MACRO-ELMAR-M 4/90

This is a record of using the MACRO-ELMAR-M 90mm/F4 (LEICA) with a digital and film camera.

Table of contents

Gallery
Impression
Specification
Reference links

Gallery
LEICA MACRO-ELMAR-M 90mm/F4 Photo example

Impression
The lens itself has a focal length of 90mm, a modest maximum aperture of F4, and a simple 4-element, 4-group lens construction that produces crisp, distortion-free images at maximum aperture. All examples were taken with the aperture fully open.
The Macro Elmar 90mm is a lens that can be satisfying on its own, but it is also a lens that should be owned as a set with a macro adapter.
When using the macro adapter to take close-up pictures, you can obtain sufficient bokeh at the maximum aperture of F4 and take advantage of the 90mm focal length to get close-up shots of the subject.

However, for a 90mm medium telephoto lens, the maximum aperture is a little low at f/4, so if you are not careful when shooting, you will end up with a lot of shaky pictures. Naturally, it is necessary to hold the camera firmly while shooting. In the case of a digital camera, it is only natural that this problem can be solved by raising the ISO sensitivity and increasing the shutter speed.

The macro adapter I owned was an adapter with glasses called “MACRO-ADAPTER-M 14409 *eyes” version, which allows macro photography with rangefinder M cameras, including film cameras.

The “MACRO-ADAPTER-M 14409 *eyes” version” is less practical because the closer you get to the subject, the greater the difference (parallax/parallax) between the viewfinder’s appearance and the results of the shot due to the positional relationship between the viewfinder and the lens, but with a digital camera, you can check the result with a preview However, with a digital camera, it is possible to get the result as you imagined by checking the preview while shooting.
This is not the case with film cameras. I used this lens only once with M6-TTL filled with 36-shot film, but used the macro adapter for only a few shots.

Specification
The Macro Elmar 90mm is the only M-mount lens with a “macro” name (the DR-SUMMICRON, which allows close-up photography with glasses attached, is called a “dual-range” lens and not a “macro” lens). The MACRO-ADAPTER is a set of a lens and an adapter designed to realize macro photography with a rangefinder camera.
The “MACRO-ADAPTER-M 14409 *eyes” version allows macro photography with all MACRO-ELMAR-M Leica cameras including film cameras.

When mounting a lens on the macro adapter, rotate the lens 180° circumferentially.
The MACRO-ELMAR-90mm has a depth memory and focus range for normal use stamped on the front of the lens (the side that comes to the top when the lens is mounted on the camera without the macro adapter), and a depth memory and focus range for use with the macro adapter on the reverse side of the lens. This lens is unique in that it has engravings on both sides of the lens barrel, whereas ordinary lenses have only the country of manufacture noted on the back of the lens barrel.

As a successor to this product, the “14652 “universal” version” with the glasses removed has been released, but this is only for EVF use and is just an extension ring.

The lens exteriors are available in black and silver for lenses manufactured between 2003 and 2013. Macro adapters are only available in black, and silver lenses also use black adapters; after 2014, they are only available in black and have been replaced by a model called the Big Top, which has a larger diameter aperture ring.

Item	Value	note
focal length(mm)	90
Maximum aperture	4
Minimum aperture	22
Lens configuration	4 elements 4groups
Shooting range(m)	∞〜0.77	Camera distance meter linked to all areas
Shooting range with Macro-adapter	0.76〜0.5	Camera distance meter linked to all areas
Lens length(mm)	59	41mm when the lens is sunken
Lens max diameter(mm)	52
Filter diameter(mm)	39
Weight(g)	230(Black-color)	320(Silver-color)
Macro-adapter weight(g)	96