Leitz Vario Elmar 70-210 f4

MF-addicted · Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 7:55 am Post subject: Leitz Vario Elmar 70-210 f4

Out of curiosity and due to low price I snapped on a Leitz Vario Elmar 4/70-210.
I got it for a little more than 100 Euro and can't wait until the lens comes in.
Then I will take some images to show.

It seems to be a copy of the Minolta built lens called BEERCAN.
Must be a solid performer:
http://www.dyxum.com/reviews/lenses/Minolta-AF-70-210-F4-_review48.html

Here some images that made me keen on getting this lens:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25126059@N02/3628828470/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/are-mean/5095370484/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/guilherme_netto/4964329634/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kdphotos/3589621709/

Seems to be a good bang for a buck. Very Happy

Anyone using this lens?
Any Information appreciated.

SVP · Expire: 2017-12-17

Used to have it in the past and was using it with my SL2 Leicaflex bodies.
A Minolta-built lens indeed, a stellar performer by any yardstick.

I still regret not keeping it when I sold my SL2s some six years ago (together with the 350/4.8 Telyt as well...).

Rolf · Expire: 2015-12-26

Congrats for your find. Normally the price will be double.

Many of the leica lenses and zooms were Minolta calculations. Have the predecessor (4,5/70-200 also a Minolta lens) nice to work with and results are ok.

Wink

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

I had teh beercan for a while when I used Sonys, and it's a nice sharp lens. CA can be a problem though (purple fringing specifically).

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I had the Minolta beercan for years, bought it secondhand in 1993 to go with a Minolta 7000 AF body.

Great lens, very sharp and contrasty and punchy colours, sadly sold mine a decade ago after the 7000 body broke.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

MF-addicted · Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 3:45 pm Post subject:

Thanks to all for the information about the lens.

I wanted to get a walkaround zoom for portraiture with Leica colours.
Although having 2 Contax zooms for sharpness, I like the Leica colours for taking pictures of people.

Will keep you informed when the lens comes in and I will show some pictures for sure. Very Happy

Rolf · Expire: 2015-12-26

koji · Expire: 2012-12-27

And

2.8/24
4.5/80-200

too are Minolta designed and made. But coatings are different than Minolta's.

3.5-4/21-35 is Sigma made,
2.8/15 ASPH is Schneider made,
3.4/21 is Schneider made,
PA Curtagon 4/35 is Schneider made,

and
Super zooms 2.8/70-180 and 2.8/35-70 are Leica designed of course,
but rumor says made in japan, the former was built by Kyoto Optics
under Kyocera at the production time. The later zoom is difficult to
identify where it was built, but most likely by Sigma. Of course these are rumors.

Rolf · Expire: 2015-12-26

And

Vario-Elmar-R 3.5-4.5/28-70 was also made by SIGMA

Wink

MF-addicted · Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 1:26 pm Post subject:

The beauty came in today - in a real mint condition Very Happy

Technical data:
- Push-pull zoom
- Aperture 4-22
- 7 blades
- Minimum focussing distance 1.1m
- Filter E60
- Weight 740g
- Min. lenght 158mm
- Made in Japan by Minolta
- Integrated hood
- Produced from 1983-1996

First impression:
- solid zoom
- suffers from zoom creep
- some slight CAs, but good manageable in PP
- sharp wide open
- very sharp at f 5.6-8
(nicely sharp for portraits, but not razor sharp like Zeiss)
- good colour rendition
- contrast little soft wide open, but great stopped down to f 5.6

A real good zoom for portraiture.

Will take some shots and show them here. Stay tuned.

MF-addicted · Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 12:59 pm Post subject:

Two out of cam shots EOS 5D at min. focussing distance 1.1m with 210mm

first @ f 4 wide open - see some vignetting and CA

second @ f 8 - vignetting gone - smooth background bokeh

Not one of the sharpest zoom lenses, but for sure one with a really beautiful colour rendering

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

I have the Beercan and its a good lens. To be honest, I think the reputation it has is overly kind, but still, a very good lens. Does suffer from CA. I tested it once against my Series 1 200mm and it wasn't nearly as sharp. The beercan zoom is all internal as the length does not change - and the zoom is rotational, not push-pull. The short end is actually 75mm if I remember correctly, which shows up on EXIF. AF works very well and fast, but not a factor for MF.

One should not consider buying the Minolta versions of these lenses a good buy for a Leitz, but rather paying more under the Leitz name too expensive for a Minolta lens.

Here's a couple from my beercan...

BRunner · Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 705 Location: Czech Republic

MF-addicted, colors look nice. I'm curious about pictures from outside.

Woodrim, the turtle looks really bloodthirsty Wink

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

torbod · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 379 Location: Sweden

The Beercan is a very good lens. Sometimes overrated, at least cost wise. But I often forget how good it is. It has lovely bokeh, great contrast and color saturation that in conjunction gives a nice depth/pop to the images. The sharpness is very good already from wide open. I even think edge sharpness outperforms my modern AF Tamron SP 2.8 tele zoom at f/4. I often find CA to be quite okay, but PF can be somewhat annoying wide open on shiny objects.

Just a random shot sample at f/4.5 (focus on the arm)

james · Expire: 2011-12-28

Rolf · Expire: 2015-12-26

james · Expire: 2011-12-28

Laurence · Expire: 2016-06-19

Not one of the sharpest zoom lenses, but for sure one with a really beautiful colour rendering

+1 on that! Beautiful.