Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH. Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2024
- In this video, I review the Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH. It is Leica's smallest M-mount lens, weighs only 175g and currently costs 2.100 Euro (early 2019). Optically, it is incredibly sharp across the entire frame, offers great contrast, hardly any vignetting, a surprisingly nice bokeh and ghosts, flare or coma are not a problem at all.
I've tested this lens extensively in the last couple of months and summarized my findings here.
Gear used:
Leica M6
Leica Elmarit-M 28mm ASPH.
Films used:
Ilford Delta 400
Ilford HP5+
Kodak Portra 400
Scan & Dev:
www.meinfilmlab.de
If you'd like to get in touch or see some early behind the scenes footage, find me on Instagram: / analog_insights
WOW that is sharp, I thought those b&w museum shots were taken on an M10 at first. Incredible... What a beautiful lens
thanks for a great review Max. Great video as always
As they have all been, this was a great review. Thank you
I used to have this lens for years, and it gives me memorable photos of streets and family pictures. It’s awesome when you know your compositions well. I like this better than 35mm as i can tight crop my pictures if needed to.
Hi Max. For your images, these are amongst the sharpest which you’ve displayed on your channel apart from the Contax G2 video. It certainly appears to be a difficult focal length to use , as if there’s no foreground subject the final image may look boring and flat. Possibly if there are many elements in the scene and careful composition is done it will produce impressive images. I really appreciate the work you, Jules and Greg do to make content for us. I’m particularly thrilled to watch anything you do on leica. It’s quality is certainly impressive but many people either misunderstand or just choose not to accept that there options for everyone and some want something well made with a certain standard.
Excellent video - as always!
28 is tough to compose for me, but I love the images I get with it. I debated between the asph and the V3 Elmarit and decided on the V3 because I tend to gravitate toward the older Mandler designs. Fantastic video as always.
My favorite lens. I use on my leica monochrome 246 I currently save up to a Leica MP and I will use my elmarit 28 mm on that !
I've been having the same thoughts about going wider and getting a 28mm for my M6, and will definitely check out the Elmarit. It sounds great. For standard portraits with a longer lens, it's all about filling the frame with one thing. With wider, it's a more complex photo containing multiple elements. Although, 28mm can work for interesting portraits, too. Antonin Kratochvil is one of my favorite photographers who do that.
Great review. Just purchased an Elmarit 28mm asph for similar reasons - small size, low weight, good value. Will be interesting to see how it compares with my Summicron 35mm asph and Super Elmar 18mm
Good job on this Max, I fully understand what you mean about the wide angle challenge. I'm testing a 28mm Takumar to review and also am feeling its difficult to transition from more Tele lenses. That's some powerful snow you were experiencing.
Thanks. I think you’ve just helped me to decide which will be my first Leica lens.
Did you get it?
Leica has an unusual effect on one’s perspective. On one hand I find myself feeling aghast at having to pay $2500 for a state of the art full frame digital camera. Yet since discovering Leica, I see a Leica up for auction and think ‘$2500 is a bargain price for a 65 year old M3 with a Summicron lens! I should submit a bid for it!’
Great review, Max! This lens is one of my favorite M lenses. Completely agree with your insights as well.
Very helpful review. Thank you.
I would love to know how the Zeiss compares. Not many reviews on their version. Your videos are always so good! Thanks for making them
I wanted the 28mm Summicron, but couldn’t justify the cost at the moment. So I compared this lens and the Zeiss 28mm f/2.8. After a lot of research I went with the Zeiss and after owning it for some time I can highly recommend it. The Zeiss is half the price and likewise an amazing lens. It is a little larger, but has a really nice feature of allowing zone focus down to .5m!! I have found this additional close focus feature to be very useful especially with the characteristics of a wide angle lens. The 46mm Zeiss filter size is a common one and is easily to integrate into a two or three lens system. Also I would recommend that users of the 28mm try an external viewfinder as it offers a different experience than just the Leica viewfinder. One day I’ll hopefully get the Summicron, but for now I am very happy with the Zeiss.
I have been looking at the Zeiss 28mm f/2.8 as well. How is the distortion?
@@jsshayes1 There is only one issue I've found with the Zeiss 28, although its considerable. Over time, the barrel has become very rough and dry, and the front barrel section is loose. This is not uncommon in the ZM lenses, with a lot of info and user reports if you Google for 'zeiss wobble'.
Instablaster.
Nice review. You are correct that the 28mm Elmarit is the lightest M mount lens, but I think the Summaron 28mm f5.6 is the smallest.
