mark_bohrer1

Little Jessie and big Taylor are good buddies.

Leica M10, 50mm f/1.5 Summarit (1954, designed 1936. Recoated at Focal Point Lens 2017.)

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This was the first Leica lens I ever used, back in 1969. My grandfather bought it with an M3 camera in Heidelberg in 1954. I'd spiral-scratched the softly-coated front element with over zealous cleaning when I was a teenager. I had it recoated by John van Stelton at Focal Point Lens a month before he retired.

I'm quite impressed with the overall rendering - sharper than expected at maximum f/1.5 aperture, but still soft and flared enough for a vintage rendering. It had been so soft before recoating that I hadn't used it much.

Wish Canon had a Auto/Manual F-stop button and a manual F-Stop ring. But then lenses could be used as long as there were cameras to mount them to even when the electronic aperture fails.

M-mount lenses for Leica are completely manual, with aperture rings, focusing rings and depth of field scales for all full apertures. Voigtlander and Zeiss make reasonably-priced, high quality lenses in M-mount, and Fotodiox makes an M to R-mount adapter.

<p>I have a 50mm f/1.4 Summilux non-ASPH I paid $850 for used in 2001. I also have a 50mm f/1 Noctilux I paid $1800 for used in 2000.</p>

<p>On the M8, I use the Summilux for everything from live theater to portraiture.</p>

<p>I love the way the Noctilux paints at f/1, vignetting, aberration and all. The picture is a wide-open portrait with it: <img src="http://www.activelightphotography.com/Pet_Animals/Buster_and_friends/DPET-BUZZ0058.html" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.activelightphotography.com/Pet_Animals/Buster_and_friends/DPET-BUZZ0058.html" alt="" /></p>

<p>So I agree with the poster who advised buying lenses for the way they paint, not their specs. I've bought on spec-envy in the past, and it hasn't always turned oput well.</p>

<p>Mark Bohrer<br><div></div>

The lower heat absorption answer may be the right one, but big Nikon optics don't have problems in the heat. Moose Peterson uses his big black 600mm f/4 EDIF and 200mm-400mm f/4 ED VR lenses uncovered all the time for great wildlife images. No, some Nikon lenses have problems in the rain, but that's another story.

But wildlife can see any white coming miles away, and (off-)white can spook 'em when you swing that big lens and tripod off your shoulder. Aftermarket sellers of camouflage wraps for big Canon telephotos do a brisk business...

If you need your Great White Lens to be less visibile, I'd go to http://www.birdsasart.com/accs.html#JRF for a camoufleage wrap. It'll protect your lens from minor dings and scratches too.<div></div>

Has anyone had experience with a Katz Plus screen with their Optibrite

treatment on an EOS 20D? Any metering changes in evaluative mode with

this screen, or other changes you've found?

Can anyone compare Katz' Optibrite with their non-Optibrite screens?

I'm considering buying a replacement screen to allow easier manual

focus with a Leitz Telyt 400mm f/6.8 lens. The 20D's 'stock' screen

makes this lens hard to focus precisely. With fast-moving wildlife, I

need all the help I can get.

I've been spoiled by autofocus with my Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS and EF

400mm f/4 DO IS. But the Canon lenses have pale color saturation and

contrast by comparison, so I like the Leitz 400mm better for some

situations.

Thanks in advance.<div></div>

Steve Gandy/www.cameraquest.com sells M or R to EOS EF adaptors. Visoflex lenses used with them focus to infinity. Here's a link to an image with a 560mm Telyt on an EOS 1D:

http://www.mountain-and-desert.com/Wildlife/Birds/Perching_BX/DBX-unk0001-1.htm.<div></div>