, 06:47

nice forum hey!

rbrooks

02-14-2007, 22:44

One thing I havent heard (I read this in an old William Mortensen book) mentioned in awhile is that years ago "proper" portrait photography called for sharp focus from nose all the way back to the ears. A 90mm f4 lens gets close to this. Of course it's all up to you and what you like as well. But for me I like the size and lighter weight of the Elmars (in particular the 1930s LTM rather than the M mount ones) rather than bulking around with the heavy f2.8s... Oh and FWIW I use a non-coated one with the FIKUS hood...

tom_f77

02-17-2007, 07:21

Excellent :)

Nice delicate highlights in the window light.

Glad it's going to be useful.

Tom

tom_f77

02-17-2007, 07:25

Also excellent. I never tried a 9cm elmar - just the t-e, but I did quite like the 5. I've never got past diafine either, due to laziness, but maybe it's time I mixed some xtol and branched out a bit.

Limpovitj

02-18-2007, 09:52

Heading for OT here, but did you buy that Diafine in Sweden? If so, where would that be?

Rogrund

03-29-2007, 23:26

I took out my 4/90 Elmar for a walk in the spring sun. Here are some of the results. I got the Elmar cheap and the front lens shows terrible coating wear, but I'm pleased with the pictures. However, I sure need a hood...

Rogrund

03-29-2007, 23:35

While talking about my crappy 4/90 Elmar, I noticed something at close distance with the lens wide open. The centre of the picture isn't as sharp as far left/right. You can see it clearly in the first book picture, the Moberg novel at the far left is sharp, as well as Harry Potter on the right, but James Joyce in the middle is far from sharp. Same thing with the second book picture, the Anglo-Saxon dictionary is sharp but not the Greek-English lexicon. However, the third picture (the roses), also wide open, is fairly sharp in centre.

Is this common for Elmars? I think mine is from 1956.

raid

03-29-2007, 23:39

This is a photo that I recently took with a 1946 coated Elmar;

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t261/raidamin/874715-R1-11-11A.jpg

raid

03-29-2007, 23:40

Here is another photo from the Bride Series.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t261/raidamin/874715-R1-10-10A.jpg

sircarl

03-29-2007, 23:51

I have a 90/4 Elmar LTM that was recently cleaned by Focal Point. Yet I notice that with shots taken at the highest apertures (f/32 and f/22, f/16 to some extent) there is a noticeable haze in the center of the picture. It's gone at wider apertures, and in fact I get excellent results from the lens then. I'm guessing this is some sort of diffraction effect. Glass seems pretty clear, as far as I can tell. Have other Elmar owners here experienced this?

Rogrund

03-30-2007, 05:01

[It could be that your scanner is focusing on one plane and that the film is curved as it passes through. That would leave the bulging part out of focus.]

Yes, you can very well be right. The scanning is made by the local lab, since I don't have the facilities (yet). On the other hand, it seems this is a close range problem only.

Yes, Liddell and Scott is number one when it comes to classical greek. I got it at the local flea market for 50 SEK. I actually bargained it down from 70 SEK. :p

tom_f77

04-17-2007, 03:02

Sure looks like it works; great!

gertjen

06-04-2007, 06:21

Love the look Daniel. Well worth the money I'd say.

I'm looking at a collapsible 9cm Elmar from the 50's, what is the 'look' of the collapsible as compared with the shots taken with non-collapsible 9cm elmars?

Gert

trittium

06-04-2007, 06:23

Here is a link to some photos I took with the collasible version

http://flickr.com/photos/trittium/sets/72157600057864000/

gertjen

06-04-2007, 23:24

Unfortunately the collapsible went while I was sleeping (it was on the big auction site)

Would the ones you're talking about in this thread be similar to this one?

http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/ProductDetail.aspx?groupsku=LS069990498640&brandcategoryname=35MM&Mode=searchproducts&item=10&ActivateTOC2=false&ID=&BC=LS&BCC=1&CC=6&CCC=2&BCL=&GBC=&GCC=&KW=

Do you think this is a fair asking price, or could it be had cheaper? I'm inclined to go with KEH due to their return policy.

Tom Harrell

06-11-2007, 03:02

Nice shot Daniel! Where was it taken? What kind of film?