Really appreciated for this review since I am a big fan of 28mm for my normal wide angle because 35mm is just awkward for me. And due to the compact size and image quality this lens has been my dream lens for quite a while. I’m currently using the 28mm f2 voigtlander and I have no complaints about the image quality but I do when it comes to the size especially the viewfinder blockage. Again really appreciate for this review and I will try to get my hands on one of these sexy babes one day!
Is the aperture ring metal or plastic?
I’ve got one. Focus barrel seems a little stiff and not smooth on mine.
Great video, very informative.
Can I ask you for advice? Which filter (alternative to Leica) do you recommend to protect the lens? Thnaks
Thank you for the informative review!
My pleasure! Thanks for your kind feedback.
Nice review, I missed portraits, but it is good.A question, in which conditions you recommend the use of the hood, only shooting against light or?
Hey man what lens hood is this???? And does it fit every 43mm lens ??
How does the Elmarit compare to the 28mm M Rokkor for the Minolta CLE?
Thanks for the review, as always very thorough and informative. You characterized this optic as an optic 'without character'. It would be interesting if you could give examples of lenses with 'character'. I agree that there are lenses with 'character' (hard to define the meaning of the word 'character', though), usually older lenses of various provenance with some 'lens flaws', but your opinion on what an optic 'with 'character' is like would be much appreciated - and perhaps with a few sample photos.
Excellent video. I have this lens too. Thank you very much.
RS. Canada
Good review, it is worth mentioning that the Summaron is even smaller and lighter.
awesome review!
Nice job, as always. However, I have to say I suspect most of your subscribers can't relate to this particular lens. But, that won't stop us from watching these videos, they are so well done and so generally informative. Keep them coming!
Why not?
Why wouldn’t they? I have the Summilux-M 28 and Elmarit-M lenses. They’re both excellent.
Indeed, the first version is incredible. I've not used the recently updated version for long, but can't imagine it brings much to the table as the original was killer.
Probably just a new hood and price bump
It’s meant to handle the higher resolution sensors better. Both great.
Always enjoy your reviews but can only 'drool' over this one.
I'm looking forward to this video...I got my m6 with no lens
Danke an euch für das Video! I am considering a 28mm Leica lens at the moment. So far I've used this one and the Summilux. The lux is stunning but a little too big and way too expensive. Will give the Summicron a try and will decide afterwards which one to get.
I have the Summaron, if you don't mind a bit slower lens, it's got tons of character on both film and digital and is tiny !
@@JohnSmith-gs4zv Yes that's exactly what I was thinking. The Elmarit would be perfect but for shooting film a larger aperture can be crucial and the summicron could be the perfect middle ground. 👌
@@fyvewytches The Summaron is cool but f5.6 is a little too slow for my style of shooting, especially on film.
As always, the photos themselves are amazing. I don’t know that a Leica M-never mind a wide-angle lens for it-is in my future but I really enjoyed your review.
Nice. I like the 28mm range. Great for people and subjects too, you just have to approach the subject differently then a 50mm or a short telephoto.
Thanks for the review Max. Good quality video both in vision and sound. One thing to take care with is repeating yourself too much. You can labour the point a bit too much and this detracts from the overall quality. Even some images get repeated too often as well. I also own this lens paired with my MP and, like you, I love it too. Cheers, Antoine
Thanks for the extremely valuable feedback. I'll try to take better care to avoid repetitions (of both points and images) in the future. I can completely understand it with respect to this particular video.
@@AnalogInsights All good Max. Keep making the great videos please. It is good to hear the views from a Leica user similar to myself.
When I put this 28mm elmarit onto my M3 using an external finder is simply to compose the frame. Focusing is purely done with zone focusing. Beautiful sharp lens and less distortion than the more expensive cron and lux.
Which finder do you use? Is it parallax corrected?
Curious on your thoughts on using the .72 M6 TTL with a 28mm lens and wearing eyeglasses. Do you struggle with seeing the 28mm framelines? Been thinking about getting an external viewfinder for this reason alone. Would love to know how it works for you.
Thanks for your comment and sorry about my late response. No, this combination works still fine for me.
Totally agree with you, you should see the quality it produces on a Monocrom 246, thanks!
Great review, I have one and agree it doesn’t have much character. It’s a great lens but it feels a bit boring on how perfect and 3D it makes images look.
I actually prefer my Ricoh GR 28mm LTM lens. Better character and the build quality is miles better!
