Leitz 280mm f4.8 Telyt....Opinions/info

mtokue · 04-23-2005

It was late and I was browsing through *bay and came across the Telyt that was a few hours from ending with one very very low bid, the lens looked good and the seller had a good track record so I placed a bid that was just one pound higher.
I figured that this was one of those items that gets bid up in the last few minutes.
Went to bed and the next morning I found out that I had won!!
Anyway the lens arrived and all I can say is that it was even better than advertised infact even the screw mount barely looks as if it has been mounted.
A point to note is that I currently do not own a visoflex.
So the question is does anybody have any experience with this lens?
Should I keep it, or should I Trade/Sell for something I'm more likely to use.
I would appriciate comments on the lens!
I know I'm stupid and click/bid happy already!

Cheers
Mike.

einolu · 04-23-2005

focusing that would be interesting and good luck finding a viewfinder but this looks like a fun lens to use. You can take cool pictures of the moon and interesting landscapes. Not something for you everyday street shooting though :P

Roger Hicks · 04-24-2005

I had one and used it for a few years some 15 years ago. Nice lens, but too long for most things I do (I also had a 400/5 Telyt at the same time). It is sometimes said to have low contrast but I think this is mostly due to atmospheric haze between you and the subject. If you do decide to get rid of it, I'd be mildly interested.

Cheers,

Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com)

phototone · 04-24-2005

Aren't all the Telyt lenses "short mount" for use on the Visoflex? If so, that screw mount Telyt could be used on later bayonet mount Visoflex with a simple adaptor the same as is used for using screw mount lens on "M" Leica.

I would bet that it won't focus correctly mounted directly on a Leica RFDR camera without the visoflex.

mtokue · 04-24-2005

Thanks guys, Its such a nice lens I guess I need to find a Visoflex II or III,
I think I might try to mount it on my RD-1 and see whether I can Scale focus.
Although because of the sensor size the telyt equates to a 430mm Lens!!

I guess theres no hope of finding a finder for such a FOV,
Perhaps a spotting scope

einolu · 04-24-2005

put it on your rd-1 and take pictures of the moon, since you cant mess up the focusing on that. just dont bring that lens anywere near an airport or security guards, heh. If you ever did get a visoflex than I could see this being useful at sporting events or something like that.

Thomaspin · 04-25-2005

I owned one of those for many years - the same version you illustrate, which required a 16466 adapter to mate to a bayonet mount Visoflex II or III, or you could screw it directly into the Visoflex I (which favors tripod use) owing to the Viso I's greater depth. Given that the Viso I and II were both available in screw (rear) mount, you could use the lens on any Leica ever made, screw or (with an adapter) bayonet mount.

The head of the lens unscrews from the focusing mount for use on a rapid focus device Leitz made named the Televit (rarely seen) or on their bellows for close-up use (at a distance!).

A Viso II (manual mirror) or III (automatic return mirror when the lever arm is released) can be had inexpensively, but be warned that the massive prism on these adds greatly to the bulk and weight of an already weighty combination. Unless your subjects are at infinity, scale focusing a lens this long is a gamble.

The first version of the lens (preceding yours) came with a massive tripod mounting foot/plate which worked well. The second (yours) came with that ridiculously small poncy tripod plate which is an invitation to camera shake. The third version, which came in M bayonet mount only with markedly improved ergoomics, had something in between.

My experience with the second version was that this was a very heavy lens (brass internals) with a decent wide-open aperture of f/4.8. You get pre-set click stops and have to stop the aperture down manually before exposure. I mostly used it at f/5.6 and it was easy to focus on my Viso II's plain ground glass focus screen.

Definition was more than adequate for a 12x enlargmenet, provided you kept the whole thing steady, which pretty much mandated TriX and 1/1000th or 1/500th hand held. Contrast was noticeably lower than more recent lenses of comparable length, easily compensated by one grade contrastier paper or in Photoshop.

The one drawback of the lens was that the optics were so heavy that they placed quite a bit of leverage on the focusing helix, inducing drag unless you supported the front of the lens.

So in conclusion - decent definition and poor ergonomics. Fun to use now and then but no comparison for ease of operation to a modern auto focus lens on an SLR.