Anyone tried the APO Lanthar 90/3.5 on m43?

[JonSchick]

I'm tempted to get this lens but not finding terribly much info on the web. I know there are faster Leica's that people love, but currently it is easy to pick up the Voigtlander for reasonable prices....

What is the experience using this lens on micro four thirds?

And what adapters do people use for Leica screw?

Cheers!

Jon

 

[Mort]

I've tried mine on the GF1 as I already owned one from using a Voigtlander Bessa R.
Apart from having to be quick focusing on live objects, or scale focusing I find the lens very sharp and working quite well.

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Test shot, then

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A 'live' test shot which turned out to be quite good really.

Adapters I use are a m to m4/3 adapter off Fleabay, and a Fotodiox l39 to m adapter I bought off Amazon and shipped from the USA.

If you use or have a leica type L39/M rangefinder already I'd say get the 90 lanthar, I personally wouldnt get one just to use on the GF1 as in my experience there would be more times it would be off the camera than on it.

Mark

 

[chasm]

Lovely rag-doll photo, v useful to have your opinion as it's a lens I've often wondered about too.

 

[Mort]

It's a jokey garden scarecrow ornament type thingy, but usually point a camera at it to test anything, including new kit, Its got great patterns and details.
But thanks for the comment anyhow.

The lens performs superbly even on black and white film. Being APO and a cheap lens to boot is quite a bargain if you have a rangefinder AND GF1.
Ive always had great results off this lens on film, especially when I used as a portrait lens.

Mark

 

[joele]

I thought long and hard apart that lens and liked it a lot (tried a friends) but ended up going for the Voigtlander 75mm f2.5 as it turned out to be slightly cheaper and offered something slightly faster to help handhold it (added to the slightly less focal length).. If I had an Oly body with IBIS I would probably go the 90mm though if it controls fringing better as it should (sometimes the 75/2.5 can show a fair bit of PF but only really in very harsh lighting)... Can be hard to manual focus on moving targets though, like my son helping with the washing..

Not the most artistic of shots but some examples I have which are on-line at the moment..

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[JonSchick]

Thanks for the answers all. Joel - I'd seen some of your images with this lens elsewhere, and currently they are going at a slight discount because they're discontinued.... Got to see both yesterday and I'm also veering towards the 75 now - the extra speed is part of the reason given that I'm also using Lumix bodies so have no IBIS.

Cheers,

Jon

 

[deirdre]

I'm dithering between a Leica-compatible 75mm and 90mm for my next lens.

In Leica mount, I now have 15, 28, 50, and 135.
In µ4/3, I have 20 and 45.

 

[JonSchick]

And I've just today shelled out on a secondhand 40/1.4 and new 75/2.5 Voigtlander..... Wish I could spend more time dithering - it's cheaper!