VARIO ELMAR R 35-70 F3.5

Leica R Standard Zoom Lens

A review and photo examples of the LEICA VARIO ELMAR R 35-70mm F3.5.

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Gallery

ESO 1Ds MKIII

Review

Overview
Usage
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1．Overview

The Vario-Elmar 35-70 F3.5 is a 2x zoom lens for Leica R that is made in both Japan and Germany.
The original optical system is said to be the Minolta MD 35-70 F3.5 zoom (1978).

About 31,000 units were made, so a considerable amount is available on the market.

The minimum shooting distance is 1m at all focal lengths, and the aperture has six blades.

The models manufactured from 1982 to 1985, when the lens was first released, have a filter diameter of 60mm and are made in Japan (MADE IN JAPAN), while the models manufactured from 1986 to 1997 have a filter diameter of 67mm and are ELW (Ernst Leitz Wetzlar / MADE IN GERMANY). Since there is no information that the design was changed after production was moved to Germany, it is believed that the lens was manufactured with the same optical system designed by Minolta.

2．Usage

Looking at the results, for an old zoom lens, 10 megapixels is sufficient resolution, and the foreground and background bokeh is not bad either, making it a usable lens.

The lens is not an inner zoom or inner focus lens, but the length of the lens barrel changes depending on the focal length and focus position, with the barrel being shortest at 70mm and longest at 35mm.
At 35mm, the front part of the lens protrudes along with the barrel, creating a large constriction in the center of the lens. Because there is a focus ring at the front of the lens, the position of the focus ring is different between 35mm and 70mm, making focus operation difficult.

Because there is no protrusion of the rear lens, the lens could be used with the EOS-1Ds MK-III without interfering with the body’s sensor.

3．Add info.

Modern inexpensive zoom lenses have fixed focus and zoom ring positions, and only the lens barrel containing the glass protrudes. High-end lenses have an inner focus/inner zoom design, where the lens moves only inside the lens barrel.

R-type zoom lenses use a lot of Japanese technology, and the successor to this lens, the Vario-Elmar 35-70/F4, is said to be manufactured by Kyocera.

I also owned this lens for a while, but it has evolved into a convenient zoom lens in that it can get close to the subject in macro mode.

Specification

Item	Value	note
focal length(mm)	35-70
Maximum aperture	3.5
Minimum aperture	22
Lens configuration	7groups 8elements
Leaf blade	6
Minimum distance(m)	1.0
Lens length(mm)	64.5	Distance form mount frange
Lens max diameter(mm)	72
Filter diameter(mm)	67(New-ver)	60mm(Old-ver)
Weight(g)	450
Release date	Year 1982	Product end y1997