[Leica] Alternative to STA-1 tripod collar for the 80-200 F4 Vario Elmar R lens (14636)

[Frank Filippone]

 This is in response to the question: How to use the Leica 80-200 F4 Vario Elmar lens on a Sony A7rii camera ON A TRIPOD?  The lens appears to be a bit heavy for the camera's lens mount. ( lens is about 1Kg)

Thanks to some reading and some great help from the LUG community, I found a first alternative to the STA-1 collar on the 80-200 Lens.

Background:  the STA-1 has long been discontinued.  It is reasonably hard to find on the secondary market, and when found, costs about $125-200.  I was looking for a lower cost alternative.  But the red dot is a problem.....  I found some info that the Canon collar might fit..... but the red dot would not.

The Tripod Collar for the Canon 70-210 F4 EOS lens has the same internal diameter, and can be purchased for $25-100, used.  It is still in production.  There are generic equivalents, made in Asia, which cost $10-20, but I do not have one of them to try as yet.  Would the red dot fit or interfere?

The short answer is that the Canon Collar, DOES fit.  If you put the collar on the lens with the foot facing forward,, towards the subject, it works amazingly well.  There is a place around the hinge area that has a recess/void in it that fits the red dot just perfectly..  The collar is just wide enough to fit between the zoom ring and the F stop ring.  With maybe 1-2 mm to spare.  Both rings move smoothly when the collar is on correctly.

Mind you, does not work for portrait mode......  but at least I am 50% there.... Landscape mode only. But I am on a tripod..... which was the real first objective.

When I get the Asian generic, I will see if/how to modify it as required for portrait and landscape mode......
Note that I am using the lens on a Sony A7 family camera with a Novoflex R to NEX adapter.   Doug Herr suggested using the appropriate Novoflex Tripod Collar for the adapter.... but I do not have it at hand right now, and wanted to pursue the lens solution more quickly.  This would allow use of a tripod for portrait or landscape modes ( or anything in between).

Comment on Center of gravity, (balance)   ..  Is this setup front or rear heavy?  ...... With this Canon collar setup, with the foot facing forward, the CG of the combo with camera attached ( A7rii) is SLIGHTLY ( 3/8 of an inch) BEHIND the center of the foot of the collar.  ie, it is very slightly back or camera heavy ( lens tips up).  The solution to use the Novoflex collar would probably move this to be slightly front heavy....  Will test to be sure.

I also put on a ARCA lens plate for ease of tripod mounting.  This is about in the center of the CG. It is low and of small weight, and will make minimal differences in the CG.

In the future , I plan on using a Leitax flange with the spring loaded aperture adjusting feature on this lens, and switch over to a Nikon Novoflex adapter.  My lens is an earlier vintage without ROM.  Later versions require serious work to make the flange fit, as the ROM wiring gets in the way.

This is written for the archives.  So much of this info is not written down and it is hard to redo all the research for these older objects.I hope this will help future users.
 
Frank FilipponeRed735i at verizon.net