tak_l_jasper_poon

<p>i tried to link to the F&H website for you but unfortunately their site no longer exists. Tak</p>

<p>Hi Zan, your picture looks like 10772. this photo I attach is from the brochure of rollei6000 system. Tak</p><div></div>

<p>You're welcome Geoff. The pleasure is mine. Tak</p>

<p>Hi Ray, thanks for the advice. The next solar eclipse visible in my home town will be in 2012. So i should have plenty of time to prepare for it. I have been using stacks of ND8 and already able to do a shot of the sun showing an orange coloured sphere with sunspots visible. The problem was to find step-down adapters from 95mm all the way down to 72mm. (Larger ND8 filters are either too expensive or actually not available.) but the information you gave should even be a better solution. Tak</p>

<p>Geoff,<br>

AF variogon from slightly wide to slightly tele, covers the standard in the middle. it was announced at the same time as the first 6008af in 2002. Since October 2010 it has been again readily available. it is selling at 6k euro here at the shop i mentioned above. i have handled it. i found it slightly too heavy. when i am on trips i usually take the 60, 80 and 1.4x with me. so this lens is not too attractive for me. if you go to the german version of <a href="http://www.franke-heidecke.net/">http://www.franke-heidecke.net/</a> you can download a pdf of rollei6000 system with a brief mentioning of this lens.<br>

I dont have unlimited resources, so when i bought my first true tele lens i made very careful comparisons. I finally chose the 300mm because:<br>

it is slightly but not excessively more expensive.<br>

it is faster f/4 vs f/5.6<br>

MTF charts here: <a href="../photodb/folder?folder_id=729924">http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=729924</a> the 250 sonner has big blocks of solid glass, so it should be very heavy. it would also be difficult to balance since it does not have a tripod mount<br>

with a pistol grip at the tripod mount of the 300mm, it can be handled like a sniper rifle.<br>

the light weight of the Hy6 body gives satisfactory balance if the tripod is attached to the lens.<br>

the 300 is longer, and with the same arrangement of multipliers i can achieve a larger magnification.<br>

the 300 has a built-in hood. the compendium for the sonner is very cumbersome<br>

but there is one draw back: the filter size is 95mm for the 300 but the more common bay-6 for 250.<br>

I once tried to use the lens to photo a partial solar eclipse. the lens proved to be very useful later for wild life photos. but the photo taking of the solar eclipse failed simply because the sun was too bright. i finally tested the sun and found that i have to use shutter speed 1/500 and aperture f/1800, equivalent to EV=30.3. now i am waiting for the next solar eclipse.<br>

Tak</p>

<p>Hi, with the 6060 magazine for Hy6 finally available, the Hy6 is the only other 6x6 camera with autofocus than the 6008AF. Tak</p>

<p>Hi Geoff, I am also a big schneider fan. :D On the wider side I have the angulon and curtagon, and I also have the 300, too. the 120mm apogon is actually the only non-schneider lens that I have at the moment. :D<br>

As a matter of fact the AF variogon is available also. So I think it is not a shift back to Zeiss but rather both lines (Zeiss and Schneider) will be available for future AF users as it had always been in the 80's and 90's.<br>

cheers, Tak</p>

<p>I think all these are guesses. what is really happening we do not know. With the introduction of apogon we have more choices of lenses. In itself it is not a bad thing. For a photographer both Zeiss and Schneider are superb lenses. Both have standard and wide lenses. But in the tele range Zeiss has 120, 150, 250 and 500 while Schneider has 150, 180 and 300. so they really complement each other. I have lenses from both brands and i really enjoy shooting with them. In that case this history should be neither right or wrong. I think the most important thing is the company's selection of lenses for R & D and manufacturing should be market-wise, so that DHW will continue to make money, (at least avoiding another insolvency) and keep on a traditional brand that we treasure, for ourselves and our future generations. For example, Schneider does not have 120mm, so getting one from Zeiss is worthwhile, since this focal length is indeed very useful. (the 150 symmar is too long and tight macros requires VERY long extensions, and the 90mm symmar is too short, such that the object could be too close to the lens). Therefore this lens (120 makro-apogon) should have a selling point.</p>

<p>Dear Geoff,<br>

First of all I am no insider of the company, but only a great fan of Rollei line of equipment. I don't shoot 135, and I am really excited when I see that the brand comes back to life. As for your questions I can only make educated guesses. The symmar, being a lens primarily for macro, has an unusual kind of sharpness when shooting at objects at ordinary distances. The tele-xenar on the other hand is slightly too soft and difficult to focus if you use it at macro ranges with extension tubes. Now Rollei always has Zeiss and Schneider lenses. But it never has Zeiss AF lenses. Is this because of licensing technicalities? Then there is a new line of lenses based on Zeiss design and made by Rollei, which would come in non-AF and the AFD versions when they in full production. They are called apogons. This should, I think apply to the makro-apogon 120 and the apogon 150. They are in fact manufactured on the Zeiss makro-planar designs. If my guess is correct, then the 80 apogon AF should be an AF version of Rollei made lens based on the 80 planar design. So the difference between apogon and xenotar should not be in the AF function but in the optics, which would carry on the original difference between Zeiss design and Schneider design. it should be subtle, and may be reflected at the edge of DOF only (?). The AF version of makro-apogon is not availble yet, but the shop can accept orders. My original makro-planar 120 was broken years ago. But it had been said elsewhere that this lens has some difficult internal glare, which I think is related to coating rather than design. This should have been improved with modern productions. The MTF chart that come with the apogon instruction booklet was identical with planar. Actually even bearing the name planar. There is no separate apogon MTF chart.<br>

cheers.<br>

Tak</p>

 

<p>there are 2 versions of the makro-apogon 120: AF and non-AF. I bought the non-AF which was much cheaper: around 2500 euro. The AF version doubled this price. The 150 apogon was there, too. But since I already have the 150 symmar, i did not buy this one. My 120 makro planar was broken years ago so I cannot compare the 2. But had been dreaming of buying another makro 120 all these years.</p>

<p>Cheers.</p>

<p>Tak</p>

<p>Hi Geoff,</p>

<p>this is the shop:<br>

<a href="http://www.9days.hk/">http://www.9days.hk/</a><br>

the macro-apogon 120mm, I already took it home. so i have definite proof that it exists. :D</p>

<p>My Hy6 would also be locked when mirror is up. So I think this should be a design feature.</p>

<p>Tak</p>

<p>so you also have a later version of the Hy6. the digital back is from a company equally dead (or alive): Leaf. Tak</p>

<p>Dear Friends,</p>

<p>This is not a question. But I just had a chance of being offered a second Hy6.</p>

<p>New sets of Hy6 are available. A shop in my home town has several sets on shelf. The announced macro-apogon 120mm is available, as well as the apogon 150mm. There are also several 6060 magazines on display. Some other lenses and accessories are available, too.</p>

<p>A new digital back (53mm 80Mp) is accepting order. It will be available in mid-February.</p>

<p>If these are not signs that DHW is thriving, what are?</p>

<p>This set of Hy6 is also different from my original Hy6 in the inside. Externally it is identical with the version 1.0, bundled with a 645 magazine and bearing the name Rolleiflex. But when I started to test the self-timer, the knob turned out a new function: Focus Trap ! This is something they had dreamed of incorporating back in 2002 when they designed the 6008AF. Finally this is realised!</p>

<p>I don’t know how do they survive. But they do regardless.</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Tak</p>