Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/10/07

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Novoflex 280/400/600mm ??? (Doug?)
From: Simon Pulman-Jones <simonpj@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 12:08:45 -0400

Thank you Doug for your wonderfully informative reply.

On 10/7/03 11:36 AM, "Douglas Herr" <telyt@earthlink.net> wrote:

> Simon Pulman-Jones <simonpj@comcast.net> wrote:
> 
>> There is currently a Novoflex telephoto outfit, with 280, 400 and 600mm lens
>> heads on eBay, at a price which compares very favorably with what you would
>> pay for the equivalent Telyt outfit. The Novoflex outfit is outwardly very
>> similar to the fast-focus long Telyts (it is covered quite extensively in
>> Jonathon Eastland's Leica compendium book).
>> 
>> Does anybody (Doug Herr?) know how the Novoflex system compares with the
>> Leica system, and whether there is any relationship between the two?
> 
> A number of years ago I used a very similar Novoflex system which had a 640mm
> f/9 instead of the 600mm f/8 included in this auction.  I found the 400mm
> f/5.6 the most useful part of the kit.
> 
> The Novoflex squeeze grip can focus the 400mm lens very quickly and accurately
> (assuming a good viewfinder - I was using a Nikon F with E screen) but if you
> should need to hold focus at one distance for very long you either get muscle
> fatigue in your left forearm or you use the other hand to tighten the focus
> lock knob.  Of course when the subject moves you then have to take the right
> hand away from the shutter release to loosen the focus lock knob.
> 
> The 640mm lens was too long and too unbalanced and too slow to use hand-held.
> Consider the 600 in this outfit to be a tripod-only lens.  I didn't use the
> 280mm lens much because I had a 300mm f/4.5 Nikkor at the time and the squeeze
> grip made accurate focus of a lens this short questionable - and besides the
> Novoflex 280mm lens is only f/5.6.
> 
> Overall the Novoflex setup was heavier than the f/6.8 Telyt.  IMHO it's a bit
> steadier when used hand-held at the cost of muscle fatigue.  I can use the
> f/6.8 Telyts all day; I couldn't do that with the Novoflex.  I'm not sure how
> the weight of the Novoflex  compares with the Televit lenses.  Except for the
> 280mm lens, I consider the Televit lenses tripod-only equipment.  Advantages
> of the Televit 280/400/560 setup are:
> 
> 1) faster 280mm and 560mm lenses
> 2) focus locks with one hand, when you let go of the grip
> 3) fine focus is much easier
> 
> This particular Novoflex kit has a very handy feature: a bellows between the
> focus grip and the camera body.  With the bellows compressed, you get a
> 'normal' focussing range; extend the bellows and it's like you've added
> extension tubes.  I didn't have that accessory on my Novoflex.
> 
> Optically the old Novoflex I had didn't measure up to the Telyt.  It was
> sharp, but the color saturation wasn't there.  I believe the lens covered in
> Eastland's book is the Leica optics with the Novoflex mount.  As far as I know
> this was a one-time business arrangement.  Novoflex had a similar arrangement
> with Tamron where the put a squeeze-focus grip on a Tamron 300mm f/2.8.
> 
> 
> Doug Herr
> Birdman of Sacramento
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com
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