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200mm options for Sony a850
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 8:31 pm    Post subject: 200mm options for Sony a850 Reply with quote
Hi folks.

I'm still looking for a really good 200mm (or thereabouts) lens for my a850. It will have to be in a mount that can be adapted to this camera which kinda limits things to M42 and not much else.

The M42 options that I know of are the Pentacon 4/200, had one of those, good lens; the Russian Jupiter-21 and Telemar-22, then the major Japanese makers like Pentax, Mamiya, Yashica and Fuji made M42 lenses, but apart from the Pentax Takumars, I hardly ever see the others for sale. Then there's the good old CZJ Sonnar 2.8/180.

Third party stuff is a minefield, I have two different Sankor 200mms, both rubbish, a Komuranon 200 that is rotten, a Mamiya-Sekor 200 that is a Tokina and has a broken aperture. In the past I had a Tokina RMC 3.5/200, it was garbage, masses of purple fringing.

I won't even get into all the Soligors and Vivitars there have been....

So, what lenses that would be suitable have people owned and had good results with?


PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I like 200's, and my first choice is the Pentacon 200 / 4, which I adore.Then the Takumar pre set f5.6. It's slow, but has wonderful rendering. It's just a very nice lens to use. A close third choice is my Dollonds 200 3.5, the odd looking tapered lens with a 67mm filter ring that is probably a Kino / Kiron lens but also seen as a Tokina ? It's another lens that renders nicely, sharp enough, and has wonderful bokeh from the zillion blade aperture.
I've also recently bought an old Rokkor QF 200 3.5 which is big, heavy, slow and doesn't enjoy a stellar reputation, which I think is unfair because it's a very typical old Rokkor, it does exactly what it was designed to do, it might not be exceptional, but it is very very good.
And a few days ago aia got a Vivitar 200 3.5 Komine made lens, because it was dirt cheap and very dirty. It scrubbed up nicely and is a far better lens that I thought it was going to be.
I've got one of those one touch, tapered 1970's Chinon 200 / 3.5 as well, which always surprises me. And some crappy 200's, they're very cheap. Laughing


PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 10:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
My favorite lens on the A850 in 200mm is this one:

http://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/onelens.php?id=af80-200f28g
http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/Minolta-AF-80-200mm-F2.8-HS-APO-G_lens59.html

It's usable even fully open and delivers (almost) as good results as the excellent Minolta AF 2.8/200 APO lens at 200mm.

Here you can see some partly stunning examples from this lens:

http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/topic11611.html

It's a little investment but worth every cent. The downside is it's weight and size. But when shooting SLR with my A850 including vertical grip the weight/size isn't the criteria anyway. For lightweight shooting there are better possibilities like e.g. my Ricoh GXR-M/Leitz Elmar 135mm which correspond to the 200mm on the A850.

The main advantage over the 200mm prime lens is the higher versatility and in the end the lower cost if you would add alternatively some other primes in that focus lengths to come to a similar result. So actually it's more or less the only zoom which really makes sense for me and which is also used. Apart from that lens I don't really like or use zooms, though I have some others too (used mainly as camera caps).

Finally for the A850 there is no really sense making alternative: Either the 2.8/200mm AF prime or this or the later 2.8/70-200 APO Zoom. Everything else I would consider as rather bad compromise.

I don't have any experience with cheaply made plastic lenses from Tokina/Sigma/Tamron which would be also available for lower prices. BUT according to some other forums and stories from other users I wouldn't recommend such a lens and you have asked for a "really good" lens for your A850 anyway. However, I have some other 200mm MF primes too but I don't use them on the A850, but rather on my mirrorless cameras. I don't even know how my 200mm Takumar is performing on the A850 as I never tried it and my others won't fit anyway. Wink


PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 10:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lloydy wrote:
I like 200's, and my first choice is the Pentacon 200 / 4, which I adore.Then the Takumar pre set f5.6. It's slow, but has wonderful rendering. It's just a very nice lens to use. A close third choice is my Dollonds 200 3.5, the odd looking tapered lens with a 67mm filter ring that is probably a Kino / Kiron lens but also seen as a Tokina ? It's another lens that renders nicely, sharp enough, and has wonderful bokeh from the zillion blade aperture.
I've also recently bought an old Rokkor QF 200 3.5 which is big, heavy, slow and doesn't enjoy a stellar reputation, which I think is unfair because it's a very typical old Rokkor, it does exactly what it was designed to do, it might not be exceptional, but it is very very good.
And a few days ago aia got a Vivitar 200 3.5 Komine made lens, because it was dirt cheap and very dirty. It scrubbed up nicely and is a far better lens that I thought it was going to be.
I've got one of those one touch, tapered 1970's Chinon 200 / 3.5 as well, which always surprises me. And some crappy 200's, they're very cheap. Laughing


You've had better luck with the third party stuff than me, the Kiron/Kino and Komine both sound interesting. That big old Dollonds I remember you showed before.

