LEICA ELMAR M 90mm F4 (Triplet)
A simple three-glass medium telephoto lens
A review and Photo example of the LEICA ELMAR M 90mm F4 (Triplet).
Table of contents
Gallery
- The sample photo were taken with the LEICA M9
Review
1．Overview
The Triplet Elmar 90mm was an M-mount 90mm telephoto lens that was only produced for three years, from 1962 to 1965.
The lens is a triplet format with three elements in three groups, and the minimum shooting distance is one meter.
The lens can be separated into the lens section and the helicoid section.
2．Usage
This lens has a simple structure of three elements in three groups. This change is thought to be due to the fact that the early Elmar 90mm had four elements in three groups, but advances in glass materials and lens coatings made the laminated lens in the rear group unnecessary.
It is difficult to use a 90mm with a rangefinder camera, so I removed the lens from the M-mount helicoid and attached the lens body to a VISOFLEX III via a VISO helicoid ring, “OUAGO” (16467, 16467N), and used it in SLR format.
The VISOFLEX mentioned here is not the external electronic viewfinder (EVF) for the Leica M typ240, M10, and M11, but the mirror box system that turns Leica rangefinder cameras into SLRs.
In order to mount an Elmar 90mm lens on the Visoflex 2 and Visoflex 3, you need an “OUAGO,” which should be compatible with both the regular Elmar 90mm and this Triplet Elmar 90mm.
However, when I bought the Triplet Elmar at Camera City, I also looked for an “OUAGO,” and after checking the installation at several stores, I found that there were “OUAGOs” that could be mounted with the Triplet Elmar and “OUAGOs” that could not, and I remember going around Camera City stores looking for an “OUAGO” that could be mounted and had a smooth helicoid.
If I had purchased it online and it didn’t fit, it would have been difficult to explain the exchange and return process, so I’m really glad that I was able to search in a place with so many physical stores.
The feel of using it with the Visoflex 3 (III) and Leica M9 was excellent, and focusing the 90mm was very easy.
It is said to have better clarity because it has fewer elements than a regular Elmar, but 90mm lenses are not that far off no matter which manufacturer makes them, and I didn’t feel that the image quality was significantly different from the CONTAX G 90mm that I had been using before, so I used this lens for a little while and then sold it.
3．Add info.
Nearly 10,000 units were produced, but perhaps because the production period was short, only three years, they are being sold at a premium price of three to four times that of the regular Elmar M 90mm. It is questionable whether they are worth the price once you have used them.
Specification
| Items | Elamar(Triplet) | Elmar | Elmarit | Summicron |
| Focal length(mm) | 90 | ← | ← | ← |
| Max aperture | 4 | ← | 2.8 | 2 |
| Min aperture | 32 | ← | 22 | 16 |
| Leaf blade | – | – | – | – |
| Lens Construction | 3elements in 3groups | 4elements in 3groups | 5elements in 3groups | 6elements in 5groups |
| Min distance(m) | 1.0 | ← | ← | ← |
| Lens length(mm) | – | – | – | – |
| Max diameter(mm) | – | – | – | – |
| Filter Size | E39 | ← | ← | E49 |
| Hood | IUFOO | ← | ← | Build in hood |
| Mount | M | ← | ← | ← |
| Weight(g) | 300 | – | 330 | 685 |
| Production numbers | 9,400- | 79,605- | 43,290 | 5,430 |
| Release date | 1962 | 1954 | 1958 | 1963 |
参考文献・参考リンク
- Leica Wiki ELMAR 90mm F4
- It describes the specifications and the differences between the specifications, and there is no mention of lens description.
- A lens configuration diagram is included in the appendix.
- Leica lenses around the world Part 1 (Shashin Kogyosha)
- Triplet Elmer has a review by Jiro Nozaki on page 86
Update history
- 2024.05.02
Affiliate links
- Amazon Affiliate Link Leica Lens
- Amazon Affiliate Link Leica Books
- Amazon Affiliate Link / Classic Camera Specialty
