Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/12/08

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Subject: [Leica] R 250 Telyt for my Nikon D700?
From: wildlightphoto at earthlink.net (Doug Herr)
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2009 23:08:20 -0500 (EST)

Howard Cummer wrote:

> I have the opportunity to pick up a 250 f4.o  
> Telyt to augment the telephoto set above and I am wondering if I  
> should. I am getting all this telephoto fire power to take wild life  
> pictures in  Bali and Australia.
> What do you all think? TIA

This is going to be one of those YMMV answers.  To begin with, I find the 
250mm focal length on a full frame camera to be about the shortest lens I 
can generally use for wildlife photos.

Assuming the loss of auto-aperture doesn't bother you (as evidenced by your 
90 'cron & 180 APO)... my experience is with the late version of the 250mm 
Telyt: rotating tripod mount, E67 filters, good minimum focus distance.  I 
didn't consider the first version because I depend on the rotating tripod 
mount (early version has a fixed tripod mount) and the first version's 
4.5-meter near focus limit would be a major nuisance for my work.  The late 
250's optical performance is good but not spectacular.  Its worst behavior 
is either lateral chromatic abberation or bokeh that can tend toward harsh 
at times.  Color saturation and flare resistance are its best qualities, and 
the handling is quite good too.

Given that I value the auto-aperture feature, I'd also consider the 300mm 
Nikkor ED AIS, either IF or, if you can find one, the earlier non-IF model.  
Except for bokeh & minimum focus distance, the non-IF ED lens will 
out-perform the 250; the IF model's optical performance isn't quite as good 
but will be comparable to the Telyt, and will focus closer than the non-IF 
model too.  Aside from the auto-aperture the handling of these Nikkors isn't 
as good as the Telyt mostly due to the placement or stiffness of the 
focussing ring.


Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com




Replies: Reply from drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers) ([Leica] R 250 Telyt for my Nikon D700?)