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Anyone shooting vintage manual 400-600mm ?
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:
Himself wrote:
Anyone ever used a TAMRON SP 65B 400mm F4 LD-IF ?

One for sale in my area and I'm thinking whether it's worth a shot.


Yes, a few years ago. Relatively soft, but lts of detail wide open; pretty crisp stopped downe to f8. Similar rendition to the coreesponding Tamron SP 2.8/300mm from the same time frame!


Himself wrote:
visualopsins wrote:
+1 for the Tamron 500mm f/8 55BB mirror

Must mention Tamron SP 60-300mm F/3.8-5.4 23A zoom:

http://adaptall-2.com/lenses/23A.html (click or tap for Modern Photo Test Results)


I'm asking about Tamrons because I had only problems with mines: all of them very bad CA. Impossible to remove.
And I had the 60-300 and the 500mm mirror. And the 17mm. And some other zooms.


Which camera did you use? It's a bit suprising ... I know all three lenses, and while there are some CAs on the 60-300 of course, the 17mm and especially the 500mm mirror are not know for "vey bad CA". Are you talking about lateral CAs, fringing or longitudinal CAs?

S

PS the SP 4/400 has some CAs, of course - and so has the Canon nFD / EF 2.8/400mm L! The Canon, however, has much better micro-contrast and better detail resolution wide open.


Fringing.
Purple greenish one was terrible.
Cameras 50D and 5D mark II.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The Tamron 60-300 I tried had purple fringing on highlights several px wide - horrible.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
The Tamron 60-300 I tried had purple fringing on highlights several px wide - horrible.


On 24 MP FF, that's absolutely common for vintage MF zooms in the 300mm range. Even the Zeiss CY 5.6/100-300mm has them ("lateral CAs ... pronounced at f=300mm" says philippreeve.net in his review). And the Zeiss has three ULD lenses ...

S


PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Not in my experience. It can fringe some with very bright contrasts like chrome parts on a car in sunlight but for most use cases hardly.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
visualopsins wrote:
+1 for the Tamron 500mm f/8 55BB mirror


I cannot second this at all. I bought one, and it is indeed the sharpest manual refractor lens. BUT it's nowhere near as sharp as the others (non-refractive) I mentioned above. To me, the 5oo 8 is like someone claiming Heineken beer bottles were the sharpest - maybe if comparing to Becks and Budweiser bottles. But introduce a "proper" lens, and all three become irrelevant.
If you did want a slow 5oo, might I suggest the Kowa?
If anyone did want to obtain a Tamron 5oo 8, I have one lying around...


PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The topic is moving around a bit. Coyote23, what exactly are you asking for?
I figured you're looking for some manual 400 lens rather cheap (vintage but better than crap, I understood) but now we're talking $$$$ "L" glass and so on (a topic which has no end as all our experiences differ and purple fringing is the demon).
Could you please clarify what is your idea? Would a 40 year old 60-300 be your thing or rather a 400/2.8 costing 10x more? Wink


PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Phalbert wrote:
Himself wrote:
Anyone ever used a TAMRON SP 65B 400mm F4 LD-IF ?

One for sale in my area and I'm thinking whether it's worth a shot.


Excellent. One of my dearest lens, but it was stolen. [everybody cries please] Could never replace it.
But we're not sure at what kind of budget Coyote23 is looking at... Remember, he's been asking for options about non ED (cheaper?) lenses.

How much for your opportunity?


I´m sorry for your loss, Phalbert.
They surface seldom enough, but here is one currently for sale.

https://www.ebay.at/itm/285181886478?


PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 5:26 pm    Post subject: Re: Anyone shooting vintage manual 400-600mm ? Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:


Apart from several "Wundertüte" type lenses, I have a few 400 mm primes, and I've been using a few others.
...
Vivitar 5.6/400mm (don't remember how it performs ...)



Pretty OK I'd say, since it isn't a very expensice lens. Quite a bit of CAs, but at least thelateral CAs can be removed. Resolution is surprisingly good even at f5.6 and up to the extreme corners (24 M FF). Similar or even slightly better than the common good 500mm mirror lenses, I'd say.

Below: Vivitar 400mm 1:5.6 at f11, 100 % crop from the center of 24MP FF





Below: Vivitar 400mm 1:5.6 at f5.6 (wide open), 100 % crop from the corner of 24MP FF





I was writing about this one here:



PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 7:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Komine made. Also exists in Panagor

Panagor Auto Tele 400mm 1:5.6 by The lens profile, on Flickr


PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Having had half a dozen or so, I can say an element in vintage "Wundertüte" lens rear group is prone to uncleanable haze.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well the question to ask yourself coyote23, is where do you want to be on the price/performance spectrum? Certainly a point of looking at vintage MF options over superior (generally) modern optics is to get a big price advantage. And also relate that to what sort of telephoto photography you are thinking of.
Personally I have got worthwhile results from most of the lenses I have tried. Sure those vivitars etc are not the sharpest and can require more post processing to ameliorate CA. I took these pics with the tokina (vivitar) 400mm f6.3 with my old lumix G1 - 12Mpx 4000x3000px, 800mm equiv FoV - in 2014:

resized to 1200px


Crop:


Once images have been substantially resized, I can remark that the visual sharpness of the resultant images converges, and it becomes less critical what the absolute resolution of the lens is.

Most of the good options have already been mentioned. The novoflex could be a best buy if you suceed in shopping around and finding one cheap, and its an interesting and classic lens to have, but do you want the size and weight of that bazooka? FYI:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/novoflex-noflexar-modular-pigriff-system-240mm-300mm-400mm-600mm-64cm.html

The sigma apo's would be a strong recommend if they didn't invariably suffer from a hazed internal group - see here.
One lens that hasn't been mentioned is the tamron nestar 400mm f6.9. IMO the best of the 1960's preset t-mounts. My review here:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/tamron-quotnestarquot-400mm-f69-preset-t-mount.html

The tamron adaptall SP 400mm f4 might be one of the best MF 400's around but it's scarce and pretty difficult to obtain for a reasonable price. An alternative if that sort of lens and price is more your line of thinking would be one of the much more readily findable adaptall SP 300mm f2.8's, then get a good 1.4x tc to go with - the adaptall 014F or one to match whichever mount you use.

FYI comparison of 300mm lenses here, including some test pics I did with tamron SP 300mm f2.8 amongst others:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/430510-comparison-300mm-capable-lenses-k-1-a.html


PostPosted: Fri Mar 24, 2023 2:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The old Leitz Telyt 400/5 wasn't mentioned so far.
Here is my old thread, also including a comparison with a 300/4 lens plus 1.4X Tcon:
http://forum.mflenses.com/leitz-telyt-ii-400mm-f5-visoflex-m39-t79086.html
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