The Apo-Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 is a top-quality lens of exceptional performance. It consists of seven elements in five groups and covers a 14° angle of view. It offers a medium telephoto focal length which is excellent for portraits, fashion, sport and landscape photography, fulfilling great demands even under the most difficult conditions.
The lens is very easy to handle. Thanks to its moderate weight and excellent ergonomic design (with internal focusing) it is possible to hold it steady and fatigue-free, even for longer periods of time.
As a result of the complicated apochromatic correction of the optical system via four lenses of high-refraction glass, the Leica Apo-Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 boasts image-taking abilities of the highest order. Performance is already so high at full aperture that it can barely be increased by stopping down. Contrast and resolving power are excellent throughout the entire image field, offering a very flat field. At infinity, coma, astigmatism and spherical aberration are virtually non-existent. Even in close-up range, this excellent performance is kept.
Stopping down is only necessary to eliminate the very slight trace of natural vignetting (0.5 diafragm) which can be visible at full aperture under specific circumstances (like bright skies) and, of course, to increase the depth-of-field of the image.