Dan Kerin

Leica 90mm F/4 Elmar-C

Released in 1972 alongside the Leica CL, the Leica 90mm Elmar-C is a relatively compact short telephoto lens with a simple yet effective design. The Elmar-C can often be found for below £300 which is very cheap for a Leica lens. That’s because it’s technically not a Leica lens. As mentioned above this was released alongside the Leica CL which was a joint collaboration with Minolta. Essentially Leica allowed Minolta to use the rangefinder system and M mount in return for creating a set which Leica could re-brand and call their own. Remember this was not too long after Leica released the flop of a camera that was the M5, so at this point Leica needed all the money possible. Minolta made three lenses to go with the system. A 28mm, 40mm and the 90mm.

The lens is composed of 4 elements in 4 groups and having 10 aperture blades which can create some nice out of focus areas, especially good for portraits. Being an F/4 lens there are better ‘portrait’ lenses on the market but what makes this one appealing is its small size. Having a small lens which can give you a different look and not needing to worry about it taking up space or adding weight to your bag is always a plus.

 Having used a 135mm lens before I already knew using a longer focal length on a Leica would be unusual, but I was surprised at what a nice focal length 90mm is on the Leica M system. I started by using this lens on a Leica M4-P however due to the M4-P having framelines for 28mm the 90mm lines were quite small. This brought back memories of using the 135mm Tele-Elmar. While focusing was not an issue framing could be difficult. I then switched to using it on my M3 which it remained on for the rest of testing. The M3 has the highest magnification rangefinder of any Leica M and has the longest rangefinder base length meaning using the 90mm on the M3 was a joy.

While I doubt a 90mm will be joining my personal collection anytime soon I did very much enjoy using the lens. I found that the 90mm focal length paired with the 1-meter closest focus distance made this a great portrait lens, allowing me to get full head portraits without the need to crop. Sharpness is good and for a lens of its age I was surprised at the amount of contrast it had. Being an F/4 lens I knew I was not going to get any crazy out of focus areas but to my eye they are not what I would call pleasing. This being mentioned I don’t think you would buy this lens for the bokeh it produces, rather as a small, alternative travel lens.

These lenses can be found at low prices but as these are cheaper lenses they are not always looked after. At the time of writing this here at Analogue Cameras we have two of these lenses. This one being optically great however the other one was sent away to be cleaned as it was littered with fungus. Though this is an easy fix for most repairers factor the cost in when purchasing one. As for other options, in this price range there isn’t many. Voigtlander makes a 90mm F/2.8 which is one Voigtlander lens I have not used before but because its a F/2.8 it does come in at double the price and the Zeiss 85mm F/4 is around double as well. The only other lens I have used in this range would be the Canon 85mm F2 or F1.9. These lenses are great however though being the same price as the Leica 90mm Elmar-C these are much older lenses and wide open are no where near as sharp as the Leica.