[Leica] 280 Telyt

[firkin@netconnect.com.au (Alastair Firkin)]

> I seem to have found a 280mm Visoflex Telyt for Visoflex bayonet mount
> in used but very usable condition and I can get it at a good price.
> This could be a very nice landscape lens for me- I like 300mm lenses
> and wanted a Leica one- this one is affordable.  I would use it on an
> adapter on an R body. If anyone has used this lens I would be
> interested to hear about it, particularly the optical performance.

Joe,

I have used the 280 on the Visoflex for bird life photography in
Queensland, and "published" some of the image on a previous homepage. Using
Flexi colour Kodak print film 400ISO hand held on a monopod we enlarged
them to 16X12 and I was extremely happy with the results. My only problem
is a darkening on one corner of the field if the lens is stopped down,
which I think may be some alignment problem but I'm too lazy/scared to fix
it and so just use the lens wide open ;-). Performance wide open is a
little less contrasty, but then this usually suits me. I prefer a softer,
quieter image, as I usually like taking reflective nature type shots rather
than all action. [you could say that I do this to avoid fast moving objects
or danger and you may be right, but my timing on the bird shots was
critical to expressing their personalities], and if I want more contrast
[as in the photos we got of crocs, then I stop it down a bit. Its a bit
slow, quite long and  but not too heavy, and the performance seems in
keeping with the word Leica,the rendition of the birds plumage was
fantastic, and I too will be looking for an adaptor to use this lens on the
R series camera. Does anyone know the serial numbers of this device? It
will save me some to use this and the 65 Elmar, which is the best macro
lens I've had the pleasure to own. So if you cannot convince your wife to
let you own two systems and the L glass new is a bit on the steep side,
this would seem a good alternative as long as you understand the
limitations. Oh I find it focuses very easily, which surprised me.

If you have time [and this is unlikely with second hand bargains] I could
send you a snap or two, as e-Mail would only reflect my scanning abilities.
Sorry no slides - I've only just begun to explore telephoto lenses ;-) and
I really should have the corner problem looked at :-(

Cheers

Alastair Firkin,

http://users.netconnect.com.au/~firkin/AGFhmpg.html