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Compact telephoto for compressed landscapes?

exile

By exile
in Leica M9 / M-E

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exile

exile

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Does anyone use uncoupled lenses at these focal lengths on an M?

I imagine I could save some weight and expense by purchasing an uncoupled lens. For distant landscapes it would not be a problem, but may be more tricky for architectural details photographed from street level.

Also, an interesting point about the 135/4 TE design being heavy as a result of extra metal (my old version did indeed have a head you could unscrew for use on Visoflex), and very thick glass groups. I am more keen to look into other lens designs because of my weight limitations, even though I realise the 135/4 TE has very little to fault optically.

 

The idea of buying another camera and lens for telephoto and macro usage is not a bad idea. Both applications would benefit from a small sensor and image stabilisation. But it's much more expense than just buying a tatty 60yr old 135mm for my M9 for 100Euros. I won't be able to afford the 2nd camera option for a while as I'm saving for a ZM 21/2.8

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chris_tribble

chris_tribble

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The 135 f/3.4 APO is actually a couple of ounces lighter than any version of the 135 f/4 TE (despite being faster and larger diameter).

 

[...]

 

300g for a 135mm+ telephoto is a pretty steep standard to meet - even the 50 f/1.4 weighs 335g.

 

May as well face it, "compressed telephoto landcapes" is what they invented SLRs for.

 

Agree with Adan on the Apo Telyt - great lens in my book - and excellent for landscape (though I'd seriously recommend a monopod, bean bag, something for stabilising for this distant horizon shots....)

 

Don't fully agree with Adan re M's not being able to deal with a degree of compression on landscape images - for me the 135 is a great lens for landscape work.

 

Check: The English Lake District - more sheep .... These were all done with either 135 Apo Telyt or 28mm Cron Asph. For me this is a dream trekking combination with the M9. A specific example is: http://www.ctribble.co.uk/_gallery/Lakes_2010/content/L1003412_large.html

 

Best..

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noah_addis

noah_addis

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It seems like a more recent 135 TE would suit your needs well (one that is not detachable for the viso).

 

It's not super-light, but it seems to be quite a nice lens. I've tried a few in camera shops and I like the look of the lens. I plan to use it for mostly aerial views and compressed city/landscapes.

 

Scale focusing seems like it's not worth the hassle for longer focal lengths, especially for closer architectural details.

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noah_addis

noah_addis

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Noah - spot on re scale focusing - once you're more than 4 or 5 meters away it's not relevant.

re shots from planes though - I'd be interested to hear how you plan to stabilise things...

 

It's not too bad really, I usually shoot from helicopters which are pretty stable. I used the 90 on the M9 for this one. I routinely have shot with Nikons from helicopters with my 180/2.8, 300/2.8, and when I was at the paper even longer lenses on occasion.

 

Sometimes I also shoot from tall buildings, which is cheaper but you can't always be exactly where you want to be. So a 135 may help give me more flexibility on the long end. For my personal work I don't want to go too much longer since it will compress too much and stand out from the majority of my work which is done with a 35mm (now that it's a 35mm again!).

 

What I'd really like to do is shoot 4x5 for my aerial work so I can really print large for exhibitions:D But that may require a gyro and it's too much to travel with not to mention the cost.

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chris_tribble

chris_tribble

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Wow, my photo looks pretty bad downsized and jpeg'ed for the web. It looks sharp on a 24x36-inch print.

 

We believe you! :)

Apparently Arthus-Bertrand used medium length tele lenses for a lot of the "La terre vu du ciel" project - shooting from a helicopter (max focal length 200mm prefered, though 400 available - :( - according to this source: PhotographyJam - the photographer's resource: My favourite photographers: Yann Arthus-Bertrand).

 

It's difficult to find out the focal lengths used for most of the shots (with shutter speeds at 250th or higher), but I reckon 135 will have covered a fair number of situations.

 

Looking forward to seeing the M9 results, Noah!

:)

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luigi bertolotti

luigi bertolotti

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Does anyone use uncoupled lenses at these focal lengths on an M?

