Legacy Lenses 1 - Leica Vario Elmar R 35-70 F4 Macro

This standard zoom lens from Leica turned itself into a legend. It's incredibly sharp and oozes craftsmanship. The 35-70mm is a very versatile 2x zoom that covers from mid-wide-angle to mid-telephoto.

The lens construction quality is absurdly high, with no jigs, controls smooth as silk and a fantastic black finish. 

But how is it in terms of optical quality? In one word, superb. On par with the best primes from Leica at the same apertures. Extremely high resolution, excellent contrast and a joy to use.

Leica Vario Elmarit R 35-70 F4
(do not copy without written permission)

It's a 7 group, 8 elements (with one aspherical element design), made by Kyocera for Leica. Yes, the lens glass was made in Japan. Kyocera is an advanced optics, electronics and ceramics manufacturer that owns the Yashica brand.

You can check the original Leica literature about this fantastic lens here.

Leica Vario Elmar R 35-70 F4
(do not copy without written permission)

There are other similar lenses from Leica but they don't match this beast performance. The other ones are the 28-70 F3.5-4.5 and the 35-70 F3.5-4.5, they are ok, but not close to the above-mentioned one. To be honest I don't know another zoom as good as this one, from any maker.

The only inconvenience is the weird filter size of 60mm (E60).

I first used this lens with a Leica R6, then with my old Canon EOS 5D and finally with my Pentax K3-II after swapping the original R-mount to a custom made Leitax Pentax K mount (see below), but I had to install a manual focusing screen with micro prism and split-image on both cameras.

Leica R lens on a Pentax body
Thanks to Leitax Mount =)
(do not copy without written permission)

This lens is not cheap. Expect to pay near $1000 used, in mint condition. I eventually sold it for charity.

It makes a killer combination with the Sony A7 full-frame bodies.