Thoughts on these long lenses?

[Sirius Glass]

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2?
Vivatar 650-1300mm?

I am interested in full frame 35mm only.

 

[bsdunek]

The 150-600mm is usable for things, the 650-1300mm, not sure where you would use it. Photos of the planets maybe?
I have a 450mm that is great for sports car racing photos. Really gets close yet can be hand held so I can pan with the cars.
Just my thoughts.

 

[mshchem]

I used Tamron zooms on my Bronica stuff. When Tamron bought Bronica, first thing they did was come out with a couple of nice zooms for the ETRSi series cameras. I thought they were quite nice. Thank goodness I sold them before the collapse of prices.

I doubt that these prosumer lenses will take a lot of abuse. I've been burned by Nikon AFS motors so tthhhppf to those!

 

[Paul Howell]

I have rented the Tamron 150 to 600 for outdoor daylight sports. like most zooms in this range a little soft at both ends of the zoom, wide open a little distortion in the corners. At F8 not a bad performer for a zoom. I also rented the Sigma 50 to 500. Of the 2 the Tamron gets my nod. Only reason I haven't bought on is that it will only work on my Minotla 7 body.

 

[AgX]

No experience with these lenses. But before buying a cheap 650-1300mm zoom lens, I rather would use a decent 500mm refrcative or reflective lens plus a good 2x teleconverter. Or a prime in the 1200mm range. Actually I contemplated on the latter myself, but the model offered to me was not practical concerning focusing pitch.

 

[Sirius Glass]

No experience with these lenses. But before buying a cheap 650-1300mm zoom lens, I rather would use a decent 500mm refrective or reflective lens plus a good 2x teleconverter.

Reflective lenses are out, I do not like donuts all over the photograph.

I am thinking of using the very long lenses on a tripod for wildlife.

 

[AgX]

You not always get doghnuts, but I got your point.

 

[Paul Howell]

I have a 600 reflex, not bad for sharpness, but limited to F8 and the boka can be confusing, when shooting sports a zoom is useful. Although the G2 is not a pro level lens on the same level as Canon L, Nikon pro, or Sigma Sports, it is the bases of the Pentax lens and for occasional work very doable.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You not always get doughnuts, but I got your point.

I love to eat donuts, but they are not good for me.

 

[blockend]

Small apertures and the need for fast shutter speeds, mean tripods are a necessity with such lenses. I occasionally put a 300mm on a M43 camera, with an effective focal length 600mm doubled with a Nikon x 2 converter to 1200mm. Even on a tripod a passing bus can make the horizon quiver. Very long lenses don't usually sharpen up until a couple of stops down, so you're pushing film into the stratosphere.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Small apertures and the need for fast shutter speeds, mean tripods are a necessity with such lenses. I occasionally put a 300mm on a M43 camera, with an effective focal length 600mm doubled with a Nikon x 2 converter to 1200mm. Even on a tripod a passing bus can make the horizon quiver. Very long lenses don't usually sharpen up until a couple of stops down, so you're pushing film into the stratosphere.

Good point. I could see needing film speeds above ISO 3200.

 

[pentaxuser]

Depends on what you use a 1300mm for. You might not need to bother with film at all in a target shooting contest. This 1300mm on top of his musket must have been what Davy Crockett had back in 1955 when I watched him put the second musket ball in the same hole as the first. His opponent by the name of Big Foot could only manage to extend the first hole and even Davy's mate, Buddy Ebsen, thought he had missed with the second ball

Sirius, you can beat Big Foot as well with this lens. Just don't then challenge him to a wrestling match . Even Dick Powell had to be careful of him despite being as tough as Phillip Marlowe


pentaxuser

 

[Paul Howell]

You also have a very narrow depth of field, at 1300 really narrow, no room for focus error. The viivtar, is it a MF lens?

 

[abruzzi]

You also have a very narrow depth of field, at 1300 really narrow, no room for focus error. The viivtar, is it a MF lens?

I don't think so, they are cheap oem lenses, with several brand nmes attached. The are usually T-mount with an adapter for whatever they are targeted to mount to.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...v_650_1300_650_1300mm_f_8_Telephoto_Zoom.html

the tests I saw were fairly low contrast, and not super sharp, but did produce a somewhat usable image.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You also have a very narrow depth of field, at 1300 really narrow, no room for focus error. The viivtar, is it a MF lens?

It is for 35mm cameras only. Manual focus only. Unfortunately there are two meanings for MF.

 

[Paul Howell]

Should have used MF, question is the lens manual focus?

 

[Sirius Glass]

I don't think so, they are cheap oem lenses, with several brand nmes attached. The are usually T-mount with an adapter for whatever they are targeted to mount to.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...v_650_1300_650_1300mm_f_8_Telephoto_Zoom.html

the tests I saw were fairly low contrast, and not super sharp, but did produce a somewhat usable image.

While I have very good experience with Tamron lenses, my experience with Vivatar lenses is that Vivatar lenses [pre Series I] had low contrast.

 

[Paul Howell]

I think is a new lens made in China, Vivatar brand was bought and sells really low quality junk, none of it is the in same class as the Series 1 level of lens. If the lens has low contrast the low contrast will only worse at a distance due to atmospheric affect, haze or dust.

 

[AgX]

[QUOTE="Paul Howell, post: 2215553, member: 3862"question is the lens manual focus?[/QUOTE]

A extreme zoom lens with T-mount for under 200$ hardly can be AF...

 

[BradS]

I love to eat donuts, but they are not good for me.

Mmmmm....donuts. I like the old fashioned... and the mini-donuts at the Minnesota state fair.

 

[lxdude]

It is for 35mm cameras only. Manual focus only. Unfortunately there are two meanings for MF.

Actually, there is another, but it is not appropriate here.

 

[Moose22]

Good point. I could see needing film speeds above ISO 3200.

What camera are you looking to use this on?

That tamron is an electronic diaphragm lens. I doubt it'll work on your F100. No film era Nikons work with the electronic diaphragm Nikon lenses, alas. So get confirmation if that's the route you want to go.

I say alas because I have a 200-500 that's imperfect, but still a fun lens. But relegated only to digital for me.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Actually, there in another, but it is not appropriate here.

Reminds me of a Motown song about "Mothers Fathers Sisters Brothers", as of we did not get the meaning of MFSB.

 

[Joel_L]

I had the first gen Tamron 150-600. Optically it was acceptable. I was generally pleased with the result, even at the long end. The down side is the electronics died a while after the second gen came out. I did not get the second gen to replace it, only because it did not work with my Canon film camera.

 

[lxdude]

Thoughts? Okay...
Yep, them's long!