[Leica] 400mm, cheap!

[jhnichols at lighttube.net (Jim Nichols)]

Congratulations on the detective work.  Your rejects would be winners for 
the rest of us!

Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doug Herr" <wildlightphoto at earthlink.net>
To: <lug at leica-users.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2012 5:40 PM
Subject: [Leica] 400mm, cheap!


> Last spring I purchased a 560mm f/6.8 Telyt on the PIGRIFF-C focussing 
> grip and at the same time I bought (separately) a Novoflex 400mm f/5.6 
> T-Noflexar (3-element) lens head to fit the PIGRIFF-C. The 400mm lens head 
> was supposed to be a 'fun' lens and was very inexpensive.
>
> A few weeks passed before I could test the T-Noflexar, and once I tried 
> making photos with it I found out why it was so inexpensive: the image 
> quality was TERRIBLE. I couldn't even discern a plane of focus. Oh well, 
> it was inexpensive and supposed to be fun, so I just put it back in its 
> bag and forgot about it for a while.
>
> But... it kept nagging at me. My previous experience with two samples of 
> the T-Noflexar was quite good, there had to be something wrong with this 
> lens and I couldn't image it left the factory working that badly, which 
> suggested that someone took the lens apart and mucked it up somehow.
>
> A few days ago I started disassembly and once I had a good view of the 
> rear of the optical unit my suspicions seemed to be confirmed: the 
> retaining ring holding the rear element in place has some scratches on it.
>
> I removed the rear element and flipped it around, re-assembled and the 
> difference through the viewfinder was startling. The lens now has a very 
> clear, sharp plane of focus and stuff pops in and out of focus just like 
> it ought to.
>
> I took it into the field today and found a willing subject, a Cattle 
> Egret. The lighting was variable fog and the egret wanted me to make 
> backlit photos (I was shooting from the shadow side).
>
> The image detail is't APO but still quite good, contrast is a bit on the 
> low side which meant that stretching the histogram to get a rich deep 
> black and bright white might in some circumstances result in a loss of 
> tonal gradation. Its color balance is clearly cooler than that of the 
> 560mm f/6.8 or 280mm f/4 APO but can be corrected most of the time.
>
> Files made with the 280mm f/4 are much easier to work with, hold shadow 
> and highlight detail better and the color quality is richer with fuller 
> gradation, but for the price I paid for the T-Noflexar, about 1/20 the 
> current market value of the 280 APO, I can't complain.  Sample:
>
> http://wildlightphoto.com/temp/egret.jpg
>
> a detail crop:
>
> http://wildlightphoto.com/temp/egret_crop.jpg
>
> Doug Herr
> Birdman of Sacramento
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com
>
>
>
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