The Rokkor sounds nice, I have the 3.5/100 of the same age and it's also very nice.

I'm not actually short of good 200mms, I'm just short of one that will fit my a850. I have a beautiful ISCO 2.8/180 but it's in the arcane Exakta external bayonet mount so would need hacking to be usable, I have the wonderful Konica Hexanon 3.5/200 and it's slightly less great smaller brother 4/200, and my favourite for the NEX - the small Topcor RE 5.6/200. I have a Rollei HFT Tele-Tessar 4/200 as well, but it's in QBM so again, won't fit.

I can see me ending up buying another Pentacon 4/200, although I will keep my eye out for that Komine Vivitar in M42.

Or maybe I will stick my Schneider Symmar-S 5.6/210 on a set of bellows, I'm not using it for LF film work at the moment.


PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 12:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Another vote for the 200/5.6 preset Takumar. Mechanically the most satisfying lens I've ever used (possibly because it's my only Takumar so far), relatively small and light for a 200mm lens, optically leaves nothing to be desired, and can be had for next to nothing. One obvious drawback is the small aperture, but if you like the 200/5.6 Topcor, you're presumably okay with that. (And maybe it's single-coated? I haven't tried it against the sun; the colors are excellent, anyways.)


PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 12:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'd get the AF Minolta 200/2.8. One of the best lenses in that range.


PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 12:36 am    Post subject: Re: 200mm options for Sony a850 Reply with quote
There is also a CZJ 200mm (as opposed to the 180mm) 2.8 for M42.


PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 2:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
The Asahi Super-Multi-Coated TAKUMAR 4/200 isn't a bad lens
M42, A/M switch, 6 blades, ∅58, MFD: 250cm, 1971-75

Sony ɑ7


Konica Minolta Dynax 7D



PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Mir wrote:
The Asahi Super-Multi-Coated TAKUMAR 4/200 isn't a bad lens
M42, A/M switch, 6 blades, ∅58, MFD: 250cm, 1971-75


I have the previous version, the 3.5/200:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/Takumar-200mm-F3.5.html

It's very high rated at Pentaxforums, even higher than the 4/200. However, it's a heavy beast. Wink
But I didn't test it on the FF camera. The sample pictures at Pentaxforums look promising.


PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for the help guys.

The Takumars do interest me, I'll keep an eye out for those.

I wish I could afford the Minolta AF options mentioned, but sadly I can't.


PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 3:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
On a low-ish budget, the taks are great.
The tamron adaptall 200 f3.5 is a good lens too - for the right price, with the added value of the interchangeable mount.


PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Thanks for the help guys.

The Takumars do interest me, I'll keep an eye out for those.

I wish I could afford the Minolta AF options mentioned, but sadly I can't.


I just took a few test pictures with

1) Pentax-M SMC 200mm 1:4 (NOT the M42!)
2) Minolta AF 2.8/200mm APO G

The Pentax-M has way more CAs / fringing than the Minolta APO, and certainly not less than e. g. the cheap Vivitar 3.5/200mm (M42).

I know this doesn't say anything about M42 Pentax lenses, however i would expect the later Pentax-M to be either identical or better than the elder Pentax M42.

Stephan


PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 9:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hello Ian.
I have been very surprised by the very good quality of the Soligor Tele-Auto 3,5/200mm, and I used it on a full frame cam (5D²).
It is the old "aluminium ears" version.



Like this one on the Bay : Click here to see on Ebay
19,99£ "buy it now"

Last edited by Olivier on Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:45 am; edited 3 times in total


PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The mamiya m645 210mm f4 seems to be pretty good all told. Should be nice and cheap too and has the advantage of minimal vignetting. Only slight disadvantage is the mfd of 2.5m, though extension tubes sort that. The shorter 150m f2.8 A is superb, but a tad short of your target focal length. The 200mm f2.8 APO would be even better, but they seem to be quite rare and rather expensive when they do show up.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Look for the whatever-brand (soligor, vivitar,...) 60-300 4-5.6, sweet spot at about 220 mm (softer at 300), also 60mm!

or "the pipe" 75-200/4.5
Both will even have AF when in MAF (if not damaged)

Only thing is, they are fine (with a little stopping down) on 10 Mpix APS-C, not sure how they will do on a better body like yours. I'd worry more about lpmm than corners

Another problem could be price, they are more known now perhaps, listed on dyxum with glaring reviews too..


PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 5:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
the tiny Minolta AF 4.5/100-200 is cheap and very good.. this would be my choice if the Minolta AF G lenses are out of range. For MF the Auto Yashinon DX 4/200 could be a option:

http://forum.mflenses.com/yashinon-dx-200-4-black-beauty-t7830,highlight,yashinondx.html
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