I have not processed many from the 50cron yet, so I cannot say what values etc.
And then, this is all subjective and changes w/ each image and mood I'm in.
It could very well be that my workflow has changed a lot, and these were the latest lenses to my collection, shrug...
buggz2k wrote:
Wow, 280/4 APO, nice!
I can only dream of things like that.
Heh, I'm debating weather to get the 100/2.8 macro APO, or the 180/3.4 APO first...
Unless you really need the reach and intend to shoot mostly near infinity, the 100/2.8 APO-Macro is the far better lens (newer design, nearly flawless performance at any distance). And I'm going to have to stop even dreaming about buying any more lenses for a long time now (until I can re-grow some more spare internal organs to sell off).
mpmendenhall wrote:
Just got this lens in today: Leica APO-Telyt-R 280/4
My shooting skills do not do this lens justice, but here are a few pics nonetheless:
Sweet, Michael! Congrats. If you don't already have the extenders, I would try and scrape together the cash for at least the 1.4x. This lens will take it like it's a native part of its build.
freaklikeme wrote:
Sweet, Michael! Congrats. If you don't already have the extenders, I would try and scrape together the cash for at least the 1.4x. This lens will take it like it's a native part of its build.
The APO-Extender-Rs are already on my wishlist for after I re-grow a kidney or liver or two. However, I'm not really in a big hurry to get more "reach" for most of the stuff I do (which doesn't include much wildlife/bird photography besides opportunistic snaps); the 280mm is plenty for me (and going longer rapidly kills the hand-holdability and even lightweight-tripod-holdability of the lens). I am looking forward to trying it out on extension tubes (since I've seen that Leica recommends their Macro-Adapter-R, which is just a 25mm(?) extension tube, for the lens), which should be easy since I already have a set. Please don't talk me into buying any more gear soon; or, if you do, say "Hi!" when you see a scruffy homeless man sleeping under a pile of Leica boxes, because it might be me
mpmendenhall wrote:
The APO-Extender-Rs are already on my wishlist for after I re-grow a kidney or liver or two. However, I'm not really in a big hurry to get more "reach" for most of the stuff I do (which doesn't include much wildlife/bird photography besides opportunistic snaps); the 280mm is plenty for me (and going longer rapidly kills the hand-holdability and even lightweight-tripod-holdability of the lens). I am looking forward to trying it out on extension tubes (since I've seen that Leica recommends their Macro-Adapter-R, which is just a 25mm(?) extension tube, for the lens), which should be easy since I already have a set. Please don't talk me into buying any more gear soon; or, if you do, say "Hi!" when you see a scruffy homeless man sleeping under a pile of Leica boxes, because it might be me ...Show more →
If you figure out a way to grow two livers, let me know. I could use a spare for the 400 APO Modular head with the 1x and 2x focus modules.
Maybe we'll end up under the same bridge at some point.
freaklikeme wrote:
Sweet, Michael! Congrats. If you don't already have the extenders, I would try and scrape together the cash for at least the 1.4x. This lens will take it like it's a native part of its build.
+1
There doesn't seem to be the slightest loss of image quality when adding the 1.4x APO extender to the 280mm f/4.
mpmendenhall wrote:
I am looking forward to trying it out on extension tubes (since I've seen that Leica recommends their Macro-Adapter-R, which is just a 25mm(?) extension tube, for the lens), which should be easy since I already have a set.
It's a 30mm extension tube and it along with the 280 and 1.4x extender are part of my "don't leave home without it" kit.
freaklikeme wrote:
If you figure out a way to grow two livers, let me know. I could use a spare for the 400 APO Modular head with the 1x and 2x focus modules.
I'd settle for the 280 modular head & 1.4x focus module. There's space under the Jibboom Street bridge here in Sacramento when the river's not too high.
mpmendenhall wrote:
Just got this lens in today: Leica APO-Telyt-R 280/4
My shooting skills do not do this lens justice, but here are a few pics nonetheless:
I'm surprised, I always read this was one of Leica's best lenses, but to me the Bokeh is rather distracting, with dry nisen lining. Of course, bokeh looks completely free of color fringing or spherochromaticism. Not to mention the incredibly fine detail on the in-focus portions of the image.
Sp12 wrote:
I'm surprised, I always read this was one of Leica's best lenses, but to me the Bokeh is rather distracting, with dry nisen lining. Of course, bokeh looks completely free of color fringing or spherochromaticism. Not to mention the incredibly fine detail on the in-focus portions of the image.
Bokeh is not one of its strengths OTOH I've never seen any color fringes in the OOF areas.
Sp12 wrote:
I'm surprised, I always read this was one of Leica's best lenses, but to me the Bokeh is rather distracting, with dry nisen lining. Of course, bokeh looks completely free of color fringing or spherochromaticism. Not to mention the incredibly fine detail on the in-focus portions of the image.
All a matter of taste, I suppose. I actually like bokeh with a little bit of "character" rather than a completely uniform gaussian blur. Not that I want distracting bright/sharp edges in the bokeh, but I do often like background objects to maintain their shape and contours enough to be recognizable (not just an abstract soft ripple of color).
So far as the bokeh/rendering goes, the 280/4 actually seems to me to render in a slightly more "Zeiss-like" way rather than the "classic" Leica look that I would expect from many other Leica lens images. My "stereotype" of what I expect Leica rendering to look like is producing strongly "two-plane" images, with sharply delineated focal-plane subjects clearly standing out ("cardboard cutout" style) from the out-of-focus regions that all smoothly blend together into a flat "painting" backdrop. My typical experience with more "Zeiss" rendering is that slightly harder edges in the bokeh, along with changes in the bokeh as it progresses to increasingly out-of-focus, make it easier to see the depth relations between out-of-focus objects too, so the in-focus foreground subject isn't floating in front of a colorful flat background, but positioned within a 3D space that extends well beyond the focus. The 280/4 seems to lean more towards the "Zeiss" direction; for example, in my fourth image above with the three green posts, not only is the front green post in focus clearly popping out from the background, but it's also easy for me to see the depth spacing between the second and third increasingly blurred posts (where what I think of as more typical Leica rendering would flatten the second and third posts together as part of the same background plane for the sharp popping-out front post).
Also somewhat visible in the third and fourth pictures are bokeh disks with a slightly darker center inside a broad, brighter rim. I have seen this same slightly "donut" shape under certain conditions from the Leica APO-Macro 100/2.8, and also the CV APO 90/3.5 and 180/4, so it seems to be a common feature likely to arise in APO designs.
Not trying to tell others how to spend their money, but if you are going to spring $3K to $5K for the best of the best (read as "Leica"), why not get the best mount out there?
I have in stalled three of these mounts recently, and if I (read as "klutz") can do it, you certainly can.
