400/f6.8 w/Leicaflex SL

[jim_watkins1]

I've recently gotten a Leicaflex SL. Works great. Have a 50 F2 and

75-200 Vario.

 

I'd really like to get the 400/F6.8 lens to take pics of birds and

beasts. A used one that is available has "3rd" cam only, which I

guess means that I will have to push the stopdown button on the front

to get an accurate meter reading. On Doug Herr's excellent Leicaflex

pages he says the only way to use this lens is wide open, which would

eliminate the need to push the stopdown button.

 

So...am I correct about this ?? What else should I be aware of with

this lens ? How long is it ?

 

Thanks in advance. Jim.

[andy_piper2]

A. Yes, you are correct. As is Doug - f/6.8 means 1/250th in sunlight with Velvia - you'll have very few times when you CAN stop down without a tripod. And you don't need to - the lens is lovely at f/6.8.

 

B. It only has two elements in one group (really!) Think "the world's fanciest magnifying glass". Because of this, it has fairly strong curvature of field. But also has very high contrast (no light bouncing around between the elements). So long as your main subject is mostly in the center of the frame (as with wildlife/birds) it's not a big deal. If you try and photograph, say, a wall of high-rise buildings or some other shot with an effectively flat subject, fine details will get very soft near the edges and corners. The field of focus curves TOWARDS the camera as you get closer to the edges.

 

C. 400 millimeters plus a bit. Seriously. Since it's just a fancy single lens of 400mm focal length - it must sit 400mm from the film when focused at infinity - and grows longer as you focus closer. At close-focusing limit with the lens hood extended it hits about 2 feet long - mount to end of lens hood.

[andy_piper2]

Some samples here:

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=172498

 

You can see the curvature of field in - for example - the bighorn sheep pictures. Focus is on the sheep - but at the bottom edge of the picture the curved focus follows the rock berm into the foreground - effectively increasing the depth of field and keeping the rocks sharp as they get closer to the camera - while making the background at the top SOFTER and fuzzier than it would be with a flat-field lens.

[john_collier2]

There is NO aperture linkage in the 400/560 f6.8 lenses. They are all stop down metering. The mount does not have any cams just what are called null cams. The first and second cams are just a ring in the mount and do not look like the usual levers and what not. The latest listing (1995) I have (for both the trombone focusing lens and the Novoflex Rapid Focus Grip) states that it will work on all Leica R, SL and SL2 cameras.

 

I am sure the lens you are looking at will work just fine on your SL and that the buyer just is not able to recognise the null cam.

[jean_claude_berger]

If it may interest somebody, I have a page about this Telyt curvature of field at:

 

www.jcberger.com/photography

 

All the best,

[doug herr]

<I>I am sure the lens you are looking at will work just fine on

your SL and that the buyer just is not able to recognise the null

cam.</I>

<P>

I'll second what John wrote... this 400mm f/6.8 will work fine on

your SL. You don't need to use the DOF preview if you ever need

to stop the lens down, the camera will meter properly.

[jim_watkins1]

Thank you, everyone, for your help. I guess I thought there might another version that I should be looking for, with cams one and two as on my other R lenses, but it sounds as if the 400 never had any more cams, and really doesn't need them.

 

I'm going to buy this lens and have some fun.

 

Thanks again. Jim