Re: [Leica]M6 vs F100

["Henning J. Wulff" <henningw@archiphoto.com>]

>This whole Viso thing sounds and looks beautiful to me. I am only one
>lens away from what I feel is a complete M system and this Viso thing
>screws that up for me. I know I'm going to love it and feel like I need
>a working array of those lenses although my longest lens on my Nikon had
>been a 200 for all my professional years. I rented a 300 once. So maybe
>all I'll feel I need is a macro and a 200 or 280. These lenses were made
>far enough back that I am worrying about their competitiveness on the
>modern market. I would think the Viso would be quickly agreeable to
>adaption from all kinds of other glass.
>Mark Rabiner

One of the things about the Visoflex is that the whole optical and viewing
system is set up for longer lenses. Shorter lenses did not have to be taken
into account when setting up the viewing system. The result is a telephoto
system that is great to look through and very easy to focus, even by
today's standards, and espectially by AF-SLR standards. The main drawbacks
that I found in use were that the shorter lenses, such as the 65 to 200mm
focal lengths, could be slow to operate if you wanted to shoot at stopped
down aperture but focus at full aperture. Due to this I probably shot more
pictures wide open with the Viso than I ever did with SLR's. The later 400
and 560 lenses hardly ever got stopped down, although the 400/5 that I
first had did. I used the 5.6 400 and 560 lenses for a bit, but was never
as comfortable with them, due to their greater size and weight. The half
stop speed loss of the 6.8 lenses was a very useful tradeoff.

The lenses I enjoyed most on the Visoflex were the later (black) 65, which
was noticeably better than the chrome ones I used, the T-E 135 head, the
280/4.8 and  especially the 400/6.8.

The 90's I usually wanted to stop down, as I did the 135/2.8 and 200's, and
the 560 I found to be a bit long physically to handle easily. A dangerous
weapon in a crowd!

I had the helical mounts, extension rings, etc for the shorter lenses, but
used the 65 in particular mostly on the bellows, as the bellows are very
compact and sturdy, and allow the 65 to shine in the close-up stuff. The
Focorapid I found not to be as convenient as the later 400/6.8.

Of course, all talk of convenience takes on a completely different and more
somber tone when talking about the Viso I. I used one regularly with my Ig,
and had the little cable that pre-released the mirror, but using this combo
has little in common as far as convenience is concerned with the Viso II or
especially III.

   *            Henning J. Wulff
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