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135mm Lens on M8?


Peter Lea

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I think the focus problem on the 135 is perhaps exaggerated... I have problems with the 75 Cron Asph too... (although opening to 3.5 obviously helps). What the M8.2 + 135 does for me is to open up travel and performance opportunities which my Canon system doesn't allow - the combination of light weight and small size (I can carry these things anywhere) + quiet operation (I can shoot pretty well anywhere) is the clincher for me. I now use a 5D2 + 5D system with L series zooms / 85 1.2 for commercial work (events and the like) but the M8 is the friend which goes everywhere and covers personal work and a lot of professional assignments too.

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Chris, though I'm not a professional photographer, what you describe is very much my situation. I too have the 5D + L zooms + a L prime, and the outfit is burdensome and obtrusive. The 135 (now ordered, BTW, a clean Tele-Elmar second version), will fill the telephoto "gap" after my 75mm and make the Leica a lighter, go-anywhere outfit.

Peter

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Another vote for the 135/4 Tele-Elmar. This is the nearest you will ever get to a bargain in a Leica Lens. I was lucky enough to find a brand new unopened one, albeit about 20 years old, in a shop in Germany. I paid €500 for it. I use, like many others, a Megaperls 1.15 magnifier. At f4, I would guess I am getting about a 50% rate of decent focus but as electrons come cheap, just take more photos, refocusing each time and you will find enough come out to make it worthwhile. The focusing action is by far the smoothest of all 8 of my Leica lenses, which helps.

 

Wilson

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Me too think that the problem of focusing with 135 hasn't to be exaggerated : let'say, is better not to search for nail-selective focus... unless one can afford finely bracketed focusing, which obviously is not always possible to do. I prefer to use my TE f4 at 8/11 to enjoy a decent DOF, using it for its role - a tele : in this perspective, it's a wonderful lens, with its specific and appreciable add-on role as macro lens on Visoflex with the lenshead unscrewed.

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Peter,

 

The one lens I wish I didn't sell (to build up cash and enable the switch from my M7 to the M8) is my lovely 134/4 Tele-Elmar. Heck, the US$400 I got for the lens has not paid for all the regret since I sold the lens!

 

I think a 135mm Leica lens would be very handy to use on the M8 because its extra reach. (My longest lens now is a 90mm Tele-Elmarit.) If you can find a clean 135mm Tele-Elmar, don't pass on it: BUY IT.

 

-g

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Chris,

 

On a semi-related issue: how do you imprint your name on each photo?

 

Thanks!

 

-g

 

Hi - I usually don't for this forum - an oversight! But the way it was done was the "Add copyright watermark" feature in Lightroom's export dialog. Easy enough to do it through a Photoshop action - and a lot more control over font, appearance etc... But the LR tool can be handy.

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Hi everyone: This is my first post here and I would like to start with saying thank you to all of you for building such a high quality forum. I have been learning a lot and now I just want to chime in.

 

I have the Tele-Elmar 135/4 and like many of you, I like it very much. A magnified viewfinder definitely helps. Here is a shot ( my first ever attempt at bird photography ) I took with this lens.

 

Phil

 

I thought I was done with buying lenses. But your shot might cost me some money.:D

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I have a Tele-Elmar 135/4.0 from 1966. According to Puts it´s technically the same lens than the 135/4.0 in the new design. I bought in on Ebay a few years ago for something like 260 Euros, and the lens is really in a good shape. I love it on the M8.

 

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Yours Olaf

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I dearly love the apo 135 3.4 on my M8. I used it extensively on the Leica/Porsche trip to Germany last summer and took lots of images of Neuschwanstein castle from the parking lot. Guy Mancuso and I were standing side by side and got some very good images as the sun went into and out of the clouds.

 

The Lens is a superb performer. Try one and see if it works for you. Sure the framing is difficult when the total image is about the size of the focus patch. But you learn to deal with it and the results can be spectacular.

 

Don't give up on tele lenses for the M8 on general principal. some great results can be had

 

JMHO

 

Woody

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Took this today with M8 and 135mm f/3.4 APO-Telyt, at Moss Landing on California's Highway 1. It was at infinity and f/4 - no focusing to worry about. I enhanced contrast in Photoshop CS3, but that's about it.

