This Old Lens Preview: Leica Leitz Canada 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit M Lens with Goggles

First off why? Well… Much of what you need to know is in the name.

• It is a Leica lens.
• It has a portrait friendly 135mm focal length.
• Goggles. I think they are cool looking.

Not in the name.

• Leica name, but not a Leica price tag. Came in for less than any of my herd of Artisan M lenses.
• Built in lens hood. I am a sucker for a built in lens hood.
• Big fat metal lens cap with an embossed Leica logo. You would pay over half the price of this lens for a Leica branded metal lens cap. A very Leica world specific metric, but valid nonetheless.

• Built like a proper in a pinch melee weapon as expected.
• Have yet to test it in the wild but the goggles appear to work with the rangefinder on my Konica Hexar RF as well while looking the business in all black. Need to test this setup in the wild.
• While not surprising given Leica’s dedication to backwards and forwards M integration this film era goggle-ified lens works and focuses just fine with a digital M.
• I kind of like having an actual Leica lens.
• Oh. And it can be used to take a photo.

Notes from early testing.

Pros

• While not pin sharp it is plenty sharp enough for portraits.
• I find the glowy aesthetic of the background blur and flare to be a plus for portraits.
• Perhaps courtesy of the used Leica grip it is better balanced on the M than I expected.
• Takes a bit of concentration to focus but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
• I think it looks the business on camera.
• According to a Leica forum Wiki this appears to be a Mark II version of this lens produced between 1964 and 1973.
• Made in Canada, evidently. This bothers some as I understand things. I could not give less of a flip about this.
• Cost me 1/23 the asking price for a brand new, slower aperture having, non-goggle-ified 135mm Leica M option. No one would cross shop these lenses, but sans goggles I imagine an add on EVF would be needed and in that case why not just get an SL or other… Wait. I am pretending any of this makes sense right now… nevermind. Whatever floats your boat.

Cons

• Not seen with other M lenses is a slight vertical rangefinder image misalignment. Likely due to the goggles being slightly off. Nothing worth investigating further since it does not impact the horizontal rangefinder alignment. Will write this off as an acceptable anomaly specific to this lens.
• Goggles would look ridiculous adapted to a mirrorless camera and floating in the middle of nowhere unused so I will likely not even try. Silly reason? Yes. I will own it.

Stand by as there will be more to come as I get this lens out and about for some vintage digital and analog therapy.

Happy capturing.

-ELW