Hi Markus -
Thanks for the kind words about the shots.
I'm not up on the current offerings out there, but noticed that most 400mm f5.6 primes disappeared from the market a few years ago. Personally, if I were looking for a birding lens to use with the *ist-D now, I'd look for a Sigma APO 400mm macro f5.6. (Sigma made several 400mm f5.6 lenses, but the 'macro' was the best.) I had one briefly and it was a very sharp lens. It was not very small or compact to some other 400mm's out there, but was still a reasonably compact lens. One advantage to this lens is that it is pretty sharp wide open and focuses fairly closely.
I have the Tokina 400mm f5.6 and it is very good at f8 - 11, but not so great at f5.6. It is both solidly built and compact, though. The *ist-D has really given this lens new life, as I can now shoot at ISO 400 with good result (so the f8 limitation is not so restrictive.)
In regards to 300mm lenses - on a 35mm body 300mm is getting a little short for smaller birds, unless you have a way to get close. Even then, you have to watch the minimum focusing distance. I have the A* 300 f4 - probably one of my least used lenses. One drawback for birds is that without an extension tube, this lens is really to short for smaller birds.
Of course on an APS sized digital the crop factor makes a 300mm more viable. I don't know anything about the third party 300mm's out there though.
Hope this helps -
MCC
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Mark Cassino Photography
Kalamazoo, MI
www.markcassino.com
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----- Original Message ----- From: "Markus Maurer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 2:46 AM
Subject: RE: 500mm Zooms
Hi Mark Could you please give me a your view on third party lenses in that range 300-500mm, fixed lenses or zooms. Since I can not afford a Pentax one and need something not to heavy, what would you recommend. Others told me about a Tamron SP 300, what about mirror lenses, useful or crap? I see some very cheap Makinon 500mm mirror lenses here, but for their cheap prices, it can not be true, right? ;-)
Wondeful bird shots, I would love to have a lens (and your eyes/skills) like
that.....
thanks alot in advance Markus
-----Original Message----- From: Mark Cassino [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 12:19 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: 500mm Zooms
I used to own a Takumar 500 f 4.5. Not the SMC version. It was a unique lens in that someone had modified it by gluing part of a screwmount to K adapter to the lens - making it more or less a K mount lens (it would only mate to K mounts, but it would not lock into place.)
Some sample shots taken with it (these are old photos) -
The extraordinarily rare and elusive Rock Dove (har!) -
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/birds/0204b35.htm
red bellied woodpecker -
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/birds/0204b36.htm
Blue Jay -
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/birds/0204b52.htm
Another Jay -
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/birds/0204b50.htm
Chickadee -
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/birds/0204b56.htm
The latter is a crop from a Kodachrome 64 slide - it really does not hold up at bigger sizes. the others are all printable at Super-B size with no problems, lots of detail.
I shot lots with this lens but replaced it with the A* 400 f2.8, which with teleconverters is much sharper, though it can burn you in the Bokeh dept. It should be noted than the A*400 cost a whole order of magnitude more than the Takumar 500 f4.5!
The stop down aperture was not a major issue once you got used to it.
This was a very high resolution lens, capable of producing great results on film, but it has a major degree of chromatic aberration. I don't know how it would do on digital bodies. One plus for APS sized digitals - this lens has a minimum focusing distance of 10 meters, so you need to use tubes (sometimes lots of them) for smaller birds. That would cause vignetting on film -probably would not be a problem on *ist-D / DS's.
There was a thread on photo.net where this lens was panned by numerous people who never used it, based on their 'understanding' of the laws of physics and how pronounced the CA would be. In real life the lens is quite good - not on par with the best of the best but probably the best bang for the buck for big glass. As for the photo.net thread - it underscored the validity of the saying "Those who know it all have the most to learn."
- MCC
(who knows it all and is busy learning.... :-) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mark Cassino Photography Kalamazoo, MI www.markcassino.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 1:56 PM Subject: Re: 500mm Zooms
see how it
----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom C" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 1:51 PM
I find it a little annoying, but not $400 -$500 so...
Cool. I was always curious about that lens and the Takumar equivelent. Please post some pictures taken with it when you can so we canperforms.
Christian
