Leica Elmarit-R 135mm f/2.8

a great gateway for mere mortal men into the world of Leica A wonderful way to own a Leica lens without paying a huge fortune, especially if you are willing to do a bit of work to adapt it to a Nikon Mount (which involved taking off the rear camera mount and the cams, followed by installing a third-party adapter; be careful to save the delicately placed bearing ball in order to retain clickable aperture control!), and do not mind buying a lens from the 1970s, with a aperture that by digital standards seems slow (but it is PLENTY fast for bright-light work) This lens has a slightly higher resolution compared to my Nikkor-Q 135mm f/2.8, but in a day-to-day usage, one will not notice this difference. The colors with this lens MAY be bit more rich than with my Nikkor-Q, but I am waiting for a new ball bearing to come in before I do any careful comparisons. It is heavier than my Nikkor-Q, but not too bad if yo are used to using heavy lenses. I would not recommend using this lens with the Nikon1 system, or any camera system that force the use of vibration-reduction; it is hard to localize subjects when the field of view jumps without a tripod. Its focus throw is about 240 degrees (more than the Nikkor's ~200 degree throw), which may be too long for many people, but I find very useful to get accurate focus. Its minimum focus distance (1.45m) is a bit shorter than the Nikkor-Q, but not enough to really matter. The integrated hood precludes the use of filters larger than 54mm diameter if you want to use the hood (and not pay for Leica Series 7 filters). To use commonly available filters with this lens, one needs to buy a step-up adapter ring (I only saw 54-55 available, and step-up again from 55 to what ever you need) Also, the focus ring turns counter-clockwise to go from close to infinity focus (it is backwards from what Nikon F-mount users are used to. Overall, I am very pleased with this lens, and intend to use it a lot in the future!Read full review

I just couldn't live without it and after I sold it I had to buy another. Leica 135 f2,8 Elmarit-R is an exceptionally sharp lens . It is hard to describe . I also have the 100f2.8 Apo Macro Elmarit and the two compete and cannot decide which one is sharper . The Apo Elmarit wins on color fidelity and Bokeh but I am inclined to think that the 135 is sharper and a lot cheaper. All I can say is that in my Leica M3 the Elmarit 135-M was my sharpest lens which motivated me to purchase the same lens when I later moved up to the Reflex system. I was not disappointed . Eventually sold the Elmarit 135 to raise cash to buy something else that I needed and regretted so much that I couldn't help to buy one again and now I am happy that I did. The only drawbacks of the 135 is that is very heavy and that cannot focus as close as I would want it but is perfect for Portraits if you happen to like sharp portraits , which I do .Read full review

best value out there i love the 135mm focal length and to be able to buy a Leica version of it at the prices these go for second hand is ridiculous good value for money IMO