Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!
SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

RE Auto Topcor 300mm 5.6
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 7:58 pm    Post subject: RE Auto Topcor 300mm 5.6 Reply with quote
I picked this up tail end of last year for $50. I`ve been unable to convert it to Alpha mount due to the screws on the mount being too difficult to remove without damaging them so can shoot on the Alpha only with a short exakta/m42 extension tube giving me a very limited range.

I eventually took the plunge on a Nex 5R recently and have tried it out once or twice, not in optimal conditions and the LCD on the Nex isn`t great for birding etc.! but it gives a rough idea of performance...

On the A99 wide open, no pp.


Crop





Slight crop on this one


Nex 5R








Sorry it`s just a few bird shots to date, I will try more variety as I go along, I need a VF for the Nex though as it`s photography by guesswork/focus peaking at the moment for some of these.

I will say it`s sharper than any budget 300mm I`ve tried to date and it is certainly better than my Minolta Big beercan 75-300mm at the long end which is now sold.

p.s. these were all handheld, it`s got that lovely lightweight Topcor build quality the rest of these lenses have and the MFD is very good for an oldie too., 15 feet though I would say closer as the Robin was no more than 10-12 feet away at points.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Wow, very nice results!


PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I never bothered 'cause i thought it was slow....
and i have a MC SONNAR 4/300 CZJ (DDR) ... wich is not real fast....

But wow ! Shocked

Maybe i should look out for one....


PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 10:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks Klaus, Mir.

It`s a keeper again, but they all are really, there was a 500mm 5.6 on UK ebay recently, I was sorely tempted but could not find a single web based image taken with one. I wonder if anyone we know pulled the trigger.. I would really like to see some shots taken with that.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nice shots, I was debating to get one, you easily tipped the scale in favour of getting it, I still have to hunt for a 200.
Looking forward to more shots.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 12:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Slower lenses usually bring better results, due they are already stopped down by factory Smile I have same excellent experience by Tamron SP 300mm f5.6 , great result!


PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 12:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Very impressive!


PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 5:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I got one too in a set with my 85. Must try it when there is a chance.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 7:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
wow...nice!
this brand is really guarantee of good lens


PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 11:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Calvin I imagine that 85mm hasn`t been far from your camera and the poor 300mm feels left out!


PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Macca wrote:
Calvin I imagine that 85mm hasn`t been far from your camera and the poor 300mm feels left out!

Who knows.

Both lens are in my friends hand now. I think he may not give me back the 85 until next year. LOL


PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quite nice detail ! Is it possible to have a picture of the lens also ? Wink


PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 12:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lovely results. Despite you feeling that you have problems focusing with the NEX you managed to nail that first one. It just takes time with the NEX.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 6:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
It works very well, these Topcon lenses are good quality it seems,$50 well spent I think.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks again for the comments.

Billou no problem, some quick shots here. The stats for anyone interested are weight 715grammes on the kitchen scales. Length 190mm at Maximum Focus distance, extending to approx 210mm at minimum focus distance.

Similar to the 135mm,it has a built in extending hood which is slightly tatty on my copy though this seems to have protected it from some scrapes in the past. It`s pretty clean inside for a Topcor, it has one small internal hair which I`m leaving at the moment. Later uniformly gold/yellow type coatings, some earlier ones have different colours I`ve noticed. Lightshow has the antonetto book and may be able to shed some light on years,serials, coatings etc. now?





PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you for the informations !


PostPosted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 11:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lightshow wrote:
Nice shots, I was debating to get one, you easily tipped the scale in favour of getting it, I still have to hunt for a 200.
Looking forward to more shots.

Well, I now have a Topcor R 200/4 & a Topcor R 300/5.6 on their way to me, I was so happy with my Topcor R 135/3.5, I had to take the chance on these, just need the 9cm to complete the set.


PostPosted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 11:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ah, Lightshow you may have just cleared something up for me when you mentioned "R". That is what my 5.6/300 is, not RE like Macca. Honestly, I haven't gotten the same level of results as Macca. I hope you do better with your R. And the R 200 is faster than the RE 5.6/200 that I have. I'll be interested in seeing those results too.

