[Leica] R 250 Telyt for my Nikon D700?

[drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers)]

Doug,

Oh, the things we learn. When I bought my 300 Nikkor ED AIS IF I could
have bought a non-IF in same condition for less money. The good news, I
suppose, is that I'm not a good enough photographer in that arena that
I'd notice the difference :-) I have a 1.4 converted as well. 

I haven't yet tried the 300 + converter on the D700. I'm just too busy
using Leica lenses. I probably use the 50/2 Summicron 90 percent of the
time on the D700 these days. Ironically, the last 50/2 I had -- back
when I had an R system -- flared a lot and I didn't like it. The one I
bought to convert to F mount isn't at all prone to flare. I still
haven't figured that one out, and likely never will. 

Perhaps with the former 50 I just experienced a lot of "bad flare days".


Dave R 

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+drodgers=casefarms.com at leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+drodgers=casefarms.com at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Doug Herr
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 10:08 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] R 250 Telyt for my Nikon D700?

Howard Cummer wrote:

> I have the opportunity to pick up a 250 f4.o  
> Telyt to augment the telephoto set above and I am wondering if I  
> should. I am getting all this telephoto fire power to take wild life  
> pictures in  Bali and Australia.
> What do you all think? TIA

This is going to be one of those YMMV answers.  To begin with, I find
the 250mm focal length on a full frame camera to be about the shortest
lens I can generally use for wildlife photos.

Assuming the loss of auto-aperture doesn't bother you (as evidenced by
your 90 'cron & 180 APO)... my experience is with the late version of
the 250mm Telyt: rotating tripod mount, E67 filters, good minimum focus
distance.  I didn't consider the first version because I depend on the
rotating tripod mount (early version has a fixed tripod mount) and the
first version's 4.5-meter near focus limit would be a major nuisance for
my work.  The late 250's optical performance is good but not
spectacular.  Its worst behavior is either lateral chromatic abberation
or bokeh that can tend toward harsh at times.  Color saturation and
flare resistance are its best qualities, and the handling is quite good
too.

Given that I value the auto-aperture feature, I'd also consider the
300mm Nikkor ED AIS, either IF or, if you can find one, the earlier
non-IF model.  Except for bokeh & minimum focus distance, the non-IF ED
lens will out-perform the 250; the IF model's optical performance isn't
quite as good but will be comparable to the Telyt, and will focus closer
than the non-IF model too.  Aside from the auto-aperture the handling of
these Nikkors isn't as good as the Telyt mostly due to the placement or
stiffness of the focussing ring.


Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com



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