Long lenses for the leica s

[glenerrolrd]

Realize that this has been covered a few years back but looking for any experience .

CONTEXT

Longest native Leica S lens is the 180/3.5 S ... a terrific lens but only about a 140-150 in a FF FOV (isn t it a .82 conversion?) .

Primary application will be LANDSCAPE....nothing that I want to carry would suffice for wildlife and MF is too slow for most sports .

Looking in the 300MM range which would be a modest telephoto by todays standards .

ALTERNATIVES

There appear to be FIVE ALTERNATIVES(5) each with advantages and disadvantages .

1.Leica R TELYT system can be adapted but requires a trip to WETZLER and its still really heavy and manual focus .

2.CONTAX 645 ....350/4.5 ZEISS ...wow I wish I could carry this lens as it would be AF on a Leica S but its 8 1/2 LBS . (Not Practical) .

3.PENTAX 645 /67 ...no experience found ? Would be manual focus .

4. HB 300 mm HC .......appears to be a terrific lens ..AF with Leica adapter ..but still 4 1/2 LBS ....MAYBE ?

5. Mamiya 300/4 APO ....light weight (relatively less than 3 LBS ) small form (77MM filters ) ... an AF lens but manual focus on a Leica S . The 2.8 version would be nicer but too heavy and I will be shooting at F11 anyway .

I know a very specialized requirement but fishing for any experience . :clap:

 

[sirimiri]

The Zeiss 350 is indeed heavy, there's no way around it. It has great color and sharpness.

I don't think you can mount a Maimya 645AF lens to a Maimya M645 bayonet. I'm going from memory here, but the 645AF mount has a pin or obstruction to prevent it from being mounted to M645 bodies.

Consider one of the Pentax 645 FA lenses. Most are fully mechanical and Pentax makes great optics.

 

[atanabe]

Roger,
I have tried the Hasselblad V alternatives, 350 CF, 350 FE f4, but the CA was not acceptable. The 350 Apo is a great performer, hard to get one at a reasonable price. But they are lighter than the others in your list. The Pentax 400 f4 ED for the 6x7 is one on my list to look for.

As far as AF, the Contax should deliver the optical performance that you expect. Your MD will be happy that you will be getting a good cardiovascular workout when you use this lens. I have not used the Hasselblad 300 but hear that it is a good performer.

It boils down to how much quality you are willing to give up over convenience (weight). I could get better results from a cropped frame with the 180 than a full frame from either 350s that I owned. Like you, I looked at the Contax 350 but the weight alone is prohibitive but the quality I hear is superb. Then of course $ comes into the equation for a lens that I would use occasionally and also outdated as far as electronics that could go bad. With the exception of the Hasselblad 300, they are all out of production and the elements are subject to separation, so choose wisely.

Good luck!

 

[fotophil]

Realize that this has been covered a few years back but looking for any experience .

CONTEXT

Longest native Leica S lens is the 180/3.5 S ... a terrific lens but only about a 140-150 in a FF FOV (isn t it a .82 conversion?) .

Primary application will be LANDSCAPE....nothing that I want to carry would suffice for wildlife and MF is too slow for most sports .

Looking in the 300MM range which would be a modest telephoto by todays standards .

ALTERNATIVES

There appear to be FIVE ALTERNATIVES(5) each with advantages and disadvantages .

1.Leica R TELYT system can be adapted but requires a trip to WETZLER and its still really heavy and manual focus .

2.CONTAX 645 ....350/4.5 ZEISS ...wow I wish I could carry this lens as it would be AF on a Leica S but its 8 1/2 LBS . (Not Practical) .

3.PENTAX 645 /67 ...no experience found ? Would be manual focus .

4. HB 300 mm HC .......appears to be a terrific lens ..AF with Leica adapter ..but still 4 1/2 LBS ....MAYBE ?

5. Mamiya 300/4 APO ....light weight (relatively less than 3 LBS ) small form (77MM filters ) ... an AF lens but manual focus on a Leica S . The 2.8 version would be nicer but too heavy and I will be shooting at F11 anyway .

