Dan Kerin

 Leica 135mm F/2.8 Elmarit

Rangefinder cameras have always struggled with longer focal lengths, but in 1963 Leica released a lens that would try to fix this. The Leica 135mm F/2.8 Elmarit was first released in 1963 and then went through two additional updates one in 1964 and another in 1974. Optically it stayed the same, having 5 lenses in 3 groups this was not a very special or complicated lens but it was the addition of the magnifying goggles which made it especially useful. While not being one of the prettiest lenses, the goggles magnified the 135mm framelines allowing for more accurate focus. And being an f2.8 this was especially useful. The lens was made at a time when many professional photographers were still shooting Leica’s and I believe this was a last-ditch effort to try and stop them from switching to SLR’s entirely.

Having shot 135mm on a rangefinder before I understand the challenges of this and why many photojournalists opted for SLR’s when shooting longer focal lengths. For a rangefinder lens this is big and heavy but when compared to 135mm f2.8 SLR lenses its very similar in size and weight. When mounted on a Leica M you do feel the wight and I tended to hold the lens over the camera while walking around shooting with it. Having the added magnification did make a huge difference when shooting with the 135mm focal length and it reminded me of shooting with SLR’s as the magnification factor made the 135mm framelines fill the rangefinder.

I was using the version 3 lens, which was produced from 1976 until 1996. Version 2 and 3 lenses have a 55mm filter thread while the first version used the Leica series 7 filters. This came in handy as most of the black and white photos taken were using either an Orange or Red filter. I found this lens to perform as expected. I wasn’t hugely blown away with the performance but this lens does offer great value for money. One thing which I was amazed buy is the version I was using had some light pitting throughout the elements and a fairly large patch of separation towards the front (seen in the last photo of the lens at the top of the article). This just goes to show that even lenses with optical imperfections can still perform well. Generally, you can pick these up for the same price as the F/4 Tele-Elmarit lenses. I would say while yes this lens is larger and heavier than the F/4 Tele-Elmarit it is so much more usable in real world scenarios thanks to the added magnification the goggles gives. Overall it wasn’t a lens I was eager to go out shooting with as the 135mm focal length is very difficult to use on a rangefinder camera and doesn’t lend itself very well to my typical style of shooting.