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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.
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Russian Heavy Artillery - Tair 3C 300mm m42
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 12:30 am
Post subject: Russian Heavy Artillery - Tair 3C 300mm m42
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 12:30 am
Post subject: Russian Heavy Artillery - Tair 3C 300mm m42
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Hi folks

I really like this lens, paid 31ukp for it a while back and love it's sharpness and contrast, I can live with the massive weight!







When it first arrived I walked out the back yard door and shot this of a seagull on the chimney opposite, 1/500 sec, f5.6, immediately I though 'damn, this is sharp!'










I also thought 'damn, this is heavy!'


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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 12:38 am
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 12:38 am
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Some more shots, each followed by a 100% crop:






















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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 8:15 am
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 8:15 am
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I think you'd be a lot happier with many of your lenses, if you changed your body to something with live-view or a larger viewfinder. Alas, a lot of them are out of focus.

The 40D for example sells for about £3-400 on fleebay.


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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 12:52 pm
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 12:52 pm
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i did a test of my version of tair 3 labeled phs (photosniper) in my series "testing my lenses"
http://forum.mflenses.com/testing-my-lenses-part-45-tair-3-phs-300mm-4-5-t39189.html


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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 3:39 pm
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 3:39 pm
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I agree some are more out of focus than soft due to lens IQ. I also think quality is much better than price you paid, only 31 GBP - whoa!

Heavy? 1.6kg is in my opinion a lightweighter Cool it is all a matter of getting used to it Very Happy I get less camera shake with a 1kg DSLR body and heavy lens than I do with light weight DSLR and small lens.


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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 8:01 pm
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 8:01 pm
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Which ones are out of focus?

Be a while before I can afford a new cam with live view, only paid 80ukp inc shipping for my EOS 10D, I'm on a tight budget...


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Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 1:05 pm
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Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 1:05 pm
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Which ones are out of focus?
Sorry for the late reply.

The windmill shot has nothing in focus to my eye. Now this may either be front focus, camera shake or heavy cropping. I cannot quite tell.

The man on the tractor is front-focused, as it seems that the steering wheel has more detail than his jacket.

I know it is really hard to focus with a 10D. Hell, I'm using a 5D--its viewfinder is probably double the size--with extra matte focusing screen and a viewfinder magnifier and I think it is hard.


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Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 3:37 pm
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 3:37 pm
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Thanks for the feedback.

The windmill shot was at infinity. If you look at the crop of the three windmills, you can see there is heat haze, it was a hot day, perhaps 28C, could that be some of the reason for lack of sharpness in that shot?

The tractor was moving towards me at about 20mph so it was a snap shot.

I'm pretty disgusted by how bad the whole viefinder/reflex system is in my 10D, makes focussing a nightmare, makes me long for the superb viewfinder and focussing aids on my Pentax ME Super or even one of the many Prakticas I've owned.

Seems to me that manufacturers seem to think that because they have included a super sophisticated multi-point AF system that the viewfinder is of little importance.

I'd love a modern digi SLR without AF, basically a digital version of an old 70s manual SLR...


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Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 3:50 pm
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 3:50 pm
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
I'd love a modern digi SLR without AF, basically a digital version of an old 70s manual SLR...
I agree! Bring back the Olympus 0.97x viewfinders. Having said that, I'm waiting for a full-frame Nex and try to make ends meet with my 5D for now. I can fire a few shots whilst twisting the focusing ring after all.


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Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 6:29 pm
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 6:29 pm
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Cistron wrote:
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
I'd love a modern digi SLR without AF, basically a digital version of an old 70s manual SLR...
I agree! Bring back the Olympus 0.97x viewfinders. Having said that, I'm waiting for a full-frame Nex and try to make ends meet with my 5D for now. I can fire a few shots whilst twisting the focusing ring after all.


Indeed, I still have a vgc OM10 sat in a drawer.


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Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 9:55 am
Post subject: Old lens
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 9:55 am
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Wonderful old weapon!

Good shots too!


Yo gonna bulk up, bro!


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Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 2:44 pm
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 2:44 pm
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Aye, if I keep carrying this thing around I will end up with bulkier arms!

If my poor back doesn't give out first!


