Telephoto lenses?

Cloudy

Cloudy

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Hi, Everybody!
Any suggestions about the choices of telephoto lenses with Bessa R2?
I have 35mm, 50mm and 90mm, however, I want to have one longer lens like 135mm or even longer for shooting landscape. I know the problem in focusing but it is not very important since I must use small aperatures and tripod for every landscape shootings.
I asked since I am not familiar with RF lenses, such as Leica, Hexar or other old lenses ......
I want to buy one not very expensive, if I need to buy a Leica 135mm, I must buy an used one or old one, so I hope I can find one with the similar quality and price like Voigtlander. 🙂

Sorry for my poor English!
 
Cloudy, the least expensive 135mm for your Bessa is likely to be the 13.5cm f/4.5 Hektor by Leitz. They are often overlooked by people because of their somewhat small maximum aperture of 4.5. They are an excellent lens and generally sell for well under $100 unless two or more people get into a bidding war.

The LTM Nikkors and Canon 135's are faster at f/3.5 and you may find one locally that you can afford. They are also first-class lenses.

Walker
 
Look for a Jupiter-11 in LTM and then an adaptor. It's a 135mm f4 lens based on the prewar Zeiss Sonnar 135/4. I can't speak directly to the LTM version, but I do know that the one I've got for my Kiev 4a (for $15 on the Bay) is a very sweet lens.

Good Luck!

William
 
Walker, thanks!
Can you tell me what is the meaning of "LTM Nikkors and Canon"?
I will try to find the 13.5cm Hektor and have a look in Hong Kong 2nd-hand store (There are many old lenses in this type of stores in Hong Kong). 🙂

Huck Finn, thanks for your info.!
I almost forgot this important site. 🙄

William, thanks for your info. about Jupiter-11! 🙂
 
The term "LTM" is "Leica Thread Mount", or the 39mm screw mount with RF coupling. If you buy one of these lenses you must also get an "LTM to M" mount adapter., which will add another $40 to the price of the lens.

I second the motion for the Hektor 13.5cm F4.5 lens. It's maximum aperture best matches your camera and you can get it cheap in native M-Mount.

A Hektor Sample in this thread.

My Telephoto Gallery
 
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Re: Telephoto lenses?

You're fortunate in that 135mm lenses are easy to find @ low prices (probably because they're relatively simple to manufacture & aren't as popular nowadays as most RF users tend to favor wides). I 2nd the recommendation(s) for the 135/3.5 Nikkors & Canons. The later black 135/3.5 Canon is an excellent choice, as it is a good performer, cheap (usually < $150), & a little more lightweight than the earlier Canons & Nikkors (the black Nikkors in LTM being relatively rare). The post-WWII Carl Zeiss Jena 135/4 Sonnar is also very good (the Sonnar being the model for most 135s) & not too expensive, but harder to find & less well-made than the Canons & Nikkors.

Cloudy said:
Hi, Everybody!
Any suggestions about the choices of telephoto lenses with Bessa R2?
I have 35mm, 50mm and 90mm, however, I want to have one longer lens like 135mm or even longer for shooting landscape. I know the problem in focusing but it is not very important since I must use small aperatures and tripod for every landscape shootings.
I asked since I am not familiar with RF lenses, such as Leica, Hexar or other old lenses ......
I want to buy one not very expensive, if I need to buy a Leica 135mm, I must buy an used one or old one, so I hope I can find one with the similar quality and price like Voigtlander. 🙂

Sorry for my poor English!
Click to expand...
 
I recently got a Jupiter-11 from Russia and it is a petty good lens and very inexpensive (mine cost $37). However the sample quality varies widely and it seems to be a crap shoot whether you get a junker or a star. Here's an example pic taken wide-open at f4. Not super sharp but perhaps not focused properly I think - an issue with long-focus lenses on rangefinders.
 
