Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Sun, 3 May 1998, David Freedman wrote: = >While this thread is still warm, I thought I'd broaden it a bit by askin= g >about Novoflex alternatives. Is the Novoflex 400/3 lens head in the sam= e >optical league as the Telyt? What about mounting a Leica lenshead on a >Novoflex Follow Focus grip? I know there was a Tamron 300/2.8 lenshead >mated to a Novoflex focusing mount that was available for a while; too b= ad >it wasn't a 280/2.8 APO Telyt. David, I used the Novoflex 280/400/640 lenses for a year or so in my pre-Leica days. The sharpness of the lenses was adequate but the contrast and colo= r saturation was only fair at best. Recently, Novoflex has used (or is still using) Leica 400 and 560 f/6.8 optical units so the optical quality of these lenses should be far better= than the old equipment I used. IMHO, the all-Leica 400 and 560 are still the better lenses in most cases= =2E = The Novoflexes are considerably heavier than the corresponding Leica lenses, and the spring tension on the Novoflex focus grip became quite tiring after a while, particularly when I had to hold focus on an animal waiting for it to turn its head. I'm a 6'1" triathlete and IMHO the Novoflex is too heavy for extended hand-held use. The one functional advantage of the Novoflex is the built-in bellows on some models which allows very convenient close focus. - -Doug