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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.
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Wildlife with the Leica 560/6.8 on an EOS body
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This lens is a Leica R mount but comes in other Leica mounts. Used a standard Fotodiox adapter.

The lens is a simple 2 element long tube design but does deliver the goods. It is very long but not too heavy. Focuses with a slide action.













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Oh my oh my oh my what AMAZING image quality!
and of course, excellent photos also!


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TWO elements. Wow.

The white stork-like bird ones are great! The others are pretty good too (although I don't care for the background in the photo with a small brown bird on barbed wire.)

For such a long focal length too, these are excellent.


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I can't believe it ! Amazing!!! Many thanks for sharing!


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#3 has a 3-dimensionality that is almost unbelievable.


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Please post also the rabbit !!!


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ChrisLilley wrote:
TWO elements. Wow.

The white stork-like bird ones are great! The others are pretty good too (although I don't care for the background in the photo with a small brown bird on barbed wire.)

For such a long focal length too, these are excellent.



Yeah, the little buggers wouldn't sit still for me. That was a grab shot with a distracting background. I love shooting birds on barb wire but prefer a clean, smooth background


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Missed focus a bit, got the ears sharp but the eye is soft



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jamesdak wrote:
Missed focus a bit, got the ears sharp but the eye is soft


I love it anyway, thanks! Very Happy

We call these "lepri" there is at least one of them living amongst the scrubs on the hill in front of my father's house.


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Excelents all. Especially Ns. 3 and 4.

Which F/ did you use more?


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Shocked Congrats James. You have a super winner. The photography is beautiful as well. Thanks for sharing these images.


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congrats James! very nice results and nice shots


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Fabulous pictures !

And that lens must be the chief of the "wundertute" !

And excellent work also. It takes patience and skill to get those sharp bird pictures with a long lens, no matter the quality.


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estudleon wrote:
Excelents all. Especially Ns. 3 and 4.

Which F/ did you use more?


I shot in the f/8 to f/16 range all day.


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Egret series is fantastic, and I do like the bird on a wire (reminds me of
the Lennie Cohen song), well done! Love the colors in these, too.

Bill


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Oh My !!! This is unbelivable... !! Amazing quality !
brilliant shots !!


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jamesdak wrote:
ChrisLilley wrote:
TWO elements. Wow.

The white stork-like bird ones are great! The others are pretty good too (although I don't care for the background in the photo with a small brown bird on barbed wire.)

For such a long focal length too, these are excellent.



Yeah, the little buggers wouldn't sit still for me. That was a grab shot with a distracting background. I love shooting birds on barb wire but prefer a clean, smooth background


Well, we can't always pick our backgrounds. The bird itself and the wire is a very nice capture. The composition is also interesting.

What sort of size is this lens?


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It's pretty long. Easily closing in on two feet with the hood extended.

I'll try to snap a shot of it tonight and post it.

One downside to it is that the slide focusing mechanism is out at the end. So, your movement to focus it may scare some wildlife if using it in a blind. The Tripod mount is right near the body and does not rotate itself. But there is a mechanical catch you can release to rotate the orientation with. You have a set number of stops to this rotation so it is not as effective as a normal tripod ring. Oh, there is a slot for drop in filters in the center of the lens.


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James

Terrific shots and what a lens!


patrickh


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Is it possible for you to post a picture of the Lens and some markings? I would love to find this myself and give it a whirl.


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I happen to like the background with the bird on a wire, but I am a rebel Laughing

They are all wonderful shots, thanks for sharing them.


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ChrisLilley wrote:
What sort of size is this lens?


As it is a plain achromatic doublet, then the length of the optical path is equal to the focal length (no telephoto). Therefore, this lens should be more than 50cm long.

Cheers!

Abbazz


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jamesdak wrote:
Missed focus a bit, got the ears sharp but the eye is soft



What a shame... as my attention is directed to just a common, everyday, pair of ears. WOW Shocked


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As far as I know, there are three version s of this 560/6.8 lens, one for Leica R, one for Leica M using a Visoflex (maybe there are different versions of these) and one for use with the Novoflex PiGriff rapidfocus system. I've got the last version, easy to adapt to any camera as you can still get any Novoflex mount new and used. I use a Nikon or Olympus mount with a chipped adapter on my Canon 30D. Relatively lightweight but quite long and the focus system takes some getting used to.

There is also an older 560/5.6 Telyt that Leitz made with their own rapidfocus system called Televit. A friend of mine has one - it's a lot heavier and not quite as easy to focus - at least not in my hands, maybe with practice..


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I need to buy this lens, some time in the future, who knows when.