jonoslack
Active member
I am now the proud possessor of one of these items.
you may recall the tale of the splendid 1.4 extender . . . which didn't actually fit any of my lenses, despite the RGLewis webpage.
Well, Richard Caplan kindly exchanged it . . . and as I already had the A mount adapter coming from Leitax to fit one of the pre-rom lenses I thought 'what the hell' and got the Leica 70-210 f4 one touch zoom. As I understand it this is a version of the famous Minolta beer can - with better build quality and coating. Same size - an extra 100gms or so (750 grams).
Mine arrived today - absolutely mint - complete with original box and manuals, smooth as butter and actually a thing of beauty and wonder. They stopped making them in the mid 90's, and I don't actually know how old mine is, but there is a price sticker on it £1648 - which must have been a substantial whack way back when. It cost me £449 - and there seem to be plenty about.
I'm sure it's not as good as the 80-200 .. . but then, it's not much more than half the weight, and a great deal smaller (and cheaper)
It's a long time since I used a one touch zoom - my muscle memory is . . . erm . . . forgotten - but it feels rather good. I wonder why nobody does them nowadays?
The Leitax mount hasn't arrived yet, but it works well on the NEX7 - preliminary IQ tests suggests that it is wonderfully sharp - even at 210mm wide open. . . . I'll report back later!
all the best
you may recall the tale of the splendid 1.4 extender . . . which didn't actually fit any of my lenses, despite the RGLewis webpage.
Well, Richard Caplan kindly exchanged it . . . and as I already had the A mount adapter coming from Leitax to fit one of the pre-rom lenses I thought 'what the hell' and got the Leica 70-210 f4 one touch zoom. As I understand it this is a version of the famous Minolta beer can - with better build quality and coating. Same size - an extra 100gms or so (750 grams).
Mine arrived today - absolutely mint - complete with original box and manuals, smooth as butter and actually a thing of beauty and wonder. They stopped making them in the mid 90's, and I don't actually know how old mine is, but there is a price sticker on it £1648 - which must have been a substantial whack way back when. It cost me £449 - and there seem to be plenty about.
I'm sure it's not as good as the 80-200 .. . but then, it's not much more than half the weight, and a great deal smaller (and cheaper)
It's a long time since I used a one touch zoom - my muscle memory is . . . erm . . . forgotten - but it feels rather good. I wonder why nobody does them nowadays?
The Leitax mount hasn't arrived yet, but it works well on the NEX7 - preliminary IQ tests suggests that it is wonderfully sharp - even at 210mm wide open. . . . I'll report back later!
all the best