LEICA APO VARIO ELAMR TL 55-135

Review and Photo example of the APO VARIO ELAMR TL 55-135mm F3.5-4.5.

Gallery

Sample photo taken with the LEICA T typ701.

Review

Apo Vario Elmar TL 55-135mm F3.5-4.5 is a zoom lens that covers a focal length of 80mm to 200mm in 35mm format. The lens length is the shortest at 55mm at the wide-angle end, and the 43mm lens lengthens at 135mm at the telephoto end. This is the longest focal length lens in the Leica APS-C line.

F3.5 at the wide-angle end of 55mm is barely acceptable, but the F-number at the telephoto end of 135mm is F4.5, which is a dark lens, so I suffered from camera shake when using slow shutter speeds.

When I took the camera out to take photos of the autumn leaves at Kuwayama Shrine in Kyoto, I had to contend with camera shake and subject blur while shooting from dusk to night. In particular, with a Leica T that does not have an EVF attached, you will be looking at the rear LCD screen while taking pictures, so holding it with just your arm is likely to produce a lot of blurry photos, which is dangerous. In addition, the results of the shots looked fine when viewed on the rear LCD screen, but there were some photos that were a little blurry when viewed on a PC monitor.

An APS-C body with in-body image stabilization is desired, but since the Leica TL/CL series has already been discontinued, future prospects are bleak. This is also a problem with the camera body, but as long as I used it with the LEICA T, the art focus (hereinafter referred to as AF) focusing speed was slow, and the focusing accuracy was not that good.
The AF performance of this lens was a good match with the Apo Macro Elmarito 60mm.
My personal experience with AF speed is as follows: The higher the AF speed, the faster the AF speed will be.

ELMARIT-TL 18mm =SUMMILUX-TL 23mm
SUMMILUX-TL 35mm
APO MACRO ELMARIT 60mm= APO-VARIO-ELAMR-TL 55-135

The image has a good resolution compared to a zoom lens, and the 135mm lens can produce a fair amount of blur. Although it is called an APO lens, I think it is worth the price because it does not cause false colors on leaves etc. I think it would have been a more practical lens if it were F2.8-F3.5 or F3.5.

Product images are taken from the official page.

Specification

LEICA T/TL Zoom lens Variations

Lens name	SUPER VARIO ELMAR	VARIO ELMAR	APO VARIO ELMAR
Focal length(mm)	11-23	18-56	55-135
35mm equivalent focal length	16.5-34.5	27-84	82.5-202.5
Max aperture	3.5-4.5	3.5-5.6	3.5-4.5
Min aperture	16	16	16
Lens Construction	14elements 10group	10elements 7group	12elements 10group
Min distance(m)	0.2〜 (11〜23)	0.3〜0.45 (18〜56)	1.0〜 (55〜135)
Lens length(mm)	77〜92	60〜80	110〜153
Lens diameter(mm)	73	63	68
Filter Size(mm)	E67(67mm)	E52(52mm)	E60(60mm)
Weight(g)	386 (Lens only)	256 (Lens only)	500 (Lens only)
Release date	2015.3.1	2014.4	2015.3.1
List Price(Yen)	230,000-	200,000−	230,000-

Reference links

LEICA lens official page

Update history

2024.07.01
2024.03.06
2022.11.25

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