135/4.0 - Some wildlife on M8

[jaapv]

I am fairly sure this mangrove snake is harmless; still I preferred the longer focal length:

A twitching nose, slow shutterspeeds (1/45) are not hard, some motion blur accentuates the action, the way I wanted it 🙂

And even more in this one, This guy was trying to grab a branch to feed on the berries:

But it is a good feeling as well to get it tack-sharp if so desired:

 

[boilerdoc2]

Nice heron Jaapv. Still had to be pretty close right? They usually are very wary and skittish and hard to photograph. He must have known you had a leica M8!
Steve

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Wow, I hope I never see any wildlife on my M8! 😉

(cheers, Jaap)

 

[akptc]

I can't get over how sharp the in-focus areas are in these pics, wow.

 

[DaveB]

I bought that lens recently one night on eBay coming home late after drinking.

That, I suppose, would qualify as an impulse buy.

At any rate, not too expensive and a lovely example of the lens. Is has the bell jar display case and paperwork, even the warranty card which is in punch card form. Haven't seen an IBM punch card recently...

The gentleman who sold it to me warned that it would be difficult to focus and advised that I purchase a 1.35 magnifier from our Japanese friends which I did. That really has helped a great deal with the 135 and I often use the magnifier with the 90mm and even leave it on if shooting with the 50mm/1.4.

The 135mm can yield some wonderful shots and I regret that I've had to put it away on a shelf for the summer. I can't carry it on an extended wilderness canoe trip. I'll have to be content with cropping pixs of wildlife from something shot with a wider lens.

You know, 30+ years ago I'd come home after a night on the town and, if I'd got lucky, maybe find myself in the company of an interesting companion.

Now I go out, have too much to drink, come home and buy a Leica lens on eBay.

I know I'm getting old.

 

[TS ISAAC]

Yikes.......but nice and sharp indeed

 

[sepiareverb]

I had that same lens Dave (well same vintage, same case, same punchcard) and it really is a gem. Sharp as can be yet not overly clinical. I sold it to get some wides, because it really was too long for me- perhaps the 1.25x would have helped, but I don't think I would have used it even so, just too long for what I look at.