The past year or so has been a voyage of discovery with regards to vintage and manual lenses.  There are so many wonderful old lenses that can be adapted to modern camera bodies.  Recently, I was impressed by the quality of images shot with a Leica Vario-Elmar-R 35-70mm f/4 lens.  The images that I saw had a magical feel with impressive detail and beautiful color.  After doing a bit of research, I purchased one and it arrived a few days ago.

Once the lens was in my hands, I inspected it to make sure that it did not have any problems.  The glass was clean and the operations worked just as they should.  I set about my home looking for opportunities to use the lens and to see what I can expect from it.  When working with a lens for the first time, my cats are often some of my first subjects.  I find that their fur can provide a lot of information on how sharp a lens is and the level of detail that can be discerned.

The feature shot of the cat’s eye and face was photographed using the macro mode of the Leica Vario-Elmar-R 35-70mm f/4 lens.  Details of the eye and fur are very well resolved.  Colors are true and color resolution is remarkable.  It seems as though every little detail of the eye can be seen.  This fine result had me thinking about the possibilities for images that this level of quality provides.  This image was just a casual test shot – hand held in macro mode.  Using better technique, i.e. a tripod for close-up work, images should be stunning.

This image is just one of many that I shot the day that my lens arrived.  It is such a pleasing photograph and although its story is simple, it shows that wonderful images can arise out of something as mundane as trying out a lens.

Image was shot using a Leica Vario-Elmar-R 35-70mm f/4 lens on a Fuji X-T2.