I imagine I could save some weight and expense by purchasing an uncoupled lens. For distant landscapes it would not be a problem, but may be more tricky for architectural details photographed from street level.

Also, an interesting point about the 135/4 TE design being heavy as a result of extra metal (my old version did indeed have a head you could unscrew for use on Visoflex), and very thick glass groups. I am more keen to look into other lens designs because of my weight limitations, even though I realise the 135/4 TE has very little to fault optically.

 

The idea of buying another camera and lens for telephoto and macro usage is not a bad idea. Both applications would benefit from a small sensor and image stabilisation. But it's much more expense than just buying a tatty 60yr old 135mm for my M9 for 100Euros. I won't be able to afford the 2nd camera option for a while as I'm saving for a ZM 21/2.8

 

The difference in weighy from a coupled and uncoupled 135 I think is negligible ; you are right about TE glass : is bulkier than Elmar 135's and the difference in weight is surely in a good part due to this; btw the Elmar 135 too has the lens head removable to be mounted on Visoflex, and with proper rings-tubes is an excellent macro set.

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exile

exile

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Thanks for all the responses everyone.

Thanks also for sending me the link to that other thread. Good to know I'm not alone.

 

I think Cosina Voigtalnder could make a superb contribution in the 135 category. Their lenses are always less heavy than Leica equivalents, and they have some very solid designs in both the ultra-fast (e.g. 35/1.2 nokton) and relatively slow category (e.g. 35/2.5 colour skopar). I think some kind of development on the 90/3.5 APO would be fantastic.

 

The Leica 135/3.5 does look like the lightest rangefinder-coupled option, but it's simply far too expensive for the amount I would use it.

 

I think I may have to resign myself to using a 90mm lens as the ngest focal length on my M9, but that is really not a very long telephoto...

 

The 110 berg elmar looks interesting - can anyone give me an idea about image quality from this rather antique looking optic at say f/8 or f/11?

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exile

exile

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It's not too ugly lct, but it does look a bit heavy. 440g is just a bit too much - anything in the high 300s I could deal with. I already have a 35/1.2 nokton in my bag, so adding another +400g lens on top of a 75mm and 21mm would make my bag too heavy. I can almost justify 450g for something like the Nokton because I will make use of the speed as my normal lens. (Even so, I will replace it with a 35 lux when I get the cash together in a few years, purely because of the weight issue - IQ is perfectly okay).

 

But I just can't accept carrying 440g around for a lens that will only be used maybe 10-15% of the time. So, yeh, the elmar 135 is out.

My plan at the moment is to swap out my 75/2.5 heliar for the 90 macro elmar to get a little more length and a lot better close focus and IQ at the expense of a stop and a half. So instead of a 21, 35, 75, 135 setup I'll have to make do with a 21, 35, 90 setup... acquiring a 90mm is something that will have to wait a long time until I've at least got myself a 21mm first.

It's a shame - I've looked long and hard at the 135s, and whilst the price is attractive enough for me to jump in tomorrow, and I could make good use of the focal length, they're all just too heavy.

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lct

lct

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It's not too ugly lct, but it does look a bit heavy. 440g is just a bit too much - anything in the high 300s I could deal with....

405g w/o caps. Just checked it out. But i have never seen a 300g 135 so far. In practice a 135 must be hold steadily so a bit of weight is necessary if there is no IS in the lens or the body. FWIW.

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luigi bertolotti

luigi bertolotti

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Thanks for all the responses everyone....

 

The 105 berg elmar looks interesting - can anyone give me an idea about image quality from this rather antique looking optic at say f/8 or f/11?

 

Tried my one onto M8... a lens acceptable for black and white only : low contrast but, apart this, decent as any Leitz lens of the '30s ; M8 UVIR filter issue impossible to manage, but is a fine collectible (and rather costly , too).

 

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AlanJW

AlanJW

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The 90mm Elmarit may be as good as anything else for compressed landscape. Here is one at f/5.6, supported on a hotel balcony rail (San Diego).

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