Choice and comparison on 300mm lens

[jocelin]

First of all please excuse me if my English is approximate.
I am looking for a 300mm telephoto and after a lot of research I can not make a choice between these last:
- olympus om zuiko 300mm f/4.5
- tamron 300mm adaptall f5.6
- nikkor 300mm ais ed
- super-multi-coated TAKUMAR 300mm f4
- rmc tokina 300mm f5.6
My use would be to photograph wild life And the choice of a soft bokeh will make the difference!. This lens would be mounted on a canon 650d (Taking into account a suitably recessed adapter ring
If you have opinions to give me to direct my choice it would be taken with great pleasure
Thank you for your attention, help me not to drown myself in this wide choice of telephoto.


(The more I discover these wardrobes, the more I am addicted)

[Oldhand]

Welcome to the forum Jocelin.
For me the pick of those would be the nikkor 300mm ais ed f4.5
T

[buerokratiehasser]

I did not ever own one of those.
I would choose the Takumar because it just sounds good.

I dont think Bokeh is much of an issue. With long tele on wildlife and birds, the background is usually totally blurred. Certainly it can still look like dork but the finer distinctions of creamy are lost I think.

[Teemō]

I couldn't find the specific thread but I recall a discussion/comparison on good tele lenses here not so long ago. I remember the Canon 300mm F5.6 being an excellent performer and this thread certainly demonstrates it even on a 2x crop sensor: http://forum.mflenses.com/canon-fd-300mm-5-6-t72022,highlight,%2Bcanon+%2B300mm.html

[jocelin]

[jocelin]

[Oldhand]

[lucca1x]

From your list +1 for Nikkor.
If your list is open and you are not afraid of heavy, weird looking lenses, you might consider Tair 300mm. It is quite sharp, has a nice bokeh (lots of blades) and the prices are resonable.

[marcusBMG]

Bonjour jocelin

300mm f5.6? IMO there are a large number of lenses that are broadly quite similar in performance, including the tamron adaptalls (3 variants), tokinas (tokina rmc/hoya/mitsuki etc etc), some smaller differences in specification, handling. I would like to give the tamron adaptall SP 54B 300mm f5.6 a bigger thumbs up as the best one, but really it's only a bit sharper IMO, costs a lot more and is prone to fringing. It does have the best close focus capability however.
Takumars IMO are overpriced for what they offer.
Meyer or Pentacon 300mm f4's offer lots of quality for the ~ 100€ +/- they can be acquired for, and have detachable mounts for eg modding to suit nikon, but being made for large format camera (pentacon 6x6) there is a big size and weight penalty aspect.

For best resolution .. +1 for the tair 300mm f4.5. The Tair 3A with swappable t-mount is probably the most practical one to get.
If you are using a mirrorless camera (update - canon dslr so no good) then definitely give priority to original canon lenses to use with a FD adapter. 300mm f4 "L" 's are not common and tend to go for a premium price, however the non-L version is highly recommendable and much cheaper, and as already mentioned the 300mm f5.6's are probably equal to or better than the non-OEM 300mm f5.6's like the tamrons.

[dualmp]

If you don't mind preset lenses, you can try the cheap Soligors 350mm 5.6.
I have the Tamron version (serial number starts with T) as well as Komine (i think, serial number starts with H) version. Both are sharp on my 600D and 5DIII if used carefully.

[jocelin]

[jamaeolus]

I don't actually have it but I hear excellent things about Tair 300mm 4.5. Many claim it is the sharpest in this class. It is also very purchased at reasonable price. Around 100 USD.

[jocelin]

[marcusBMG]

[devinw]

I know it's a zoom, but don't overlook the Tokina AT-K 100-300 f/4 too. It's damn good.

[Antoine]

There are many 300mm f5.6 mirror lens. OK, cannot change the f 5.6 but with ISO tuning, they can cover a lot of luminosity sittuation.
Of course, there is the donut bokey issue but on the other hand they are very coompact.

[guardian]

[Lloydy]

The Tair is sharp and very good, but so heavy. The Tamron SP 670AU 300 / 5.6 is also very good, but so much lighter and easier to use it has a big advantage over the Tair when used hand held. On a tripod, the Tair might be sharper than the Tamron - but I wouldn't bet on it. I've got the Tair in both versions and the Photosniper has an advantage over the conventional lens, but the Tamron is my choice of 300mm lens every time. 670AU lenses are cheap and fairly common as well. ( I've got two, might sell one )

I also have a Chinon 300 5.6 which is possibly a Tamron made lens, and that's lighter that the 670AU, and possibly equally as good. It's a bit of a sleeper I think, but I've never tested all three against each other.

[Abbazz]