[Leica] visoflex

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

>At 06:53 PM 7/31/2008, leo wesson wrote:
>>I don't understand it.  All of the acronyms sound like secret society talk.
>>
>>If I want to do closeup stuff with my M8, what do I need?
>>Can I use any of my m lenses?
>
>
>The OTZFO and the like are not acronyms:  they 
>are catalogue code-words used by Leitz from 
>before World War I until 1958.  The rationale 
>behind these was to save money back when 
>salesmen sent in orders by telegraph and were 
>charged by the word.  Leitz started to change 
>this to a numeric system in 1936 but the switch 
>was killed off by the advent of World War II and 
>so the code-word system survived until 1958 
>before the progenitor of the current 
>"computerized" system was adopted.  (Zeiss Ikon 
>always used a numeric system, incidentally, 
>though it changed its system in the 1950's; 
>Carl Zeiss Jena used catalogue code-words 
>through World War II.)
>
>I have never seen an M8 so I do not know its 
>basic dimensions.  I understand that a Visoflex 
>III will fit an M8 with the 90-degree VF but I 
>am not certain whether the shutter release 
>marries up.  (For that matter, a 1936 PLOOT 
>would work, with a double cable release, though 
>you need an adapter to fit the LTM cable-release 
>fitting to the M8.)
>
>For close-up work, a Viso III and Bellows II 
>would be ideal.  A Viso III also allows 
>telephoto work as far out as you care to go:  I 
>regularly shoot with my M6 on a Questar 3.5 with 
>a 2X Dakin Barlow for a total focal length of 
>2600mm.  That is a LONG optical beam, though, so 
>a SOLID mount is needed!
>
>With a Bellows II, you ought to pick up an LTM 
>39mm by 26 turns-per-inch Whitworth) to M42 
>adapter.  One of the successors to Edmund 
>Scientific (I constantly confuse the two) sells 
>an M42 to "Royal Screw" (the Objective Thread of 
>the Royal Microscope Society, still the standard 
>microscope objective thread to this day) 
>adapter.  With this combination, you can then 
>mount all of those lovely Mikrotars and Luminars 
>and Photars and Micro-Tessars and Micro-Summars 
>and Milars to your camera for macro- and 
>microphotography as now exists only in your 
>wildest dreams.
>
>Next, we'll get you into the Aristophot system, 
>and you'll be doing digital through your 
>microscopes ...
>
>Marc
>
>
>msmall@aya.yale.edu
>Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!
>


The M8 works well with the Aristophot, and easier 
than ever with film. The Aristophot sometimes 
came with a special version of the Viso III which 
allowed readily interchangeable screens, mostly 
to allow clear screens for aerial focussing. This 
also makes it easy to mask off the sensor size.

The Viso III arm can be adjusted properly for 
shutter release on the M8, and if you are willing 
to allow a slight shutter lag, you can get auto 
metering as well, as the M8 can then get the 
exposure information after the mirror goes up and 
before the shutter opens. It's pretty easy to set 
up. I use the bellows II with a number of lenses 
and the 65/3.5, 135/4 TE and 135/2.8 in short 
mounts as well as the 400 and 560/6.8. Works 
fine, except the 65 is especially handy with the 
aperture preset. So the downside is the aperture 
preset thing, but the upside is that you have 
auto exposure (manual is clumsier) and the kit is 
quite small.

Cheapest, workable setup is the Viso III with 90 
degree prism (make sure the prism is for the Viso 
III; the Viso II 90 degree prism works with M 
cameras up to the M6 classic except the M5; the 
Viso III prism works for all M cameras) with the 
16464/OTZFO focussing mount and 135 Elmar or 
Tele-Elmar head and some 16471/OTRPO extension 
tubes for extra close work.

I have some SLR macro lenses; specifically the 
55/3.5 and 200/4 Micro-Nikkors and Canon 60 and 
100 macro lenses. In the end the combo that gets 
most used is the AI Micro Nikkor 200/4 on a Canon 
cropped sensor body. That gives me a 320mm 
equivalent angle of view. I find that to be 
preferable to having an auto diaphragm (and, 
irrelevantly, auto focus) with the shorter focus 
100mm Canon macro.

The combo that gets used next most is the M8/Viso III/65 Elmar.

And then, if the little stuff is really little, 
and can be pinned down, I bring it inside and 
introduce it to the Aristophot with the 
Photars....



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    *            Henning J. Wulff
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