Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/09/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I had this lens in the ZF mount. In fact, I had the ZF 28mm, 35mm, and 50mm also. (All bought used on eBay.) I bought these lenses to use with my new D700. All were back on eBay in a week's time. I'm sure that optically they are stellar. The build quality is second to none. But, these lenses are huge and very heavy. And, despite having a split-prism focusing screen in my camera (from Brightscreen), I found it nearly impossible to accurately focus unless I really concentrated and I ended up staring at the Focus Lock indicator in the VF and hardly even looking at my subject. Focus quickly on something moving -- forget it. The focusing helical on these lenses is very long -- lots of turning for little change in focus compared to other lenses. I think that this is what slowed me down more then anything. I wanted to return to the days of my Nikon F and use manual focus lenses but no dice. The equivalent AF Nikkor's in these focal lengths are tiny in comparison and I bought all four (28 f/2.8, 35 f/2, 50 f/1.4, and 85 f/1.8) used on eBay for the price of the ZF 28 or 85 alone! I am disappointed but my camera bag is TONS lighter and there is a lot more green in my pocket. And I can manually focus the AF Nikkors if I really, really want to. Dave. -- 2008 PAW Gallery: www.david-keenan.com/paw Web Site: www.david-keenan.com