Leitz 350 mm Telyt-R on Leica M

The Walter Mandler designed Leitz 350 mm Telyt-R delivers gorgeous bokeh; and on the R8/DMR, in high contrast, bright sunlight, can also deliver some unpleasant chromatic aberration (CA). I hoped that when I put this incredibly well built and heavy lens on my coded M>R adapter and chose 350 Telyt in the M (type 240) Manual Lens menu – that I’d no longer see the CA – or at least see less of it. First I was disappointed to see that the lens did not appear in the menu; so I chose the nearest 280 Apo in the menu – and fantasized about owning that gorgeous piece of glass. Then I went out and made two hand held “tests.”

I was delighted to see that the focus assist actually did “assist” even as I’m still getting used to the whole EVF viewing thing on a still camera. Video experience makes the process slightly less painful than it must be for long time SLR-only users. I was quickly reminded by my left forearm how heavy this lens truly is (or how weak I’m becoming—or both).

When I took the files into the computer and opened them in Lightroom – I was mildly happy to see that it appeared that the CA was “a bit less” than might have been expected on a DMR file (though the overcast skies did not provide a very harsh test). I’ll have to attach the shoulder stock, monopod and/or tripod – on a bright sunny day – to take this testing to the next level. Though first thoughts when looking at the 350-telyt-M-240 combination resulted in my usual, “damn I love Leica cameras and lenses” reaction — from the pleasures of holding, mounting, and focusing extremely well designed and built photographic tools through to viewing the beauty of the images they produce.

(click photograph for larger view)

below – one of my bonsai experiments

Leica M, 350 mm Telyt