hi Doug
is the 80-200mm f4 you talk about a Vario-Elmar?
thank you
Axel
Vario- Elmar
----- Original Message ----- From: <wildlightphoto@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 7:46 PM
Subject: [LRflex] Re: R lenses
David Simms wrote:
... the sterling 70mm to 180mm zoom which is reputedly as sharp, or
sharper,
as any of the best single focal length lenses.
zooms! I forgot all about zooms. In the longer end of the focal length
range Leica has sold several models. The 70-180 f/2.8 APO certainly
deserves its sterling reputation. Nearly as good and much smaller,
lighter
and affordable is the 80-200mm f/4.
The 80-200 f/4 is a Leica design made for Leica by Kyocera in Japan.
Don't
be bothered by the manufacturing location, this is as Leica a lens as
they
come. Sharp at full aperture with excellent color rendition, flare
resistance and bokeh, some light fall-off toward the corners at f/4, very
solid Leica construction quality.
Other lenses in this range are Minolta designs, made by Minolta for
Leica,
in chronological order:
80-200mm f/4.5 - quite an old design, from 1976 IIRC
75-200mm f/4.5
70-210mm f/4
The f/4.5 lenses use 55mm filters, the f/4 zooms use 60mm filters. The
Minolta-sourced lenses were good in their day, but the 80-200 f/4 and the
70-180 APO are quite a bit better.
My experience with the Minolta-sourced zooms is limited to the 75-200
f/4.5
which has excellent flare resistance, but shows some wierd bokeh
artifacts
and isn't Leica construction quality. It also has a hood that cannot be
retracted at the shortest focal lenght, making turning a polarizing
filter
frustrating. The front element also rotates while focussing so this is
not
a lens I'd recommend for using a polarizing filter. Contrasted with this
the 80-200mm f/4 has non-rotating focus and the hood can be retracted at
all focal lengths.
At the short end Leica also made a 21-35mm which I have no experience
with.
Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com
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