I've got a late Leitz Hektor 135/4.5 (+ the M adaptor). It's a great great lens, and potentially cheap, there's two things tho.
First, the Bessa's Rangefinder baselength is only just capable of focussing this lens when it's wide open. (At least for what I was using it for, which was taking wildlife shots. Yeh, I know, should be using an SLR for that....) You can do it, but you need to be pretty careful.
Second, a lot of them when I was looking where pretty badly scratched and hazed. In fact, when I started looking I was in SIngapore and Hong Kong, and EVERY one I saw was pretty sad. I ended up ordering from Adorama an Ex cond lens, and it was a beauty - and cheaper too.

cheers...

tim
 
Peter, the sharpness of your Jupiter-11 shot is fine. Your rangefinder seems to be pretty well in sync with the lens coupling. I'd say you've done quite well. 🙂

Walker
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Walker! 🙂 The focus plane in that shot was somewhere between 30 metres and infinity and I think I may need some magnification to really be sure about my focusing with this lens... 🙁
 
I used to have a very nice m39 Jupiter 11, which was very sharp, so my votes for that. Even with an adapter it's probably the cheapest option.
M.
 
Another vore for the Jupiter-11 135/4. Less than $40 plus $30 for a Marumi 35/135 adapter (which I use for my Jupiter-12 35/2.8 as well).
 
If you get a Jupiter-11 135mm F4 lens, look for the version that has been calibrated for use with the Leica 51.6mm standard. The problem is that the Russian cameras and lenses are made to the Contax standard of 52.3mm. It introduces a slight focus error.

I bought a Jupiter-9 85mm F2 lens that was calibrated for the Leica; the physical focus stopped before the "infinity" mark on the lens. That is what I would expect for a lens that has been calibrated to better focus with the Leica. It was the "export model". Oscar has this lens now.

The Leica Hektor, Canon, Nikkor, Steinheil, Schacht, and Tanar lenses are all made to the Leica 51.6mm standard. The Hektor is the only one that you can find in M-mount, although it is available in LTM as well. You will need the adapter for LTM lenses. They are all fine lenses, and I can say that first-hand. My Schacht 135 F3.5 was $50 in near-mint condition, and no one else placed a bid on it. Even so, half a century of wear can take its toll. I have had to "shim" the RF coupling cams of my Steinheil 13.5cm F4.5 and Nikkor 13.5cm F3.5 lenses to focus properly when used wide-open. You can do the same with the Russian Jupiter-11.
 
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"Even so, half a century of wear can take its toll. I have had to "shim" the RF coupling cams of my Steinheil 13.5cm F4.5 and Nikkor 13.5cm F3.5 lenses to focus properly when used wide-open. You can do the same with the Russian Jupiter-11."
Click to expand...

Could you explain or list a web site that could explain how to shim the RF cams. I have a couple lens that do focus correctly.

Leo
 
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A Picture of some of the mentioned lenses.

Left to Right,
Steinheil 135 F4.5; Leica 135 F4.5, Nikkor 135 F3.5, Schacht 135 F3.5, Canon 135 F3.5.
 
This thread pushed some of us into posting our duplicate 135's for sale!

Take a look in the 35mm Classified's and the Canon forum. There is another member's Black Canon 135mm F3.5 with Finder for sell AND two of my Nikkor 135 F3.5's. The Chrome one can be adapted to the Bessa R2 with an Adapter, the black/Chrome one is for Nikon S-Mount and cannot be ECONOMICALLY adapted to the R2. It will fit an R2S. The Black Canon is much lighter and shorter than the Nikkor. It is very sharp as well.

If you browse around in my Telephoto Gallery, you will see some shots taken with MY Nikkor 135 F3.5 and MY Canon 135 F3.5. I need to scan shots from the Hektor and Schacht. The Hektor has lower contrast, but catches a lot of detail. The Schacht gave me good results, my impression is that it is within a hair of the others. I have not used the Steinheil Culminar yet.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php/cat/539
 
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