Re: [Leica] 180 2.8 R-lens - any experiences?

[Five Senses Productions <fls@5senses.com>]

Thanks for the great review.....luckily I can get my hands on new versions of
both here in Southern CA right now, so I think I'll go check them both out
side by side.

At 06:46 PM 1/22/98 -0600, Eric Welch wrote:
>At 09:39 AM 1/22/98 -0800, you wrote:
>>When you say "new design," do you have a serial number that marks
>>the change to the new design?  Is it the 2.8 lens pictured in the Leica
>
>No, the size and shape of the lens is the indicator. The old 180 2.8 is a
>big bruiser of the lens, that looks very much like the old 250 f/4. The new
>one has always looked the same, and has no changes optically or
>mechanically since it was introduced in 1980.
>
>>I also have heard that the 3.4 was a specialized lens and that it cannot
>>focus closely very well.  I personally do not use filters at all, but I
agree
>>with you that the 2.8 is probably a better AP lens.  
>
>The 180 3.4 Apo Telyt is an awesome lens. It's optimized to work wide open
>at infinity and other long-away subjects. It was designed for the U.S. Navy
>for long-range surveillance photography. That being said, it's a great lens
>right down to minimum focus. You would have no complaints, other than many
>it doesn't focus quite close enough. Compared to the other lenses, it's
>just as good at smaller apertures as they are (except maybe the new Apo
>Summicron which is awesome!). The difference is that the Elmarit is better
>in the near-focusing range (and we're talking NEAR, not 15 feet!). 
>
>Jim Stanfield, of National Geographic fame, who Bob Gilka (then director of
>photography at N.G.) told me that he was probably the magazine's most
>accomplished photographer technically, swore by the Apo Telyt. He loved it
>and preferred it to the Elmarit because of it's wide-open performance.
>(Jim, his wife and I spent a weekend together at an awards event for press
>photographers). The lens has fewer lens elements than the Elmarit and
>because of that, and because of the high refractive anomalous dispersion
>glass used in the lens, it's more efficient with light, so 3.4 is more like
>2.8 in T-Stop terms.
>
>I have personally seen the U.S. Navy's on-film tests with the lens. Their
>results were something like 425 lp/mm in the center and 375 in the corners.
>That's just resolution. Seeing what it does on film, it's a true Leica lens. 
>
>So get what you want. I chose the Elmarit because it focuses closer. And I
>found a good one where I didn't find an Apo Telyt of similar quality for
>the price that had the 60mm filter thread. Those two factors together,
>added to the price of the Summicron being prohibitive, pushed me to the
>Elmarit.
>
>Either way, you can't lose. They're both great lenses. Wide open, nothing
>matches the Apo Telyt lenses. But stop down a bit, and the Elmarit is every
>bit as good, and it focuses closer.
>
>And the converter thing.
>==========
>
>Eric Welch
>St. Joseph, MO
>http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch
>
>There's no such thing as nonexistence.
> 


Francesco Sanfilippo,
Five Senses Productions
webmaster@5senses.com

http://www.5senses.com/