On Feb 6, 2006, at 6:41 PM, Fred wrote:
Which VS1, Godfrey? I have found the VS1 600/8 to be quite good,
but I was
disappointed in the VS1 800/11 (two samples, too).
The 800 seems to have been somewhat of a dog. I've known a number of
people who bought them and none of them were satisfied with it. The
600 was a different animal, one of the better cat lenses ever made.
I did an article on cat lenses some time ago and for the article I
shot with a lot of them, including the astonishingly expensive Zeiss
Mirotars. No surprises that the Mirotars were best in terms of
sharpness and contrast, but somewhat surprisingly my 500/8 Rubinar
came in next. The Tamron 500/8 was among the top performers, too.
Now this isn't to say that you will get great results if you rush out
and order a Rubinar from that Russian web site. As with all things
Russian, quality control on these is all over the place. But it
seems to have been tightened a lot in recent years. Of course you
can pick up the Rubinars for about $ 100 if you happen to be going to
Lytkareno, just outside Moscow. I ordered my 500/5.6 direct from the
factory for under $ 100 and had a friend of mine who lives in Moscow
pick it up and ship it to me. The factory won't ship one-piece
orders to individuals, unfortunately.
Bob
