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New Life :Leica R lens on Nikon D3

robmac

Well-known member
As Arne mentions the 180/2 is a gorgeous lens. The 180/2.8 may be a 1/2 a hair sharper at 2.8, but there is a limit to how fussy someone can be. The tripod foot is brilliant as a hand rest, but the lens is heavy. Feels like a small torpedo warhead. Picture an all-metal 200/2, sans the AF hardware. VERY smooth focusing.
 

Stuart Richardson

Active member
They are both totally brilliant lenses, but I think the 180/2.8 is far, far, FAR more practical. For almost all intents and purposes, their optical performance is identical, but the 2.8 obviously is one stop slower. What you gain by sacrificing this stop is a lens that weighs 970g instead of 2500g, so 1.5x lighter, one that uses a 67mm filter instead of odd series 6 filter in a drawer, and a lens that fits easily in a bag, is easy to shoot handheld and is half the price (or less). Unless you are going to be shooting at f/2 all day long, the 180mm elmarit has so many advantages with essentially no sacrifices. The extra stop does not even really help you with handholding since the lens is so much heavier. And seriously, you must try before you buy. It is hard to convey in words how much larger the 180/2 is. It focuses smoothly and is a nice lens to hold for its size, but the 180/2.8's focus is just as smooth and balances better on most cameras.
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member
I used to own Nikon 200/2 VR, however, i sold it due to the weight... very hard to cary around for taking pics of the model
Andree, I believe the Leica APO 2/180 is only approx. 400g less heavy than your Nikkor 2/200 VR ... :eek:




Weight: 2900 g
Nikkor AF-S 200mm f/2 G IF ED VR

* * * * *

Leica APO-Summicron-R 180mm f/2
Weight: 2500 g

 

robmac

Well-known member
I never would have thought...(the 200/2 outweighed the 180/2). I 2nd SR's thoughts. Unless you really want F2.0, the 2.8 APO or the Cv 180/4 is FAR more practical. Both fit in a modest coat pocket and are sharp as hell, nice bokeh, nice color, etc., etc. The 180/2 is also harder to sell -- big $$$ leap for most folks for that extra stop.
 

Arne Hvaring

Well-known member
They are both totally brilliant lenses, but I think the 180/2.8 is far, far, FAR more practical. For almost all intents and purposes, their optical performance is identical, but the 2.8 obviously is one stop slower. What you gain by sacrificing this stop is a lens that weighs 970g instead of 2500g, so 1.5x lighter, one that uses a 67mm filter instead of odd series 6 filter in a drawer, and a lens that fits easily in a bag, is easy to shoot handheld and is half the price (or less). Unless you are going to be shooting at f/2 all day long, the 180mm elmarit has so many advantages with essentially no sacrifices. The extra stop does not even really help you with handholding since the lens is so much heavier. And seriously, you must try before you buy. It is hard to convey in words how much larger the 180/2 is. It focuses smoothly and is a nice lens to hold for its size, but the 180/2.8's focus is just as smooth and balances better on most cameras.
I agree with most of that, and yet... For me personally the 180/2 is simply the nicer lens. Having used both extensively, I find the Summicron to have a more rounded, relaxed drawing of the image without sacrificing detail. Of course beauty (or in this case drawing) is in the eye of the beholder so YMMV. Both represent SOTA for their respective speeds.
For light handheld lenses in this FR, I use either the 180/3,4 Apo-Telyt for unsurpassed resolution, or Canon's excellent (and I think underrated) 70-200/4 IS zoom. For which, unfortunately, Nikon has no equivalent:(
 

Hacker

New member
so far from my experience with 50mm lens, none of them is suitable to my taste...
Andree
For regular shots, why not use the Leica M8.2? Like you, I have not found any suitable 50mm lenses but the LTM/M range of 50mm lenses from the 1930s to the latest ASPH lenses has no equal (Ernostars, Sonnars, Planars, etc).
 

deepdiver

New member
Hi guys :)
After reading all the information that U all give to me, I think it's better to go with either Leica 180 F2.8 APO or Leica 70-180 F2.8
those 2 lenses are a lot smaller and lighter compare to Leica 180/2 APO :D
Now I really need to find out, is Leica 70-180 a great lens or not? it's so hard to get some information about this lens... not many people own this lens.
I also already email David Leitax, asked him about the bayonet for this lens, however, until today he hasn't reply back to me.

Hacker : I really love to get Leica 8.2, i think it's good idea :) I dunno when Lieca is going to come out with full-frame Leica M 9.
just imagine Full frame Leica M9... so beautiful :D

for the moment, i'm still enjoying my APO 90/2 :D :D
one from today @F2 + D3X
 
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woodyspedden

New member
Andree

You describe the 180 2.8 and the 70-180 to be lighter lenses. That is certainly true for the 180 but the 70-180 weighs over 4 lbs! I owned one and absolutely could not stand it. On a tripod it was great but handheld it was so unwieldy!

Just for information.

Woody
 

deepdiver

New member
Andree

You describe the 180 2.8 and the 70-180 to be lighter lenses. That is certainly true for the 180 but the 70-180 weighs over 4 lbs! I owned one and absolutely could not stand it. On a tripod it was great but handheld it was so unwieldy!

Just for information.

Woody
Hi Woody.
I already realize about the weight of leica 70-180 :)
could u please give me some information about this lens? such as sharpness, bokeh etc

Thank You
Andree
 

Y Sol

Active member
The 180 2,8 apo is a great lens, the only problem are the
sawlike reflections at f4 and 5,6. The old Nikkor Ais 180ED 2,8 is
far better in this case. Here a sample of the picture and a 100% crop.

Y Sol
 
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woodyspedden

New member
Hi Woody.
I already realize about the weight of leica 70-180 :)
could u please give me some information about this lens? such as sharpness, bokeh etc

Thank You
Andree
Andree

so long as you are using it on a tripod you can get really great results. But I found that handholding was simply impossible. Now granted I am over 70 years old (72 actually) and trying to keep everything stable while handholding such a heavy and unwieldy lens is just not in the cards for me. You youngsters may be O.K. but before commiting to the price for this lens I would try it first to see how it works.

Woody
 

episa

New member
New Life :Leica R lens on Nikon DSLR

Hello Guys:

I like very much the technical discussions of this forum and find myself obsessed with sharpness, bokeh, shape of diaphragm in the highlights; so like others I get caught taking pictures of brick walls and other unemotional topics for the pleasure of scrutinizing the sharpness of a 100% brick wall crop taken with this or that lens.

In the process I forget to enjoy taking the time to take photographs for the fun of the content.

So I decided to have fun with my Leica 180mm f2.8 APO lens and will share with this group these two samples taken recently.

These two grandpas were obviously not interested or did not noticed the missed opportunity as they were contemplating the forest sitting on this bench. :)

In the second shot I tried to do some panning with the manual focus lens (Leica 180mm APO f2.8 mounted on Nikon D700) knowing that the depth of field was small at f/2.8 and that the shot taken at 1/15s would not be tack sharp since I was hand holding the lens. I need to refine the technique but I was already nicely surprised that I could get a shot like that without the assistance of the AF-C mode and a AF-S Nikon lens. That was a fun experiment.
 
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