Skyllaney Bertele FLB Coming Soon!

Freakscene said:
The FLB fixes focus shift but it won’t fix focus breathing. This lens type won’t work for cinema.
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I was referring to the niche that can most afford the expense of the floating lens block technology, as opposed to any particular lens; the page does reference cinema extensively.
 
splitimageview said:
I was referring to the niche that can most afford the expense of the floating lens block technology, as opposed to any particular lens; the page does reference cinema extensively.
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Ok, understood, sorry, that’s not how I took your comment. Appreciate the clarification. This is an elegant solution for a particular lens with a lot of focus shift, but there are better ways to manage focus breathing than designing lenses with a lot of residual spherical and pupil aberrations and then putting them into very complex mechanical housings. It’s easier and cheaper to design lenses to be telecentric enough that they don’t breathe.
 
Speaking only for myself, we are lucky to have one of the great Sonnar experts right here on the board. And that Brian has been involved deeply with Chris, and Hamish, on this is just great as there are three Sonnar experts right there. And we have other Sonnar folks right here on the board as historians and technicians. Strange when one considers that this is a Leica M-body focused board that non-Leica lenses get this much attention and have caused such an accumulation of knowledge and talent. Lucky us, lucky me.

Setting price aside, it is a rare opportunity to have these FLB's offered. Granted, I am a rank hack and tyro, but for me the Sonnars work very well. First I like the retro lenses in how they "see." Thypoch and LLL have made some nice retros. I have one Leica lens only. It is supposed to be very good and often is. But I prefer the SBS and the Sonnars for their romance or whatever you want to call it. The Summicron 43mm APO is color accurate and sharp without being annoying but it just does not have the retro magic that I like. The Q3 43 is that B+ student, really good but not great. An M9 with the SBS has that something. Yes, no IBIS, no autofocus, no EVF, but what a nice image.

So my prejudice remains with the retros. I am pretty sure that the FLB is the end of the line for lens purchases. And what a nice stopping place.
 
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I am very glad to have my retros as well, though I honestly think I find myself wishing I actually had real money for once - more to offer Patronage, in the old sense, to Skyllaney as well as to enjoy one of these lenses.

This is a very good thing for the photography world in general, even if few understand it just yet.
 
wlewisiii said:
I am very glad to have my retros as well, though I honestly think I find myself wishing I actually had real money for once - more to offer Patronage, in the old sense, to Skyllaney as well as to enjoy one of these lenses.

This is a very good thing for the photography world in general, even if few understand it just yet.
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I am grateful to have had some extra cash around to get the FLB not just as a good lens but to do what I can for Skyllaney. Even with my limited understanding it seems the FLB is a master stroke in lens design. And the "tip of the hat" to Chris was for his releasing the information to the public so that any lensmaker could use it. Yes, kudos are due to both Chris and Brian. These two fellows have brought the Sonnar maybe as far as it can be brought. Any further improvement would seem to be both minimal and quite difficult. As little as I know I can only guess, but what is left to make this design better?

I bet that these two wizards have refined the glass as much as it can be reasonably done. The coatings work nicely, in my opinion, as the colors are truly edible. I really like them. Yes, I am lucky in lenses.
 
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boojum said:
I bet that these two wizards have refined the glass as much as it can be reasonably done. The coatings work nicely, in my opinion, as the colors are truly edible. I really like them. Yes, I am lucky in lenses.
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Chris was very careful to hold to the type of glass used in 1934 and "prescription" for the original design, to recreate the Sonnar. The manufacturing techniques and lens coatings are all modern.
 
wlewisiii said:
It reminds me why my 1937 50/2 Sonnar is ultimately my favorite lens even if it is uncoated ;)
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Actually, reading through more of the various bits, I am curious - was there any optical changes between the '34 design they're using and what Zeiss used in the collapsible housing?
 
wlewisiii said:
Actually, reading through more of the various bits, I am curious - was there any optical changes between the '34 design they're using and what Zeiss used in the collapsible housing?
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No- the 1934 design is what was used in the 5cm F2 collapsibles, and the later Rigid Sonnars with 40.5mm filters threads.
 
Sonnar Brian said:
No- the 1934 design is what was used in the 5cm F2 collapsibles, and the later Rigid Sonnars with 40.5mm filters threads.
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That's what I thought I understood but wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding something along the way. So, my comment about my 37 really is very appropriate :) So nice to have such a clean copy of that lens and to have a good way to use it with both film and digital cameras.
 
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