Leica 80-200mm Vario-Elmar-R f/4 (ROM) Reviews

Rating
Reviewed by:

Douglas
( Expert)

Review Date
March 4, 2004

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
2 votes

Review 1 of 8

Price Paid: $1400.00 from Edinburgh Cameras (p

Summary:

An excellent lens, with outstanding image quality and flare resistance for a zoom. A joy to use, with a real quality feel. When used with the 2x converter shows only marginal image degradation and gives (nearly) 160-400mm - which is more than long enough for most uses.

Strengths:

Reasonable VfM - for a Leica lens! One of the best buys in the range. (It is made by Kyocera to Leitz design and quality control.) Handles superbly. Smoooooth as silk. Image sharpness and contrast are just outstanding for a zoom, even better than the Canon 70-200'Ls'. This zoom will beat the majority of fixed-focus lenses in this range from other manufacturers. Built-in lenshood - which means that you will actually use it!

Weaknesses:

Some will find it a tad heavy and longish for convenience, but I personally admire Leitz' determination to specify materials and build quality primarily to guarantee image quality. What's a lens for?

Similar Products Used:

Pentax 75-150K Canon 7-200 f4L Canon 70-200 f2.8L

Customer Service:

Never needed

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Rating
Reviewed by: dr_fan
(Expert)

Review Date
June 12, 2002

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
1 votes

Review 2 of 8

Price Paid: $1200.00 from Kueng Kee

Summary:

This is the 2nd sharpest zoom lens of this range in the world.(The first being the 70-180 apo vario)even better than Contax 80-200/f4.

Strengths:

Suprab optic, solidly built ! Cheap!(compare to other Leica lens)

Weaknesses:

Heavy!

Similar Products Used:

Contax 80-200/f4 Nikon 80-200/f2.8

Customer Service:

Excellent!

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Rating
Reviewed by: Ingo Beyer
(Intermediate)

Review Date
June 14, 2001

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
2 votes

Review 3 of 8

Price Paid: $1400.00 from Foto Goertz

Summary:

After much debate, I finally completed my R kit. This lens gives me the flexibility I need when I travel. I would prefer to shoot everything with Leica primes, but the added sharpness and contrast is always beat by a single zoom lens's range and convenience. Completely worth every pfenning (penny!), but the lens attracts too much attention. I've had to apply 'black tape'(?) over the red Leica point and this allows me to shoot and carry the kit with a bit more security.

Strengths:

Perfect build quality. Excellent mechanics. Sharp to the edges, no vignetting. Excellent color and detail repro.

Weaknesses:

E60 filter size. The B+W circ-pol. MRC cost about $105, and B+W is constructing a 81C(KR3) thin MRC for $105 too. I shot for a month w/o the c-pol, so don't count on finding that size quickly!

Similar Products Used:

Leica 28-70, Nikon F100 w/ Sigma 2,8:0 28-70, 17-35mm Sigma

Customer Service:

Excellent by German standards, but my British friends cannot find a technical english speaker!

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Rating
Reviewed by: Christian Nagel
(Expert)

Review Date
May 3, 2001

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
2 votes

Review 4 of 8

Price Paid: $1200.00 from ebay

Summary:

This is another travellers dream and a great companion for the Vario-Elmar 4/35-70. The optical and mechanical quality is perfect. The two rings move smooth as silk ! Sometimes, it might be a little bit too heavy, but that's the material - brass and aluminum. Sturdy and rock solid ! The camera body has to be well balanced, so if you use a R4-R7, be shure to use the winder or motor for a better counterweight. The R8 is fine, although the use of the winder is advantageous if you have big hands. I'm also using the famous APO-Telyt 180 for handheld and tripod shots. It is much more handy (about 700g), but doesn't sport that useful zoom range from portrait to tele. If you want to use a UV-filter for lens protection (you definetely should use one, it randomly saves up a lens if dropped !), be shure to get a cheaper and used original Leica UVa 60mm instead of a new 60mm. It retains the neutral and natural color balance of the lens. And the centering of the filter is much better than others. B+W Filters of Germany is another alternative for 60mm filters. The original Leica cirular polarizer costs 300 $. Used aprox. 150$. Thats hefty ! If you drop your Leica polarizer - you'll never get over it !

Strengths:

Beautiful colors and sharpness, good and useful zoomrange, perfect quality and finish

Weaknesses:

Front part of lens can move when pointed downward, the aperture-ring is quite narrow

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 80-200/2.8 L, EF 28-70/2.8 L USM, Leica APO-Telyt 3.4/180

Customer Service:

Perfect

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Rating
Reviewed by: Chanjin Shin
(Intermediate)

Review Date
August 17, 2000

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
4 of 5

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
2 votes

Review 5 of 8

Summary:

It's a very good color saturation and resolution capability. Especially blue and green color tone reproduction capability!

Strengths:

Very Smooth Operation
Replace several heavy fixed focal-length lenses

Weaknesses:

Front part of lens(focus ring) is so easily move without touch when shot is done toward earth.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF 80-200 F/2.8 ED-NEW

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