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Visoflex adapter


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3 hours ago, luigi bertolotti said:

LEM VIS haven't any issue with the pistol grip, even if you rotate the mount... but you have made a right choice... 😎 a used Viso goes rather cheap .. it's robust and even noot to heavy if you use without prism on the CL (the pistol grip and the 400 make most of the global weight, and LEM VIS is not SO light)

Hera's my pistol grip ("Televit") with LEM/VIS at back (Telyt 280 on front) ; the well visible lever on the back of the Televit is for the 90° rotation you quote

I don't know what the problem was but the seller said his Novoflex LEM/VIS didn't work. Defective, maybe but he doesn't think so so it is all a ??? he did say OUFRO worked with the lens. I could mount my M to TL adapter no problem, but that doesn't give me the extension I need. 

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On 3/26/2020 at 10:52 PM, tommonego@gmail.com said:

I have a Nikon 105 Micro Nikkor for macro, and a 40mm Makro Kilar, both make wonderful images.

I also have a 105mm/f2.5 Nikkor in LTM, sitting on my father's IIf but I have never used it for macro. Now that have (or will have if the post ever deliver it) a 100mm/f2.8 APO Macro-Elmarit-R with ELPRO 1:1 attachment and extension tube, I suspect I never will use the Nikkor for macro. 

Wilson

Edited by wlaidlaw
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42 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

I also have a 105mm/f2.5 Nikkor in LTM, sitting on my father's IIf but I have never used it for macro. Now that have (or will have if the post ever deliver it) a 100mm/f2.8 APO Macro-Elmarit-R with ELPRO 1:1 attachment and extension tube, I suspect I never will use the Nikkor for macro. 

Wilson

For digital I use a CL or an M8, for the versatility of the CL the 105 is an AiS true macro or micro, I use it with an adapter so no problem since I like manual focus macros. The 40mm Makro Kilar is a lens I picked up for my Canon FD cameras, was never great on full frame, but it is perfect on the CL again manual focus. I did a lot of medical photography, so macros come naturally to me. Funny I have had the 105 for a couple of months but haven't tried it on my Nikon D300.

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Wilson, Tom is not referring to the 105mm f2.5 Nikkor-P, of which there have been many upgrades since the LTM version was made.  He is referring to the 105mm f2.8 Micro Nikkor macro lens which is designed specifically for close-up work.  The cult Kilfitt lens for close-up is the 90mm f2.8 Makro-Kilar, not the 40mm.  The 90mm f2.8 Makro-Kilar Apo Asph lens was introduced in 1957 and continued into the 1970's.  Stanley Kubrick used this lens extensively.

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29 minutes ago, zeitz said:

Wilson, Tom is not referring to the 105mm f2.5 Nikkor-P, of which there have been many upgrades since the LTM version was made.  He is referring to the 105mm f2.8 Micro Nikkor macro lens which is designed specifically for close-up work.  The cult Kilfitt lens for close-up is the 90mm f2.8 Makro-Kilar, not the 40mm.  The 90mm f2.8 Makro-Kilar Apo Asph lens was introduced in 1957 and continued into the 1970's.  Stanley Kubrick used this lens extensively.

Yes, I always wanted the 90 but now you have a lens that most look beat up for about the same price as the Leica 100 macro. Yes a lot of what is available have Arri mounts. The 105 Micro Nikkor was under $100 but needed a CLA, I used the 105 lens extensively when I was doing medical and surgical photography, it was always dependable to give excellent images, even though it is a little big on the CL I haven't been disappointed . I was looking at the TL 60 apo-macro, but it didn't have the working distance I wanted, was also considering Leica 100 macro R. 

I used an 85 f2 LTM Nikkor in my time with Leicas, sold it with my M2s.

Edited by tommonego@gmail.com
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You correctly observed that mint versions of this lens are very expensive because of its cult status.  The Arri mount is removable, leaving one with some challenges to mount it to a Leica camera or Visoflex II/III.

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2 hours ago, zeitz said:

Wilson, Tom is not referring to the 105mm f2.5 Nikkor-P, of which there have been many upgrades since the LTM version was made.  He is referring to the 105mm f2.8 Micro Nikkor macro lens which is designed specifically for close-up work.  The cult Kilfitt lens for close-up is the 90mm f2.8 Makro-Kilar, not the 40mm.  The 90mm f2.8 Makro-Kilar Apo Asph lens was introduced in 1957 and continued into the 1970's.  Stanley Kubrick used this lens extensively.

