With the Leitz Tele-Elmar 1:4/135mm on Safari - Lutz Müller

April 17, 2021 Lutz Müller

My experiences with the Leitz Tele-Elmar 135mm f/4 on the Leica M10.

After booking a safari to Uganda, I was faced with the question of which photo equipment I would take with me on the trip.

My wife is the proud owner of a Leica SL with the Vario-Elmarit-SL 2.8-4/24-90mm and two fixed focal lengths. Normally you would take a larger telephoto lens with you on such a trip. However, when I held it in my hand, I knew that as a backpacker I couldn't transport it and I quickly landed on my Leica M10. I'm also an M user and one of my friends once said to me: "You wouldn't allow anything else anyway".

I'm actually a fan of wide-angle lenses. I have a 50mm f/1.5 ZM Sonnar from Zeiss, a 50mm f/2 Apo-Lanthar VM and Nokton 75mm f/1.5 VM from Voigtländer (both extraordinary lenses) and a Leica 90mm f/2.5 Summarit-M, but I use them less than the wide-angle lenses.

Lars Netopil almost forced me to keep my 135mm Tele-Elmar, which I had never used before (I actually wanted to sell it back to him). So I thought this was the chance.

My favorite lenses are definitely the 21mm f/1.4 Summilux-M Asph., the Super-Elmar-M 18mm f/3.8 Asph. and the Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 Asph.. I also own the Summicron-M 28mm f/2 Asph., a razor-sharp lens that unfortunately had to stay at home. In everyday life, I love the Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Asph. VM. A lens in a class of its own, in my opinion.

I was amazed when I saw the pictures, especially the animal photos, with the 135mm on my M10 at home. The EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) is definitely essential here. Every picture is hard-earned. Defocusing can already be perceived in the millimeter range and a defocused image can be deleted immediately. There is no rescue in Adobe Lightroom either.

But IF you focus correctly, the images are even more impressive.

The challenge was to get a fast exposure time in really difficult lighting conditions (it was constantly hazy covered with subtle light). So a constant trade-off between ISO and time. I didn't want to work with the automatics either, because in this case, from my point of view, the camera is too uncritical and washing out the colors.

Yes, I had a few misses, but I know that you can have that with an autofocus camera as well and I'm totally happy with the results that I got.

In my conclusion I have to state that I would do another safari again with my M10, and of course with the Tele-Elmar 135mm. However, I would recommend to train with this lens in advance and when you understand it, the results are outstanding. I was particularly impressed by the depth of field.

Even with heavily cropped images, there are barely noticeable losses. Mr. Netopil spoke of a quality that can be equated with an Apochromat.

I just find out to myself that photography is fun this way. Craftsmanship combined with technology that impresses. Without automatics, etc.

Lutz