Therefore, this supremacy of the Vario-Apo-Elmarit-R 70-180 mm f/2.8 in terms of optical performance and brutally high performance rendered is in my opinion something for which Leica deserves a lot of praise, since the rest of quoted professional medium tele zoom lenses made by Canon, Nikon and Sony are very top-notch designs delivering impressive image quality, specially the Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L (in its two versions, normal and IS, the most widespread medium professional telephoto zoom among pros) and the Nikon 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR, two authentic monsters of optical performance and very high image quality delivered, whose purchase is evidently recommended.
The Vario-Apo-Elmarit-R 70-180 mm f/2.8, introduced in 1995, sporting 13 elements in 10 groups and a weight of 1870 g, is a revolutionary design which has been considered as a milestone in the development of the variable focal length objectives. The building of this Leica R optical and mechanical super tour de force features a truly apochromatic zoom rendering a tremendously high optical performance matching the best primes (and sometimes beating them) throughout its whole range of focal lengths from 70 mm to 180 mm, even at full aperture, where it excels in extraordinary sharpness and contrast and the wiping out of
aberrations, specially coma and astigmatism to negligible levels in practical situations. The minimum focusing distance is 1, 7 m. On the other hand, the two separate adjustment rings for the focusing and the selection of focal length, ease the choice of the correct framing of the subject, with the added profit of a very sturdy rotating mount for tripod which sport special click stops for vertical and horizontal pictures.
It also features an internal focusing system optimising the image quality in the shortest focusing distances. This absolutely top-notch zoom is another of the Leica R jewels which epitomizes the strenuous efforts made by the legendary German firm to get the highest possible level of definition of motifs outlines, a very decisive factor for the final sharpness and acutance of the image, as well as excelling in the high contrast and clear differentiation even of intricate colour gradations at all the focal lengths available and across the entire picture area up to the close-up range.
Its photographic possibilities are almost boundless: sports, wild nature, fashion photography, portraits, reportages in which a certain distance to the subject is required, etc. Vignetting is almost zero at all the focal lengths and f stops and the same happens with distortion, except in the longest and shortest settings of 180 mm and 70 mm (slight but observable, both in pincushion and barrel respectively).
Flare has been incredibly minimized (in the same way as happens with the Vario- Elmarit-R 28-90 mm f/2.8-4.5 ASPH, it very probably contains the best of the best available multicoatings in the internal elements, because this Numantine antireflection ability is on the brink of reaching the out of parameters domain) and the capturing of textures and most minute details is simply astounding with a very uniform evenness of tremendous optical performance on the whole image surface and all of the available focal lengths, with only a very little decrease of quality in the extreme corners at full aperture, specially between 120 and 180 mm. On four 50 x 70 cm enlargements on photographic papers made from B & W Rollei Superpan 200 and Fuji Reala 100 negatives of two different subjects produced with a Leica R9 and a Vario-Apo-Elmarit-R 70-180 mm f/2.8 in the focal lengths of 70 mm and 150 mm at f/4 and f/8 on robust Manfrotto tripod I´ve seen that image quality is bigger at f/4 than at f/8. In both cases, image quality is incredibly high, but better at f/4. This is in my viewpoint a great optical feat, but I don´t know how Leica has managed to attain such an amazing thing. The Vario-Apo-Elmarit-R 70-180 mm f/2.8 is widely considered as the best zoom lens designed in the history of photography, a super tour de force objective featuring a very complex optical formula with nothing less than 12 different optical glasses (including five with anomalous partial dispersion).
If the upcoming professional autofocus Leica R10 full format camera features a digital sensor delivering very good image quality between iso 1000 and 2500, the Vario-Apo-Elmarit-R 70-180 mm f/2.8 could become a tremendous weapon for making handheld shots in the vast majority of conceivable photographic contexts, though so as to draw all of its potential and incredible optical performance and image quality the use of a monopod or a tripod together with the suitable techniques are the best choice.
The out of this world Vario-Apo-Elmarit-R 70-180 mm f/2.8 has a very high quality and sturdy rotating tripod base boasting special click stops to make both vertical and horizontal photographies, a very useful device for a number of photographic genres in which is better to have the camera and lens on as much stable a support as possible. On the other hand, the appearance of this luxurious zoom is highly beautiful and spectacular, boasting an impressive engineering and mechanical construction which allows a steady professional use for many decades under the toughest contexts.
