I’ve not had much luck finding a sharp 90mm lens to go with my rangefinder – every one I have tried has ended up being soft or front focusing, so in desperation I changed my focus from fast lenses to something a bit slower, and picked up an old Elmar-C 90mm f/4 lens for 200 Euros from Fotohandel Delfshaven in Rotterdam.
Considering the cost of this lens is many magnitudes less than other more modern designs, I didn’t really have anything to lose, so I tried it out during a stroll around Rotterdam, and a business trip to Barcelona. 90mm is a nice focal length for people photography when you want to keep a bit of distance between the camera and the subject. With the diminutive size of the Elmar-C it is also very inconspicuous when in use.
I like the results that I can get from this lens. Although the contrast is a bit low straight out of camera, with a bit of post processing in Lightroom it is possible to get some quite punchy images as can be seen in the attached slideshow (click on the thumbnails for larger images, or click ‘show slideshow’ for smaller images)
All images taken with the Leica M-E, 90mm Elmar-C, in Rotterdam Delfhaven, and Place de Catalunya in Barcelona……
