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135 asph APO-Telyt 3.4


Jlondon53

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Is anyone else using this lens on the M8 (or other camera)? I just posted several images to the new "Member Gallery" in which this lens was used if anyone's interested. Although I'm generally a wide-angle shooter, you'll have to pry my APO-Telyt off my cold dead body. I can't believe one of these lenses just sold on Ebay for only $1500. Is anyone still having issues with the lack of frameline for the 135? I've found that if you give the 90mm frameline estimation method; it a chance, you'll come to wonder what the problem was in the first place.index.php?n=509

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I confess that I'm a fan of the 135 APO-Telyt 3.4. So long as you've got eagle eyes or use the eye piece magnifier and approximate around the 90mm frameline (extra twist on mount to bring up the framelines) then it's great.

 

Nice gallery btw - perfect use for the 135 on the M8.

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Me too have noticed that, in general 135s are taking less and less space on the forum... and the APO (isn't an asph... ;) ) less again than the old Tele Elmar f4 (which is appreciated for Macro on Visoflex) and the Tele Elmarit f2,8 (which is the only "officially supported" 135 on M8, but no more produced). The reason, I think, is that most of M8 users regard the camera as a fine tool for light and quick usage, and most of all with luminous primes. I think (haven't it) the APO is an excellent lens, but 135s are surely someway critical to focus when wide open... and have red that at "normal" closings like 8-11 it's not so different from the TE... so unless one has it already, for a M8 user who consider buying a 135, the TE, which is easily available at good prices, is surely seen as a much more convenient alternative.

Personally, I hope the APO, due to this "lack of interest", will suffer a used-prices decrease... :)

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Use mine a lot and love it - a fast 180mm equivalent in a tiny package. It can be difficult to focus, but if you get it right it's brilliant. Framing no problem (I had mine coded as 135 but on a 90mm mount that brings up the 90 frameline and makes framing easier...). My "travel" set up with the M8 is the 28 Asph and 135 Apo.

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It is an incredibly good lens - runs rings around any other brand, only equalled or bettered by the Leica R variants. But - and this is a big but- the M8 is a handheld camera, and as soon as you start handholding the 135/4.0 tele elmar gets so close in quality to be nearly indistinguishable. And those lenses cost about 600 Euro in excellent + condition. One of the most poisonous snakes in the world. A good argument for a somewhat longer focal length....As you see, the M8 takes 135 lenses and works fine.. I use the overrotate method to bring up the 90 mm framelines.

 

snake-1.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

couple.jpg

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I use the 135mm Telyt on the M8 for my wildlife photography, and use the 90mm frame lines as a rough guide. Focusing can be challenging, you get used to it, the results are great though.

 

I agree with Chris.

Jaap- I have a similar shot of a Vine snake like yours. A very deadly fellow.

 

Here are some samples of my M8 with the 135mm Telyt.

Regards,

MIKE

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Me too have noticed that, in general 135s are taking less and less space on the forum... and the APO (isn't an asph... ;) )

 

Are you sure about the 135 APO-Telyt not being ashp? It's listed as "asph" on the Leica website in their lens section. Did I simply mis-understand?

 

John

http://jlondon53.zenfolio.com

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It is an incredibly good lens - runs rings around any other brand, only equalled or bettered by the Leica R variants. But - and this is a big but- the M8 is a handheld camera, and as soon as you start handholding the 135/4.0 tele elmar gets so close in quality to be nearly indistinguishable.

 

I understand and agree, "But" the APO-Telyt is one of those lenses (I forget the technical name) that is really a f2.8 lens and then cut down/re-designed so that it's already at it's "PRIME" aperture (generally considered to be two stops above max) when shooting wide open. In other words, in shooting both lenses handheld or both lenses on a tripod(apples to apples) you would have to shoot the f4 lenses at f8 to get the same premium as the APO-Telyt at 3.4 (wide open). So is that worth the cost difference? Maybe not for everyone, but if you are shooting "architecture" handheld, you need all the speed you can get. All my architectural shots in the member gallery (link below) were captured handheld. I also like to shoot these kinds of images after a rain, but before the masonry has had a chance to completely dry so generally not the brightest of conditions.

Leica User Forum - PhotoPlog - Zugriff verweigert

 

By the way, I really enjoyed your photos on the RFF gallery. I especially liked the "Snippets of Life" series and the "Levels" photos.

Thanks for sharing,

Jlondon53

John London Photographic Imagery

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I find it to be an extremely sharp lens if you happen to get the focus spot-on. Is anyone using a double magnifier to achieve critical focus?

 

I tried that for a while but in the end I went back to using either a single magnifier or none if in bright light. (Hmm, double magnifiers ... the unexpected benefit from buying a replacement when the rubber ring is lost :rolleyes: )

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I use the 135mm Telyt on the M8 for my wildlife photography, and use the 90mm frame lines as a rough guide. Focusing can be challenging, you get used to it, the results are great though.

 

I agree with Chris.

Jaap- I have a similar shot of a Vine snake like yours. A very deadly fellow.

 

Here are some samples of my M8 with the 135mm Telyt.

Regards,

MIKE

 

Mike - that is one of the best shots I ever saw of that snake - deadly but not terribly dangerous, as long as one is not too stupid with it ;).

Moving OT here - mods, feel free to put this post in a separate thread...

Mike, do you feel you get by with 135? I went Visoflex and 400 last year, which worked very well, but a bit slow. I'm switching to DMR/ 105-280 and 1.4x apoconverter now. What do you find?

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I tried that for a while but in the end I went back to using either a single magnifier or none if in bright light. (Hmm, double magnifiers ... the unexpected benefit from buying a replacement when the rubber ring is lost :rolleyes: )

 

On the matter of the magnifier, I find that it's value is dubious compared with having a correctly matched diopter on the viewfinder. This is the thing that really makes the difference for me. I use reading glasses + find I need glasses for driving in low light now (59 years ...) but am happiest using cameras without glasses...

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On the matter of the magnifier, I find that it's value is dubious compared with having a correctly matched diopter on the viewfinder. This is the thing that really makes the difference for me. I use reading glasses + find I need glasses for driving in low light now (59 years ...) but am happiest using cameras without glasses...

I find the 1.15x by Megaperls with built-in diopter the best compromise.

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Mike - that is one of the best shots I ever saw of that snake - deadly but not terribly dangerous, as long as one is not too stupid with it ;).

Moving OT here - mods, feel free to put this post in a separate thread...

Mike, do you feel you get by with 135? I went Visoflex and 400 last year, which worked very well, but a bit slow. I'm switching to DMR/ 105-280 and 1.4x apoconverter now. What do you find?

 

Jaap-Thanks for the compliment. Funny you mentioned the Visioflex & 400 & the DMR / 105-280. I've been toying with exactly the same idea.

Question, isn't the Visioflex combo rather bulky to carry around?

I'm also doing some investigation into the DMR. Is there a decent review you could recommend? No question that the 105-280 & 1.4 converter is ultimately the way to go.

 

Having said all of this, I still love the challenge of photographing wildlife with a range finder.

MIKE

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