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M9 + 135 Apo Telyt


chris_tribble

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Thought I'd post this here to encourage others to report on how this lens is performing.

 

I attended an election meeting in Knutsford, Cheshire (UK) last night where a friend is standing as an independent candidate. The main draw was a man called George Osborne who's the Conservative (centre-right) candidate (and present MP) and potentially our next Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Finance) - God help us... :( (I don't support his party!)

 

I had the M9 + 35 cron / 50 lux asph and 135 apo-telyt. If I'd been covering this professionally I'd have brought a DSLR with long lenses - but as it is I was able to get astoundingly good shots with the 135 hand held (not even a monopod) and fully open. 1600 ISO at 1/90th. Interested to see examples of any other reportage using 135 lenses on the M9. I continue to be impressed. Image + 100% crop below. (FYI - processed in LR3 Beta 2 - which continues to impress me greatly!).

 

For amusement I also add a panorama stitched from two 35 cron images.

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It is incredible lens, very, very sharp. I didn’t have issues with focus on M6, M7 and M9. As the matter of fact when I got M9 I was really concern how it will perform, expecting some back/front focusing which I have with CV lenses, but it performs flawlessly. Did I say that its tack sharp?

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Chris, I've noticed from other threads that you've posted that you're a big fan of the 135mm Apo-Telyt, so am I. It's an amazing lens, I've never had any issues focusing it on either the M8 or M9, no magnifier either. Mine for some reason started back-focusing late last year, I sent it to Solms for re-adjustment, it came back better than new.

 

I keep forgetting how sharp it is, and when I do take it out to use it I'm always amazed at the image quality it produces.

 

Mods. please indulge me on the pic. it's relevant to this discussion.

135 Apo-Telyt & M8 Snouted Grass Snake in late afternoon sun, he was sunning himself on a rock outside my house. He reminds me of some of the politicians Chris is encountering.

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Michali - nice to see it used in sunlight too. The colour rendering is another of its excellent features - not shown to its best in the shots I used (a mix of low energy neon and tungsten - a real mess...)

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Chris

with M9 and Apo Telyt

houseboats on the canal in our city, picture taken at 30 meters from the other side !

in fact I would take the ducks

I hope that you do not mind if I post this photo.

Chris if you do not want I'll remove

Regards

Henry

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Very nice, but how is focusing consistency? We can always be lucky occasionally, but can we relly count on it?

 

I am getting a bit tired of the bulk and the weight of the Elmarit, which otherwise works very dependably, so I am considering an Apo-Telyt. I would prefer not to have to use a finder magnifier.

 

The old man from the 13.5cm Age

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It is incredible lens, very, very sharp. I didn’t have issues with focus on M6, M7 and M9. As the matter of fact when I got M9 I was really concern how it will perform, expecting some back/front focusing which I have with CV lenses, but it performs flawlessly. Did I say that its tack sharp?

 

I had focusing issues with the M8/M8.2 but not with the M9.

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It is a wonderful lens but I sold mine because I prefer the 100 Apo Macro and the 180 Apo Elmarit with the R9/DMR.

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I have had mine for awhile now; it is sharp and indeed, it produces wonderful images. So far though, I have not been able to warm up to that lens. I left that lens home on several trips. Due to its longish focal length, it is tougher to get critically sharp pictures at slower speed than 1/125 sec., at least in my case.

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Very nice, but how is focusing consistency? We can always be lucky occasionally, but can we relly count on it?

 

I am getting a bit tired of the bulk and the weight of the Elmarit, which otherwise works very dependably, so I am considering an Apo-Telyt. I would prefer not to have to use a finder magnifier.

 

The old man from the 13.5cm Age

 

Lars - I've used mine since around 2000 - starting on the M6, delighting in it's 180 FOV on the M8 and now depending on it with the M9. Issues?

 

 

  1. It's a long manual lens attached to a range-finder camera. Focus can be difficult - and if you want to use it for landscape work, you really need to use a tripod. These are the only circumstances where I've been disappointed with results.
  2. I find I can focus it accurately fully open without using a magnifier. I bought one, but I don't use it. NB - I do, however, have the correct diopter on the viewer - but then I wouldn't be able to focus a 28mm lens without that!

Within these constraints I continue to marvel at how good it is. I use it for reportage but it's main role is when I'm traveling / walking. The combination of the 35 cron + the 135 + the M9 is my ideal go anywhere kit.It fits into some decent sized pockets or a bum bag and a couple of lens pouches, and covers an incredibly wide range of options.

 

Some examples below.

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Gulls seem to important objects for the use of the Apo-Telyt. Here a crop-version at f/5.6 (though only with the M8). Without a magnifier I think exact focussing at bigger apertures is a hit and miss affair:

 

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Uli - lovely image! Interested to know how much you cropped out?

 

Thank you!

 

The crop is about 100% - here is the full image:

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I'm still pi... I mean highly annoyed at Leica for making me sell the 135 APO back in 2006, by claiming that it would be " impossible to use" on the M8:mad::mad:

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I'm still pi... I mean highly annoyed at Leica for making me sell the 135 APO back in 2006, by claiming that it would be " impossible to use" on the M8:mad::mad:

 

Ditto for the refusal to include the lens in those that can be coded / automatically recognised.

 

If any of you who are directly involved with testing things for Leica (Jono?) could have a quiet word with Stefan Daniel (or - Mr Daniel - if you are reading this), I'd be greatly pleased if this position could be reversed. I recognise that the 135 AT isn't the easiest of lenses to focus - but neither is a fully open Noctilux!

 

The 135 Apo Telyt is a great lens on the M9 and should be considered an indispensable part of the system rather than something that's been relegated to history. Indeed, you could argue that with this fast, light, optically splendid lens the M9 becomes a viable system camera. Without it, you're always going to have to carry an SLR + longer lens to cover those things that are just a bit too far away or where you really want to compress perspective.

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Ditto for the refusal to include the lens in those that can be coded / automatically recognised.

 

For what purpose?

There ias an impressive number of threads in the archive about how to have better results WITHOUT Leica coding. This being only a problem with the M8 - without manual lens recognition - and certainly at 28mm and less.

 

Sometimes after having returned from the field and using it alongside a 90mm, it's not always that easy to remember which of the two focal lengths had been used for a particular image. A coded 90mm helps.

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