 

The M8 produces image files usable right out of the box. I love it!

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I dearly love the apo 135 3.4 on my M8. I used it extensively on the Leica/Porsche trip to Germany last summer and took lots of images of Neuschwanstein castle from the parking lot. Guy Mancuso and I were standing side by side and got some very good images as the sun went into and out of the clouds.

 

The Lens is a superb performer. Try one and see if it works for you. Sure the framing is difficult when the total image is about the size of the focus patch. But you learn to deal with it and the results can be spectacular.

 

Don't give up on tele lenses for the M8 on general principal. some great results can be had

 

JMHO

 

Woody

 

Woody,

 

Would you have said that the image was as small as the rangefinder patch. With the old frames, I would have said it was about half way between the 90 frame (available by over -rotating the lens beyond the latch stop) and the RF patch. I have not tried the 135 since having my frames updated, as sadly my M8, between return visits to Solms for correction of RF/sensor alignment faults after the upgrade, has not been in my hands long enough to get round to using my 135 T-E.

 

Rather like Ed, it looks as if I will lose the lovely Rollei Black Magic leather I had had put on when it came back from upgrade and get the nasty, cheap looking, slippery in sweaty hands, rubber put back on by Solms. I will have to be on the net to Morgan to get another kit but there will not be time before I set off on my travels, so I will have a leather grip and rubber camera.

 

Wilson

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Woody - if anything framing feels easier after the upgrade - though halfway between the patch and the 90 lines is about right (I had a 90 mount put onto mine when I had it coded)...

 

As I remember it, this one was grabbed without really having to think about it...

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I have had reasonable success with the 135 f/4 TE on an M8.

 

Framing: The area at infinity is 3x the dimensions of the RF patch...focused close that drops to a little over 2x (lens extension tightens the framing as we all know from the M8 framelines controversy). My own fast technique is to stick the main subject at one of the ends of the RF patch, which gives a nice "rule of thirds" composition - unless of course I just want it centered.

 

But using 2x the patch as some have mentioned does guarantee not cutting anything off.

 

Worry more about pointing the lens (with the patch) than about edge framing and soon your eye will just naturally "know" what's going to be included - or not.

 

Focusing: I had real trouble with the APO because it has a short, fast (but thus less precise) focus throw. The Tele-Elmar's longer throw makes sneaking up on precise focus easier.

 

In addition I personally shoot at f/5.6-f/8, which helps a bit with DOF. That's also the range where the TE catches up to the APO in resolution, so unless there is an overwhelming need, I stay away from f/4 (or f/3.4). If the light is going, I'll switch to ISO 640 before shooting at f/4.

 

As to the overall quality of the TE f/4, I had one shot of boat racing where I just ran 100% pixels on the web, which equated to about a 600mm lens. The lens held up just as well as if I'd used a real 600 on full-frame and downrezzed to web size. Amazing detail from a 45-year-old design.

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  • 2 years later...

Hi Guys

I have an M8 which I mostly use with old 35 and 50 summicron lenses.I also have a 135 f2.8 with specs which in my experience is a poor performer.This is not the camera's fault as it was a poor performer as well on my previous M6. The lens is very soft wide open -a good soft focus portrait lens I suppose ?-and only becomes ok ? at f8 to f11 -above this there are no

major improvements.I use it now and then on a tripod to shoot cityscapes.I would urge other Leica M users to test this lens out thoroughly before purchase.Mine I got a long time ago and I did not pay too much so I suppose it's a 180 lens to use occasionally.

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Hi Guys

I have an M8 which I mostly use with old 35 and 50 summicron lenses.I also have a 135 f2.8 with specs which in my experience is a poor performer.This is not the camera's fault as it was a poor performer as well on my previous M6. The lens is very soft wide open -a good soft focus portrait lens I suppose ?-and only becomes ok ? at f8 to f11 -above this there are no

major improvements.I use it now and then on a tripod to shoot cityscapes.I would urge other Leica M users to test this lens out thoroughly before purchase.Mine I got a long time ago and I did not pay too much so I suppose it's a 180 lens to use occasionally.

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