Elmarit-R 2.8/35

timo832000 · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 545 Location: Germany / Cologne

After owning a very early version of this lens, infact the first retro focus lens Leitz ever designed, I managed to aquire an Elmarit-R 2.8/35 version II. Produced between 1973 and 1979, this lens shares the same optics as the later version which was produced for another 20 years.
On Sunday I gave it a first try on my A7ii.

Local observation tower, from underneath and the view on top:

#1

#2

#3

This lens shows an interesting performance profile. Wide open sharpness and contrast are already top notch on 2/3 of the image circle with sharpness and contrast becoming vastly reduced further outside. From F5.6 it is sharp from edge to edge, sharp corners on the A7ii are reached @ F8.
I can´t wait for testing this lens on a high res b/w film.
At all its one of the best if not the best vintage wide-angle lens I have tested so far.

Best regards

Timo