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BIF with Auto Chinon 55-300mm f4.5
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:43 pm    Post subject: BIF with Auto Chinon 55-300mm f4.5 Reply with quote
BIF is about 70% of my photographic adventures with flower shots, insect shots and other sharing the rest. My primary interest with manual lenses started mostly from doing flower and insect close ups. The last time I did BIFs was about a year ago using Kiron 80-200mm f4.5 and that was fun. My other manual lens birding experience was using a 400mm Tamron preset on still birds (hard to do BIFs due to stiff focusing on the copy I have and hazy front elements but I had no complaint for $Cool.

My AF BIF range is pretty much covered with cheaper tele and zoom AF lenses (300mm f2.8, 300mm f4, 100-400mm f6.7 APO, 400mm f5.6 and 50-500mm f6.3 on the Sony A700).

Inspired by Luis here and postings of other zoom/tele 300mm and above, when I had the chance to get a 300mm, I grabbed the Auto Chinon 55-300mm f4.5 from shopgoodwill.com (another tip from here, thanks).

The lens is below and it has only 6 aperture blades (so my initial impression about the outside design being mostly used by preset lenses is not mostly true javascript:emoticon('Very Happy') )

The lens is pictured below and the insert compares it to my Bigma.



The following BIFs were from 1/3 luck, 1/3 persistence and 1/3 experience. Also larger subjects; thus, easier to track. I initially started with 1/20 usable rate and after a while, hitting 1-2/10 usable shots. Cropping and PP helped to get sharable images. All shots in JPG.

enjoy,
gil



Need to play with the WB here. Yellow cast from morning light and the background which my camera WB didn't like much





Rest of usable test shots at this link
http://www.art4less.smugmug.com/gallery/7793714_akgf7#P-1-12


PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Oh man, I have BIF-envy !

I've been trying for that type of Cormorant shot for months.

Great job !


PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 12:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
number 2 looks abstract Cool


PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
luisalegria wrote:
Oh man, I have BIF-envy !

I've been trying for that type of Cormorant shot for months.

Great job !


Just economies of scale - more shots and likely one or two will turn out usable :~). I have that lake park (Cunningham Lake in San Jose) that I have been birding for years and I know the nuances of light and subjects. All the Chinon test shots were done in that lake. In short, familiarity.
cheers,
gil


PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Bob wrote:
number 2 looks abstract Cool


Thanks Bob. Can't choose the background when doing BIF but I may have to do it maybe later on the morning when the sun is a little bit higher :~).
cheers,
gil


PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Gil,

I am very impressed with the shots. I think I correspond with you on Kiron gear in dpreview Pentax SLR forum. I live close to you in Fremont of California. I recently develop the amateur interest on birds, I don't know how you can take such a clear shot on birds with a manual focus lens. Can I ask what kind of support you are using on the heavy lens. I assume the Chinon 55-300mm would be a heavy lens when I compare the size to the Bigma, do you recall the weight on the lens?

I am very impressed.

Hin Man


PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
wow! superb shots with this monster


PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
hintheman wrote:
Gil,

I am very impressed with the shots. I think I correspond with you on Kiron gear in dpreview Pentax SLR forum. I live close to you in Fremont of California. I recently develop the amateur interest on birds, I don't know how you can take such a clear shot on birds with a manual focus lens. Can I ask what kind of support you are using on the heavy lens. I assume the Chinon 55-300mm would be a heavy lens when I compare the size to the Bigma, do you recall the weight on the lens?

I am very impressed.

Hin Man


Thanks Hin Man and Poilu.

Neighbor Hin. Of those usable shots I did, only few could stand 100% resolution look. Those were mostly from focusing and if the subjects flies across, it is just a matter of panning, minor adjustments and luck. Doing AF BIF for years, experience and many shots helps. Note that my hit rate for usable shots started from 1/20 to 1-2/10. I do 100% hand held as I depend on my body's (Sony A700) stabilization and high shutter speed. For 5 years doing BIF, I never used a tripod or monopod although I have some cheap ones from film days. The Chinon is about 5 lbs. compared to 4+ lbs of the Bigma.

I frequent Sony SLR forum in DPReview when I am busy and you could drop me a line on anything I could be of help in photobirding.

cheers,
gil


PostPosted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Any idea who made it? Tokina would be my best bet.


PostPosted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looking on the internet archive, I can see them being for sale as early as 1968. Described as having 15 elements, 10 groups.

Other brand names- Polaris, Caspeco.

I'm not sure if I'm looking into things too much here, but it has the same vertical grip pattern as my Tele-Tokina 135mm f2.8, and sports the same distinctive silver ring near mount. Many other lenses which are identified as Tokina-made have this.



PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 4:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
D1N0 wrote:
Any idea who made it? Tokina would be my best bet.


What do you think about the possibility of Sun?
My Polaris branded 55-300 has a YS mount which suggests Sun or Sigma, perhaps?

Polaris zoom lenses brochure here:
http://forum.mflenses.com/polaris-auto-zoom-lenses-ys-mount-t83615.html#1562585


Also, if gil (the original poster) is still around here, those are excellent bird shots! Well done.

Like 1


PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 8:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
As a 'slow photographer' I can only have respect for this kind of photography!


PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
As a 'slow photographer' I can only respect this kind of photography!

Last edited by caspert79 on Thu Apr 07, 2022 9:40 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
have this lens too, not used much as is a heavy beast to take it out,

but yes, its remarkably good compared to other more established brands.

i find out that it has a sweet sport around 135-150mm for OOF creamery


PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 10:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
It was in an auction yesterday but didn't bid as I have too many lenses as it is and an excellent Tamron in this range. Went for 40 Euro's
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