[Leica] visoflex iii

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 10:29 PM -0500 8/14/07, Peter O'Toole wrote:
>Hoppy,
>
>I have a bid on a viso iii on ebay. Len told me about the 65mm macro elmar
>and I looked into that a bit.  I think a macro is the way to go, and the
>viso iii makes it all work for framing/focusing. But there are negative
>comments about the silver 65mm vs. the black. I can't figure out if it's a
>screw mount, too. Thanks.
>
>Pete
>
>

In the last year or so I've re-assembled some Visoflex stuff.

In the late 70's I got rid of most of it and only kept a few M bodies 
and lenses, and never thought I'd want to use the Viso again. I used 
SLR's for macro and tele.

I did miss the handling ease of the 400/6.8 on the Viso, though. The 
Visoflex is designed for longer focal lengths and for macro where the 
exit pupil of the lens is also quite far in front of the focussing 
screen, and it doesn't have to compromise optically for short focal 
length lenses. That, and the use of a very large prism along with 
other no compromise design and manufacturing decisions still make 
using a Visoflex a pleasure.

A good friend locally sourced a late Aristophot for me. That's a 
massive macro setup, which includes the micro-Visoflex III 
(interchangeable screens and a couple of other modifications) and 
everything else you need for high quality micro photography. So I had 
a Viso. Then I looked on e-bay and found a 400/6.8, 560/6.8, 65 
Elmar, Bellows II, all the adapter rings and various focussing mounts 
and extension tubes. So I'm set, and can use lenses from 65 to 560 on 
the Viso, and shorter if I want to do macro.

I had the 65 Silver and the Black in the past, and while there is a 
difference, it is extremely small, and in my experience not 
noticeable at f/5.6 or smaller. Rigorous bench testing would probably 
show that the mtf figures at smaller apertures are still better for 
the black version, but as I said, I couldn't see the difference. So 
when I bought the stuff recently, I got the silver one at a very good 
price.

For most things down to half life size the 65 is handiest if you can 
get close and get good lighting on the subject. You can use either 
the Bellows II (best) or the 16474 focussing mount, maybe with the 
16471 extension tube. The bellows is better because you can focus by 
moving the whole assembly without changing the magnification, which 
is always an issue when you get closer to 1:1.

If you need more distance from your subject for any reason, the best 
solution is a 135/4, either Elmar or Tele-Elmar. The Tele-Elmar is 
handier, as you don't need another adapter tube as it fits in the 
same focussing mount and bellows adapter ring as the 65.

For 1:1 work, other lenses are better, but the 65 Elmar or a Focotar 
are quite good. There are many options.

Info on macro/micro lenses can be found at:

http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/microlen.htm   and
http://www.macrolenses.de/zubehoer.php?lang

Further info on the Visoflex can be found at Gary Elshaws write-up:

http://elshaw.tripod.com/Visoflex/Visoflex.html

but remember, he has barely scratched the surface of the combination 
of lenses and adapter rings available! :-)


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    *            Henning J. Wulff
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