I know a very specialized requirement but fishing for any experience . :clap:

I also like long lenses on medium format. I have used two Pentax 67 lenses (300 mm F/4 ED M* and 400mm f/4 ED M*) on my S007 with success. Also I use two APO Mamiya telephoto lenses (300mm f/2.8 and 500mm f/4.5 ) that are great on the S007 but very heavy. In my experience, the 300mm f/4 APO AF Mamiya (as well as the 300mm f/4 AF Pentax and the 350mm f/4 Zeiss Hasselblad lens) are not in the same league.

 

[glenerrolrd]

Roger,
I have tried the Hasselblad V alternatives, 350 CF, 350 FE f4, but the CA was not acceptable. The 350 Apo is a great performer, hard to get one at a reasonable price. But they are lighter than the others in your list. The Pentax 400 f4 ED for the 6x7 is one on my list to look for.

As far as AF, the Contax should deliver the optical performance that you expect. Your MD will be happy that you will be getting a good cardiovascular workout when you use this lens. I have not used the Hasselblad 300 but hear that it is a good performer.

It boils down to how much quality you are willing to give up over convenience (weight). I could get better results from a cropped frame with the 180 than a full frame from either 350s that I owned. Like you, I looked at the Contax 350 but the weight alone is prohibitive but the quality I hear is superb. Then of course $ comes into the equation for a lens that I would use occasionally and also outdated as far as electronics that could go bad. With the exception of the Hasselblad 300, they are all out of production and the elements are subject to separation, so choose wisely.

Good luck!

Choose wisely :bugeyes: Why start now ?

 

[glenerrolrd]

I also like long lenses on medium format. I have used two Pentax 67 lenses (300 mm F/4 ED M* and 400mm f/4 ED M*) on my S007 with success. Also I use two APO Mamiya telephoto lenses (300mm f/2.8 and 500mm f/4.5 ) that are great on the S007 but very heavy. In my experience, the 300mm f/4 APO AF Mamiya (as well as the 300mm f/4 AF Pentax and the 350mm f/4 Zeiss Hasselblad lens) are not in the same league.

Any experience with the newer 300/4 HB HC lens ? I will have a 300/4 APO Mamiya that I can borrow this week so that test I can do . I expect you are correct .

 

[fotophil]

Any experience with the newer 300/4 HB HC lens ? I will have a 300/4 APO Mamiya that I can borrow this week so that test I can do . I expect you are correct .

I have no experience with the H Series Hasselblad Lenses. My best telephoto lens from the V Series Hasselblad is the 250mm f/5.6 Zeiss SA - compact and light weight - the old versions with Compur Shutters are much less pricey than the newer versions.

 

[stngoldberg]

Although I have never had the opportunity to use the HC 300 f4 on a Leica, I have used it extensively on the H system lens and back and lately with with a P1 100 megapixel back on the H5X camera.
The lens is as sharp as any telephoto lens I have used including a slew of Nikon telephotos including the Nikon 500mm f4.
I use the HC 300 quite often with the 1.7 extender and the lens does not loose any of its resolution while producing 510mm.
Stanley

 

[baudolino]

Another vote for HC300 via adapter. Great lens; seamlessly integrated with the S system.

 

[msadat]

just ordered the hassi 300mm

 

[topoxforddoc]

You can use the Leica 280/4 APO Telyt R. On its own, it focusses only to about 20 m, but with the 1.4x APO converter attached, it focusses to infinity. I use the Lei-ko adapter plate. Here's an example of the 280/4 plus 1.4 APO on a S(006)

Charlie

 

[baudolino]

just ordered the hassi 300mm

Enjoy your new lens. These are best bought used, imo - typically with low shutter count, given the focal length, and with a good discount to new. One word of caution - I have read somewhere that, should any HC lenses ever need servicing by Hasselblad, then they may automatically be "updated" by the manufacturer with firmware that will disable them working on the Leica S-H adapter. Not sure if this is a Hasselblad policy or if this has affected any S owner to date. Also not sure if the newest version of HC lenses work with the adapter (the ones that are supposed to sync up to 1/2000s, I think). I have a HC300 that I bought second hand and it works great on my S. But I'd prefer to know the answers to the above if I ever considered buying any other HC lenses for use with my S.