UK Ebay has the above for sale. Seller says "made in the 1980s - not the super early Mk 1 version - now they only make the new super-expensive F2".

Has anyone any comments on this lens, please?

Many thanks.

-- James Harper (drjh@btinternet.com), February 27, 2002

Answers

>…now they only make the new super-expensive F2".

Where did that come from? The Elmarit is stil up on the Leica site!

-- Tim Franklin (tim_franklin@mac.com), February 27, 2002.

In the seller's description of Ebay UK item 1335209526.

-- James Harper (drjh@btinternet.com), February 27, 2002.

there are 4 versions of the 28 f/2.8 for the M - experts cut me some slack on the dates! This seller seems confused - "made in the 1980's" implies the THIRD version, not the second!!

Mk. I '64-'72. often has red/white numbers, very deep rear element- unusable on M5/CL except some very late ones may have had cam modified to protect M5 metering arm - but still won't meter on either body.

Mk. II '72-'80. First retrofocus design for M5/CL metering. Not terribly good by comparison to predecessors/successors - Leica was still learning how to do retros.

Mk. III '80-'89. Has really fat deep ring at front, occasionally with 'frankenstein' pins sticking out of top/bottom for bayonet lens shade. Very good lens, definitely better than real "MK 2". Possibly a little behind the 90's lens - if you have a 20x magnifier.

Mk. IV '90-present. Much more compact design to reduce intrusion into 28 viewfinder lines (which didn't exist when the previous version was designed.) Slight improvements/changes in color rendition, contrast, resolution ovver Mk 3/previous.

The Mk.4 2.8 is still made and available - this error combined with the confusion about the "Mk.2 in the 1980's" makes me think the seller talketh through his hat!

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), February 27, 2002.

Andy,

Many thanks. Good stuff!

-- James Harper (drjh@btinternet.com), February 28, 2002.

My 28mm Elmarit is the second version, the version with the poor reputation. However I use it all the time at low light at max aperture and until I read the poor reviews especially in Erwin's book I thought it an outstanding lens. It is a medium contrast lens with fresh neutral colors. It actually has that Zeiss look - sharp and soft at the same time. So based on the reviews I bought the latest 28mm Summicron ASPH but after a month or so didn't think it was an improvement worth $2000 so I sold it. The Summicron has much higher contrast and thus noticibly sharper but that is not what I want. I guess it is really based on individual taste so don't dismiss a Leica lens until after the 50th roll! By the way the sharpest wide open Leica mount lens I have ever used happens to be a VC Nokton but I like the Summilux more.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), March 11, 2002.