[Leica] The 400 Telyt on the Nikon D700

[cummer at netvigator.com (H&ECummer)]

Hi Luggers,
Santa came early this year and Mr. Lee at Panda camera finished the  
change of bayonets ahead of schedule.  The change was complicated by  
the fact that my later model Telyt has different cams than the telyt  
that David Lladro used to design his special leitax bayonet which can  
be installed without surgery so Mr. Lee had to perform surgery on the  
leitax bayonet.

Here is the lens mounted on the camera.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/Nikkor300/400TelytD700w.jpg.html
http://tinyurl.com/yag4r88

I marched over to the Aviary in the Hong Kong Botanical gardens  
yesterday afternoon with the D700 and tripod - using only one leg  
extended as a monopod - the 400 telyt and the 300 nikkor. It was sunny  
and the birds were frisky and the place was crawling with  
photographers most with huge autofocus lenses. One or two eyed me  
suspiciously and engaged me:
"What kind of lens is that?" asked a young fellow with a Canon DSLR  
and a BIG white 500 or 600 mm AF lens.
"It's a Leica 400 mm Telyt from the 1970's"
He raised an eyebrow:
"But it doesn't have auto focus?"
"No - but your autofocus wanders between leaves and birds" I said,  
"while the trombone focusing on this lens can be set very precisely  
and quickly."
And I slide the focus barrel back and forth.
Canon man's eyes widened. "How much?"
"About $6,000," I said.
"HK dollars?" he asked.
"Yes." I said.
"Hmmm" he said and turned away muttering.

As I said the place was crawling with photographers; here's a sample:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/Nikkor300/BaliMynahPhotogsw.jpg.html
http://tinyurl.com/ybc3dzg

I picked up a pamphlet at the Aviary so now I can properly name the  
birds.

Here's a black capped Lory taken with the 400. Even at f6.3 a 400mm  
lens has such a shallow depth of field that it is hard to get the  
bird's eyes in focus and have the front feathers in focus.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/Nikkor300/Black-Capped-Lory-400-w.jpg.html
http://tinyurl.com/y9oza57

Here's the Bali Mynah - its blue eye ring makes it easier to focus the  
eyes sharply. I used the 300 Nikkor for this picture and it shows the  
benefit of having auto aperture stop down for increasing the depth of  
field. And, of course, a 300mm lens has slightly more depth of field  
than a 400mm one.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/Nikkor300/BaliMynaw.jpg.html
http://tinyurl.com/yc4j3hz

I set the minimum shutter speed to 1/500 on the D700 and let auto ISO  
run up to 6400. Most of these pictures were shot in the 4000 - 5000  
ISO  range with the camera on Aperture Preferred. With the D700 I can  
dial in the focal length and f stops of the lenses and save them for  
easy future reference and quick changes so I have accurate EXIF data  
and the camera works with these lenses in spot and matrix modes.

Here's the Asian Fairy Blue Bird with the 400 Telyt:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/Nikkor300/AsianFairyBlueBirdw.jpg.html
http://tinyurl.com/yk6vyye

And here is the PinonImperialPigeon taken with the 300 Nikkor -  
stopped down for more depth of field.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/Nikkor300/PinonImperialPigeonw.jpg.html
http://tinyurl.com/y8o4ubs

Having now spent a few hours with the lenses and the camera the skill  
and artistry of bird photographers like our own Doug Herr is readily  
apparent to me.
The road ahead to my better bird photos will obviously be long but  
interesting.

C &C welcome as always,

Cheers

Howard