Leica Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8

My usage for Elmarit 90mm

Leica Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 is short tele and about focal length I tend to use most often. However after purchasing Canon EF85mm f/1.2 L USM mk2 and Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 I have very little use for this lens. For travelling this is still valid option since it's so small size and decent weight compared to 85L and CZ 100/2.

Image quality

Sharpness

On close-ups the performance is not as good as with Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100. On longer focus distances the performance is very good.

Bokeh

Bokeh is very Leica-like, quite smooth and natural. I have never seen CA in bokeh (which is most biggest problem with 85L. Bokeh highlights are round and pretty smooth. Compared to the Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 there is less bokeh meaning that the depth of fields is larger in Leica at similar apertures.

Colors

Colors are very good as generally with Leicas.

Build quality and basics

Lens body is made of metal and there is no wobbling or anything else strange. Build quality is excellent.

Lens is very compact size: Length XXmm (with Leica-R adapter and EOS lens cap), diameter XXmm and distance from EOS mount with adapter. Weight with Leica-R adapter and Canon EOS lens cap is XXXg, and the lens itself weights XXXg. Lenses minimum focusing distance is 0.XXm. Lenses minimum aperture is f/XX. Lens has X aperture blades.

Lens has integrated hood, which can be pulled from the lens. It extends about XXmm. Hood is pretty efficient considering that front element is quite deep inside the lens.

Handling

Manual focus feeling is very good, there is just about correct amount of resistance. Focusing from minimum distance to maximum distance takes about XXX degrees.

Lens also has proper depth of field scale. However on digital cameras I would recommend 2-3 stop larger aperture scale since the circle of confusion is smaller these days when digital SLRs enable much larger print sizes than film cameras, making the depth of field therefore narrower.

Summary

Pros

+ Smooth bokeh even on distracting backgrounds
+ Pretty compact size
+ Excellent build quality

Cons

- "only" f/2.8, well it's not this lens fault, there are Summicron and APO versions...
- Not very sharp at close-ups

See photos in my picturebank taken with this lens.

Pictures of lens

Integrated hood

Lens has integrated hood, which can be pulled from the lens. It extends about 11mm. Hood is pretty efficient considering that front element is quite deep inside the lens.

On the left side: Lens when hood is not extended
On the right side: Lens when hood is extended

Depth of field scale

Elmarit 90mm has pretty good depth of field scale. However on digital cameras I would recommend one stop higher value since the circle of confusion is smaller these days when digital SLRs enable much larger print sizes than film cameras.

On the left side: Focused to infinity
On the right side: Focused to minimum focus distance