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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:53 pm
Post subject: focusing with the Tair 300mm
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:53 pm
Post subject: focusing with the Tair 300mm
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Hi Ian,
I use the Tair 300mm all the time its an awesome lens and very sharp indeed, i even use it with 2x and 3x teleconverters fitted and get mega sharp bird shots, although i have a Canon 550d that has liveview i don't use it with the Tair as it slows down the 550d when taking quick birds etc, i use a M42 to EF/EOS adaptor that has AF confirm chip and this makes manual focusing with the Tair a doddle if you don't have one then i recomend you invest in one (mine cost approx £12.00 on Ebay) if you look on Flickr and search for Photosniper you will find my bird shots as well as my lens foot conversion for the Tair 300mm using a Nikon tripod foot.
Keep shooting and have fun
Brian


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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 11:12 pm
Post subject: Re: focusing with the Tair 300mm
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 11:12 pm
Post subject: Re: focusing with the Tair 300mm
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Jethro Tull wrote:
Hi Ian,
I use the Tair 300mm all the time its an awesome lens and very sharp indeed, i even use it with 2x and 3x teleconverters fitted and get mega sharp bird shots, although i have a Canon 550d that has liveview i don't use it with the Tair as it slows down the 550d when taking quick birds etc, i use a M42 to EF/EOS adaptor that has AF confirm chip and this makes manual focusing with the Tair a doddle if you don't have one then i recomend you invest in one (mine cost approx £12.00 on Ebay) if you look on Flickr and search for Photosniper you will find my bird shots as well as my lens foot conversion for the Tair 300mm using a Nikon tripod foot.
Keep shooting and have fun
Brian


Hiy mate, thanks for the advice!

I did have an AF chip converter but it went wrong so I removed the chip, need to get another...


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Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 1:55 pm
Post subject: tair 300mm photos
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 1:55 pm
Post subject: tair 300mm photos
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Hi Ian,
Here's my Tair including new lens foots

Tair 300mm with Nikon lens foot by Rowdy Rebel1, on Flickr

Nikon lens foot (fits Tair 300mm) by Rowdy Rebel1, on Flickr

and here's some bird shots taken with it.


20th April 2011 037 by Rowdy Rebel1, on Flickr


Female Sparrowhawk by Rowdy Rebel1, on Flickr


Great Spotted Woodpecker (female) by Rowdy Rebel1, on Flickr


Female Sparrowhawk4 by Rowdy Rebel1, on Flickr

not bad for a £40 Ebay bargain?
Look forward to seeing more of your shots!
Cheers
Brian


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Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 2:58 pm
Post subject: extension tubes on Tair 300mm
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Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 2:58 pm
Post subject: extension tubes on Tair 300mm
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Ian have you tried any Macro/extension tubes on your Tair 300mm? i tried them on mine and managed to get it to focus at 3ft! macro with a photosniper! LoL works great with flowers too. Mine are just cheap ef/eos one's off Ebay with the AF confirm chip, the AF chip works for around 2/3 rings but not with full set on but images worked well.
Here's a quick shot taken with the extension tubes fitted.

6th May 2011 010 by Rowdy Rebel1, on Flickr

not bad eh? Cool
very versatile lens and the more you experiment the better it gets
Cheers
Brian


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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:21 pm
Post subject: pics
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:21 pm
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jethro: great shots


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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:38 pm
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:38 pm
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If you haven't seen Jethro / Rowdy Rebel1's superb pictures with this lens on Flickr you're missing out on just what can be achieved with this great lens. Go and have a look, then rush out and buy a Tair ! Laughing


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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 5:40 am
Post subject: tair
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 5:40 am
Post subject: tair
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Lloydy: Went to Flickr. But frustrated, I will never have good bird shot. This freaken animals dont keep on place long enough for me .
Lots of great shots there . thks


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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 3:19 pm
Post subject: Re: tair
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 3:19 pm
Post subject: Re: tair
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lowersaxonguy wrote:
Lloydy: Went to Flickr. But frustrated, I will never have good bird shot. This freaken animals dont keep on place long enough for me .
Lots of great shots there . thks


setting up a feeder near a window from which you can shoot is the easiest way to get bird shots. In the air, in the woods and elsewhere it is very hard with an AF lens let alone with a MF lens. I recommend placing the feeder in a tree preferably sort of in the middle of the tree so that the birds have a sense of protection from predators like sharp shinned hawks which have been known to swoop in and take a bird off the feeder in mid-flight. My neighbor has a feeder on a pole in the middle of his yard and he doesn't get anywhere near the amount of birds I get at my feeder in the middle of a tangle of branches in the center of the tree.

For example here is a female downy wood pecker taken with my Tair 3 Grand Prix Brussels model. I have the lens tripod mounted about 5 feet in from the window pointing to the feeder about 5 feet on the other side of the window. The window is also open just enough to allow the shot.


Female Downy Woodpecker 20120407 by ramcewan, on Flickr


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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 4:21 pm
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 4:21 pm
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thks for u advice
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