minimum 400mm

revinhood · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 53 Location: España

does not participate much. during this time I changed brand, now I use canon.
I need a lens of not less than 400mm. that you recommend me?
as always, thanks for your understanding, and sorry for my English

Nordentro · Expire: 2015-01-29

Bazooka or mirror lens? Wink

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

For more accurate suggestions need to know following things:

What is your budget?

Are mirror lenses ok ?

revinhood · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 53 Location: España

mirror lenses are low quality, I want something better, if possible with my budget
the budget is not high, no more than 200 €

Scheimpflug · Expire: 2011-11-18

revinhood · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 53 Location: España

I would not mind a mirror lens if the quality is acceptable

CarbonR · Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:02 pm Post subject:

I'd also ask about aperture ? If f/8 is sufficent, you could check for the Tamron 500/8 (best third party mirro lens), or for a 400/5.6 refractor lens. I do not think you will found something longer or brighter than a 400/5.6 which has a good IQ and whic cost lower than 200€ Wink

revinhood · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 53 Location: España

a 400 f / 5.6 would be great. I thought of some sigma 400 f / 5.6, but not if its price would be within my reach.

dsmlogger · Joined: 14 Apr 2010 Posts: 178 Location: Athens, Greece

I think you can't go wrong with Mamiya.

My buddy has a Mamiya 400mm f6.3 (M42 mount) and it's very good.

He is thinking of selling it however because he mostly got it to complete his Mamiya M42 collection and not for actually using it (he isn't really into "bird-shooting" thing...).

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

revinhood · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 53 Location: España

ok guys, the moment I noted:
Mamiya 400mm
NOVOFLEX
Sigma 400mm
a Russian lens, I tend to like a lot.

Jesito · Expire: 2015-01-07

I wouldn't discard the mirrors at all...
By construction they cannot have chromatic aberration, and if properly used they can render excellent pictures. The only drawback could be the known "donut" bokeh, but even this can be minimized.

I own a Yashica mirror 500mm f8 mirror and I wouldn't swap ir for a regular tele.

An example (unretouched pictures):

This is the lens itself, on a Lumix GF1:

To see the performance, I've chosen this target (the reading girl):

@f8, 1/250, ISO800

a 100% crop of the reading area:

The text can be read!! (obviously if you know spanish Wink

).
And this can be further improved by adjusting contrast, focus mask, a decent tripod...
Don't forget that this is unretouched.

So please, don't discard mirrors as a light telephoto lenses.

Regards.
Jes.

revinhood · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 53 Location: España

looks great this yashica, not bad.
See also this option.
"y por supuesto, puedo leer el texto."
thank you very much for the sample photos, is the best way to see the results of the lens.

ZoneV · Expire: 2011-12-02

Mirror lenses are pretty small - to take a 500/8 mirror lens with you need not much place in the photo bag. But a Novoflex 400/5.6 is pretty big (ok, it has a bit more entrance pupil diameter). It would not fit into normal photo bags - as long as you not take it apart (that is planned and easy possible).

I have that Novoflex, but up to now never tested it realy.

dickb · Joined: 04 Apr 2008 Posts: 821

Have a look at the grass behind the reading girl. If this rendering is something you do not like, don't get a mirror lens. At 500mm often a large part of the image will be out of focus and rendered in a similar way.

About the Sigma 400mm f/5.6, there are several versions:

- the oldest, non APO version is optically not that great.
- the next version, just APO, is much better but for some reason a lot of these lenses have a hazy inner element. Don't buy this lens unless the seller guarantees you that the optics are crystal clear. There are instructions on the web on how to clean this up, but the lens is very hard to dismantle.
- the APO Macro is better yet. Many of these in Eos mount have the Sigma/Canon incompatibility problem that freezes the camera on any aperture other than wide open. If you can get this lens cheaply and you don't mind using f/5.6 in Av mode, this may be the best price/quality option.
- the APO Macro HSM version, the newest. Some of these have the same problem with digital Canons, some don't. Great lens, but if you find one that works flawlessly, you'll pay more than €200 normally.

The Novoflex 400mm exists in two versions, a 2 element lens and a 3 element lens (marked Noflexar-T, t for triplet). The three element version is better optically. Only buy these Novoflex lenses if you like the fast focus/rapid focus system. It works quite well but you do have to get used to it.

PBFACTS · Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 569