VARIO ELMAR R 21-35 ASPH.

Outdated wide-angle zoom

A review and Photo example of the VARIO-ELMAR-R 21-35mm F3.5-4 ASPH.

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Gallery

Sample photos taken with the Leica R8 +DMR(Digital Module R),LEICA M-P Typ240,LEICA SL typ601 and HASSELBLAD X2D.

1．Overview

The Vario-Elmar 21-35mm ASPH is a Leica R-mount wide-angle zoom lens.

Its main specifications are a lens configuration of 9 elements in 8 groups, aspherical lenses, a minimum shooting distance of 0.5m, and 6 aperture blades.

The lens I own has a ROM terminal, and with the Leica SL / CL (probably the same for the SL2 / SL2-S / SL3) I can communicate the focal length, aperture value, and shooting distance to the camera.

2．Usage

Wide-angle zoom lenses from the late 2010s have a starting focal length wider than 15mm and 16mm, so the 21mm specification seems outdated as a wide-angle lens. However, it is a lens that covers a valuable wide angle in the Leica R mount.

Lenses wider than this lens are 19mm or 15mm prime lenses, and the Super-Angulon R 21mm has not been updated to the latest model, so the image quality is disappointing, but this compact and lightweight lens is useful in a variety of shooting scenes.

The shortcoming of this lens is that the minimum shooting distance is 0.5m. I think it would be perfect if it could get as close as 0.3m, which is often used with a 35mm focal length, but sometimes I feel that the lens cannot go one step further. I often used this lens with the broken R8+ DMR (Digital Module R), and because of the 1.37x coefficient due to the sensor size of the DMR, it was useful as a standard 28mm-50mm lens.

The hood of this lens rotates and hooks onto the lens, and since the hood and the hooks are all made of plastic, it is easily damaged. I once dropped the hood from a table about 30cm down onto a tatami mat, damaging it. At the time, the hooks on the hood seemed to absorb all the impact of the fall, and the lens was safe, so perhaps this is all right. After that, I imported a new hood from America for a fair price. The store seemed to have several in stock, and I later thought that I should have bought more than one. The store had already sold out of this hood, so I couldn’t afford to damage my current hood.

3．Add info.

There are several zoom lenses with ROM connectors for Leica R, but as far as I know, the only lenses that can transmit three things like this lens (focal length, aperture value, and shooting distance) are the Vario-Elmar 80-200 (F4), Vario-Elmar 35-70 (F4), and this lens.

When I used the Vario-Elmar 105-280 (F4.8) and Vario Apo-Elmarit 70-180 (F2.8) with the LEICA SL typ601, the wide end of 105mm and 70mm were recorded in the exif regardless of the focal length.

When I got the Vario-Elmar 28-70, I didn’t have a LEICA SL series or CL body, so I don’t know, and I’ve never had the chance to get the Vario-Elmarit 28-90 or Vario-Elmarit 35-70, so I don’t know.

I found that this lens also cannot be used properly with the EOS-1DsMKIII, with Err20. As with the Elmarit R 19mm, Elmarit R 24mm, and Summilux R 35mm, the protruding rear lens seems to be caught by the sensor that indicates an abnormality on the camera side. The only wide-angle lens I have that I can use is the later model Elmarit R 28mm.

The digital medium-format cameras HASSELBLAD X2D and FUJIFILM GFX series have a 44mm x 33mm image circle covering focal lengths of 35mm (equivalent to 28mm at x0.8) and 28mm (equivalent to 22.4mm at x0.8). The 35mm focal length seems to be more usable in the periphery than the Summicron R 35mm. The wide end of 21mm causes vignetting at the corners and the periphery becomes quite soft, and it seems that the focal length of 21mm is the limit at which 21mm can be used as is, and it is clear that it is designed properly for the 35mm format.
It seems that the fact that focal lengths of 28mm and above have a wider image circle to cover 21mm has a positive effect.

Below are the results of shooting with the HASSELBLAD X2D at focal lengths of 21mm, 28mm, and 35mm, and at 21mm it is clear that the image circle is not large enough in the masked area.

Specification

Lens name	VARIO ELMAR	VARIO ELMAR	VARIO ELMAR
Focal length(mm)	21-35	35-70	80-200
Max aperture	3.5-4	4	4
Min aperture	22	22	22
Leaf blade	6	6	6
Lens Construction	9elements in 8groups	8elements in 7groups	12elements in 8groups
Min distance(m)	0.5	0.5 (0.26 macro)	1.1
Lens length(mm)	66.3	79	46
Max diameter(mm)	75	74	62.5
Filter Size(mm)	67	60	60
Weight(g)	500	505	1020
Lens hood	Plastic claw hood 12438	Screw hood 12437	Build in hood
Production number*1	3,400(Up to 2005)	8,680(Up to 2005)	14,350(Up to 2005)
Release date	2001-	1996-	1995-