I knew my Nikkor 105mm was a different lens from the Micro Nikkor but for macro work, I would have used it on my Novoflex LTM-LTM bellows. Apparently even the old LTM version has very high resolving power. I used to use the head off my 65mm/f3.5 Elmar V.2 (the black one) with the Novoflex bellows in place of a Visoflex and 16464K focusing mount. The Novoflex bellows has coarse sliding focus and then a superfine micrometer focus control, after locking the coarse focus. I have two different mounts to have the 65 head at different distances from the front face of the bellows, LEIEL and LEIMAR. Sadly my 65 Elmar V.2 was stolen and at the time, I could only find a Chrome V.1 of that lens for sale in the UK. The V.1 has noticeably lower resolving power than the V.2 but I suspect that the 100 APO Macro is going to be considerably higher than the Elmar 65 V..2.

Wilson

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3 hours ago, zeitz said:

You correctly observed that mint versions of this lens are very expensive because of its cult status.  The Arri mount is removable, leaving one with some challenges to mount it to a Leica camera or Visoflex II/III.

Yes I noticed the Canon FD mount on the 40 is on by 3 screws, but there has to be some sort of tube length involved, is there a market for Kilar mounts, just curious?

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Strictly speaking, the mount on the 40mm is not considered interchangeable.  When you ordered a Kilfitt 40mm, you ordered it with the mount you wanted; Kilfitt / US Importer installed the mount before shipping / selling.  The 40mm lens mounts were not really sold separately.  But as you can see, the mount is easily changed.  The 40mm was really for 35mm SLRs along with some movie cameras.  All other Kilfitt lenses were advertised as easily changed by means of adapters for any number of different camera types you might own.  That included 2 1/4 cameras, 35mm with reflex housings, 35mm SLRs and movie cameras.  There is almost no interchangeable lens camera that Kilfitt did not make an adapter for.  When Tamron introduced the all-conquering T mount system, they only served the 35mm SLR market leaving Kilfitt / Zoomar with only the movie market.  For the price of Kilfitt lenses, still camera owners could buy automatic diaphragm lenses from the camera manufacturer.

There are quite a few of the common Kilfitt / Zoomar adapters listed on E-bay.  And occasionally some of the rare ones appear.  Some dealers advertise them and occasionally find new-old-stock items to sell.  (There are two Kilfitt adapters that I have been seeking for years with no luck.)  Novoflex fans are fortunate that Novoflex is still a thriving business and sometimes has the old stock items.  Kilfitt fans have no such luck.

The Kilfitt system of adapters is complex with four series (40mm Makro, KI, AN and WE) and two sub-series within the KI series.  Leitz was called the Lord of the Rings.  Kilfitt should be called the King of the Rings.

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Here is my first test photo from the 400, it had enough focus travel with the TeleVit to use the CL directly @ f11 400 ISO. 

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Edited by tommonego@gmail.com
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It is a small barn about 150 meters away from my porch, I attached the CL directly to the lens M mount (M to L adapter). I had enough movement in the focus to use the CL, it may be difficult to get anything much closer. I was using a light weight tripod and FOTOS to keep the lens from shaking, found it was extremely difficult to focus critically with FOTOS. My bigger tripod definitely helps. The Visoflex is coming today, we have a bird migration resting place down the street, will go down there if the rain holds off.

Same scene taken with a 55mm lens

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Edited by tommonego@gmail.com
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Some bird hunting, 2 male hooded mergansers, even with 400mm it is still work to get close enough, this one is cropped.

CL 400mm f5.6 Telyt

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OK had a surprise, the 400 and televit works with the CL without an extension (barn picture), I did buy a Visoflex for the extension. The difference is in minimum focus, without the Viso the minimum focusing distance is about 20 ft, with the Viso about 8 ft, so really not a lot of change. both ways will focus to infinity.

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Yes... it can be surprising, but, thinking well, such long focus lenses do have a focusing movement that is very wide, compared to the not so great length of a Viso.  Of course, without the Viso you can "retract" the 400 at a level in which it goes "beyond infinity... 😃) , using the thumb-operated focus wheel ... but with the two knobs at the left side of the pistol one can "block" the movement in two points , so  (supposed you don't need focus under the 20ft you quote) you can set one knob to the position corresponding to infinity focus without Viso... and is all OK.

 

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