I need to give the R 300mm a good chance in bright sunlight, which I have not yet done. Here is all I've been able to come up with, but only the first two images are legitimate; the others are merges of two or more images.











PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 2:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Love the crows! Btw telephoto on the Nex is probably not the best idea, the body is way too small. I used it a few times with a Pentacon 200mm and CZJ 135mm, but even these pretty light lenses made it totally imbalanced. For me it was even strange to use the combo on tripod.


PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Mark wrote:
Love the crows! Btw telephoto on the Nex is probably not the best idea, the body is way too small. I used it a few times with a Pentacon 200mm and CZJ 135mm, but even these pretty light lenses made it totally imbalanced. For me it was even strange to use the combo on tripod.


Mark: I have written about this before. When I first got my NEX-5N (no viewfinder) I found it nearly impossible to do outside photography in bright light. Using a large lens only made it that much more difficult. The problem was three-fold; viewfinder hard to see in bright light, my eyes weren't good enough up close, and holding the camera steady was nearly impossible with arms stretched out. I was not going to be able to use the camera unless something changed.

I purchased one of the cheap viewfinder hoods and this nearly solved the problems. I could now see the viewfinder in daylight, but for me the diopter was not strong enough, so I had to wear reading glasses too. I no longer had a problem keeping the camera steady because it was now braced against my head. However, I could not get used to the tiny size of the camera and kept unintentionally hitting buttons, most often putting the camera into movie mode. To solve that, I made a handle and positioned it so that my trigger finger was well placed and my thumb could hit the focus aid button which I had assigned to the bottom right. I am now very comfortable up to 200mm with no problems hand holding. I don't care about the camera now having increased in size because I never liked the small size anyway.




PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 3:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
woodrim wrote:
Mark wrote:
Love the crows! Btw telephoto on the Nex is probably not the best idea, the body is way too small. I used it a few times with a Pentacon 200mm and CZJ 135mm, but even these pretty light lenses made it totally imbalanced. For me it was even strange to use the combo on tripod.


Mark: I have written about this before. When I first got my NEX-5N (no viewfinder) I found it nearly impossible to do outside photography in bright light. Using a large lens only made it that much more difficult. The problem was three-fold; viewfinder hard to see in bright light, my eyes weren't good enough up close, and holding the camera steady was nearly impossible with arms stretched out. I was not going to be able to use the camera unless something changed.

I purchased one of the cheap viewfinder hoods and this nearly solved the problems. I could now see the viewfinder in daylight, but for me the diopter was not strong enough, so I had to wear reading glasses too. I no longer had a problem keeping the camera steady because it was now braced against my head. However, I could not get used to the tiny size of the camera and kept unintentionally hitting buttons, most often putting the camera into movie mode. To solve that, I made a handle and positioned it so that my trigger finger was well placed and my thumb could hit the focus aid button which I had assigned to the bottom right. I am now very comfortable up to 200mm with no problems hand holding. I don't care about the camera now having increased in size because I never liked the small size anyway.




Yes, I remember now. There was a disucssion about it before. Btw that's my problem with the Nex system: the NEX 3/5 bodies are incredibly small, which is really an engineering achievement. But the size of the whole system is not that much smaller than other APS-C offerings. For example I have a Pentax K-5 now, and the size of the body + kit lens is not noticeably larger in my camera bag, than the comparable NEX kit was. But I have to admit that your solution looks cool! Smile (And that wooden handle is just awesome! Sony should really sell something like this! Smile )


PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
woodrim/woodgrip There is a connection.


PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I found that there was a lack of inertia with my NEX-7 and light tele's, plus the high pixel density made getting sharp shots a challenge, I found that using a slightly heavier lens helped, so did using a mono pod or resting the camera/lens against something, and so did using a faster shutter speed. I also found that some days I'm better at holding it steady, other days, not so much Laughing
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
Page 1 of 1