Regards,
Tom

gertf

06-11-2007, 06:50

Great shot.

Thanks for all the information!

vrgard

06-12-2007, 10:49

Yeah, Daniel, that's a very nice shot. And I like the formality of the hat juxtaposed with him being barefoot.

-Randy

Nando

06-18-2007, 19:29

Here's the first roll with my recently acquired 90/4 collapsible Elmar. (second shot is with a Summitar)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fgsemedo/sets/72157600333024728/show/

themaxou

07-20-2007, 13:07

Following this thread, I bought an Elmar 9cm and I have just received it this afternoon. I have found one near mint :o dated 1956. I will test it during my holidays :D All the shots in this thread convince me to buy one. Thanks for all the information ;)

BNF

02-14-2008, 13:31

Why is it so difficult to find one of these with clean glass?

I've found plenty, but most are a bit foggy. If a reputable dealer offers to clean the fog, is it then reasonable to expect "like new (for a 50 yr old lens)" glass?

Mr_Flibble

02-21-2008, 03:36

I bought mine as "UG" from KEH, and it's fine (except for the paintjob). It's from 1937 and has been coated.

It's my favorite portrait lens at the moment....I've posted these pictures before in various topics on this forum I think...

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg143/albums/userpics/10001/ch070932.jpg
http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg143/albums/userpics/10001/Fort10.jpg
http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg143/albums/userpics/10001/ta070807.jpg

uwe zankl

02-21-2008, 11:37

Hi Rick

Very nice pics and models:)...I have just bought a 9cm Elmar myself, with something hanging off the back.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y187/anj4de/db60_1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y187/anj4de/da07_1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y187/anj4de/dc3c_1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y187/anj4de/dcbb_1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y187/anj4de/dd96_1.jpg

For 200$ you can't go wrong. This is now Leica No.4, I meanwhile bought a II in relic condition to work on...I have to know how it works inside.

My correspondant set is getting there slowly, I also have a 13,5cm Hektor and the IIIa now has a better Summar lens, all I need now is a nice 3,5cm and a finder, a black/brass VIDOM would be nice.

cheers
Uwe

Mr_Flibble

02-21-2008, 23:27

You've turned into a real Leica junky :D
Looks like another winner.

I like the look of the VIDOM (I have a black one as well, from KEH), but with a 135mm Hektor mounted be prepared to squint a lot at the microscopic viewfinder-window.
You can still get 3,5cm Elmar lenses at bargain prices through Ebay sometimes. I still need a bakelite container for one to finish my collection.

Luddite Frank

02-23-2008, 07:47

Regarding "proper" hood(s) for the Elmar 90...

I would love to have a FIKUS ( the telescoping convertible Leitz hood), but I haven't found an affordable one yet.

In the meantime, I (mistakenly) purchased an IUFOO, for the 1950's & later lenses the have a groove on the front mount. It sort of stays-on with my 1951 Hektor 135, but could easily be knocked/blown-off.

This fall, I bought a cast hood from "Heavystar" for $9.95, which has an E-39 thread, and I screw that to the Leitz A-36 to E-39 filter adapter. This allows me to use the inexpensive hood on all my 90 & 135 mm lenses.

I also use the filter adapter to allow me to mount the "Summicron" barndoor hood on my 50 mm Summars & Elmar.

I took some shots in early December with my early '50s LTM Elmar 90, and am quite pleased with it... haven't tried any portaiture yet...

I think the only long-running issue with the Elmar 90 as a portrait lens is its slow speed... if you're trying to shoot portraiture in lowlight, hand-held, then Summarex 85 is more useful (and expensive! ).

I'm keeping my eyes open for a Thambar....

Luddite Frank

Mr_Flibble

02-23-2008, 08:15

Can't remember what I paid for my FIKUS. I did use it today taking pictures of some wildlife with my HEKTOR in the garden.

BNF

02-23-2008, 08:26

Is there something wrong with this thread - and only this thread?

It shows c84 replies on the LTM forum screen, but I only see 56 including this one I am making.

It also shows 4 pages of replies, but I cannot access page 4 - it is simply a repeat of page 3.

Rogrund

02-23-2008, 08:30