What do you mean that the lens has no caracter? Or borring look? Because I am thinking to buy it for my M6.
what a lens and great outfit!
It’s a shame that amateur reviewers have steered a lot of people towards the Ultron 28 f/2. Ultron is a solid budget option, but this Elmarit is in a league all by itself. To see that, you have to really study 3D falloff and characteristics that fall under “rendering” and “drawing” … masterpiece
I always found 28mm kinda boring, something weird in between 24 and 35mm, however, I understand that for Leica users it's the best wide angle choice course of frame-lines and everything else.
And by the way, you always need a solid performer; lenses with character are good only for special occasions ;-)
Gruß aus Kroatien
a short question: have you ever tested the 7artisans M-mount lenses?
i am verry interestet in the 50mm f1.1
Thanks for your comment. No, I haven't tested any of the 7artisans M-mount lenses yet. Would be curious to try them though. :)
What was the B&W film you have used in this video?
Thanks for your comment. You can always find this information in the video description and at the very end of our videos. In this case, I used Ilford Delta 400 and Ilford HP5+. I hope this helps.
@@AnalogInsights amazing reviews!
Hi, I wonder if this lens is compatible with canon r5. thank you.
Nice & Thanks :)
I want this lens
It must be one of the lightest lenses in the line up. I found it too light, almost cheap comparing to my other lenses. Build is fine though.
You want a heavy camera set up try out the Pentax 67.
Может ли мастер представить что то из Leica R?
Lilya We actually intend to talk about the Leica R system in one of the upcoming videos as well. :)
Nice lens but i still love my new summaron 28/5.6 :) just push the iso 🤣
I prefer the Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 Typ IV E-46 lens (Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8) for my M6 because this combo is from the same time around 1994/95. M6 from 1995 an Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH. from 2020 doesn't feel right.
Nice video, but the fact that the lens hood take 1/4 of the viewfinder bothers me a lot...
Plus you lose a the benefit of having a rangefinder (seeing what is going to come in the frame), because the frame lines are practically all the way to the edges.
I'm more an slr guy myself
You have to use your right eye to frame and at the same time simply let your left eye open to see what's going on around you.
Great review Max. Using mine with a M6 as well and love the combination. Would be awesome if you'd share some portrait shots with the Elmarit on your insta account. TIA
Thanks for your nice comment. Great idea. Once I got around to shooting some portraits with it, I'll definitely share some of them as well.
I have this and it's beautiful lens. Easily compares to my 35mm Summicron. In fact it outdoes it in quality sometimes! I do like 28mm too...it's the same view you get through a iPhone and ideal when you want the whole scene.
The iPhone insights towards the focal length are really an interesting point. Thank you!
I had this lens for my M6 and XT-2 and wasn't impressed by it so I sold it after few months.
I feel like most of the praise this review gives it are from someone who primarily is used to more vintage and vintage style (aka the crons) lenses... it’s as clinically sharp as literally any decent 28mm lens nowadays, making a good 28mm 2.8 isn’t very challenging anymore, Pentax, Nikon, Sony, Zeiss, etc, all make lenses with functionally identical optical quality with really only their coatings making up the visible differences.
peace and prosperity
Like #1000! 🙌
Немецкая оптика лучшая.
It's the best 28mm ever built. A larger aperture on a 28 is useless. Screw it permanently onto your M and you are the master of the world. Better than a 35mm because it's faster for the same depth of field. Set yourself on the hyperfocal and do some street photography. Distortion and vignetting insignificant, and as sharp than summicron for less. This lens is a gem and has no equal.
Boring? Lacks character AND 2,100 euros? Sounds like a forlorn weekend with a New York hotel's escort service. Great pics though.
I do agree though, it’s just perfect in many ways and nothing to complain about, exactly the reason why I never like it and sold it after owning it for a month
I'd take my SMC Pentax-M 28mm f2 over this and never look back... 😎📷
I’d take my Minolta MD Rokkor-X 28mm f2 over this and never look back...😎📷
Start to take some pictures of something unique different again go to India you will be surprised
toooooooooooooo much leica advertisement
He is a Leica shooter and us Leica shooters love Leica (waiting for my M11) NOTHING COMPARES!
I might have been able to take this guy seriously if he wasn't wearing a turtle neck
Lame
It’s a shame that amateur reviewers have steered a lot of people towards the Ultron 28 f/2. Ultron is a solid budget option, but this Elmarit is in a league all by itself. To see that, you have to really study 3D falloff and characteristics that fall under “rendering” and “drawing” … masterpiece