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Tair 3
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 10:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Olivier wrote:
SonicScot wrote:
Olivier wrote:
Gary, I was wondering what serial number is your Taïr 300A ?

No680247 Very Happy

Thank you Gary.
So, it is from 1968. Smile

Well considering it's almost as old as me, it's in much better shape than I am. Rolling Eyes Laughing


PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The only number on Mine I can find that approximates a Serial number is "0043", just before "Lens made in the USSR"

It's a Tair-3-PhS, and came with a Metal tin, I bought it off Tervueren on this Forum for a very good price, and love it to bits. It's off to the Mach Loop in a few weeks with me, so we'll see how it stands up with some of the Big Boys of the AF world in terms of IQ. I know several there will have 300/2.8's and 600/4 L series lenses, so it's not as if we are going to compare it to a cheap 70-300 zoom.


PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm late, but that is one sweet BIF, Gary, congrats! Cool (Could care less if you took it with two Coca Cola bottles taped
together. Wink) j/k, always nice to get gear that performs well! Smile


PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
fermy wrote:
Alright, let's throw a spanner wrench in this Tair lovefest. Tair is just a simple triplet, with relatively big f4.5 aperture. No aspherics, no special glass, nothing.

Canon FD 300/f4 non-L version is 6 elements in 6 groups, uses special fluorite glass in two of the elements. Canon FD 300/f5.6 is again, 6 elements in 5 groups, no special elements, but much less ambitious max aperture.

Old Nikkor-P 300/f4.5 had 5 elements and a reputation of a mediocre lens. Nikkor AI and AI-s, which are considered decent, are all 6 elements design. They also have an improved ED and ED-IF versions with special glass.

So what gives? Are Nikon and Canon just daft putting all those extra elements and exotic glass, where a simple triplet would suffice? Honestly, this does not make sense. Or is this lens good just because it's acceptable for the price and cheaper than Canon/Nikon?


I had a Nikon 300mm f4.5 AI-S and the Tair as well as a Tamron CT-300 and I did a side by side comparison. In the end I choose the Tair and sold the others off, in part because the Tair was the cheapest of them all and I replaced the lightweight CT-300 with a modern Olympus M.Zuiko 70-300mm 4/3 lens. While I think the extra elements in the AI-S did provide more contrast it also led to more CA. The Tair with it's more simple design seemed to give a very real and natural image. I can't speak to the Canon 300mm.

I think the thing to realize about the other lenses is that they needed to get fancy with the number of elements and type of glass used in order to keep performance while making the lens smaller. Anyone who has owned one of these Tair 3s will tell you it is a monster in weight and size. The Nikon AI-S was lighter and smaller so much so I could handhold it with proper bracing. The ED and ED-IF versions of the Nikon were even lighter and more compact. This I think is the reason they keep getting more and more complex in design. A simple well designed triplet with top quality glass and coatings will produce good images, it is just going to be bigger than the modern designs.

You can see the test results from my testing here, I shot with the lens tripod mounted a fake bird on a bird feeder to simulate how I planned to use the 300mm.

http://forum.mflenses.com/300mm-f4-5-prime-comparison-nikon-ai-s-vs-tair-3-grand-prix-t49316,highlight,%2B300mm+%2Bcomparison.html


PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yeah, I remember your thread, which was another reason that convinced me to get Tair.

Good point on size and weight. Then again, FD 300mm f4 is 950gram compared to 1.5 kilos for Tair. There is no way that Canon is usable handheld (whereas sniper is). I've had much lighter FD 300mm/f5.6 and couldn't use it handheld. Does half kilo matter so much for tripod only lens? Also most of the weight difference probably comes from casing. My hunch is that if one puts Tair optical formula into Canon tube, the weight would be comparable with Canon.

Perhaps the issue is the length, not weight. Canon is only 207mm long compared to 310mm for Tair. That's indeed an impressive saving.


PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Katastrofo wrote:
I'm late, but that is one sweet BIF, Gary, congrats! Cool (Could care less if you took it with two Coca Cola bottles taped
together. Wink) j/k, always nice to get gear that performs well! Smile

Thanks Very Happy (sorry, didn't see your reply earlier)


PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 4:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I would like to check something.

Given the Serial of my lens, I am assuming that serial "0043" is a late production (y2k?) lens, rather than a special lens with the zero's in front?

Can anyone shed any light?


PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 5:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
fermy wrote:
Yeah, I remember your thread, which was another reason that convinced me to get Tair.

Good point on size and weight. Then again, FD 300mm f4 is 950gram compared to 1.5 kilos for Tair. There is no way that Canon is usable handheld (whereas sniper is). I've had much lighter FD 300mm/f5.6 and couldn't use it handheld. Does half kilo matter so much for tripod only lens? Also most of the weight difference probably comes from casing. My hunch is that if one puts Tair optical formula into Canon tube, the weight would be comparable with Canon.

Perhaps the issue is the length, not weight. Canon is only 207mm long compared to 310mm for Tair. That's indeed an impressive saving.


I think you hit it right on the head... when you make a 300mm triplet it will be at least 300mm in length!

Makes sense to me that you would have to involve more elements to get the length down.


PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Don't take this the wrong way sonicscot, but seeing images like this and your falconry series makes me hate you just a little bit Smile
Wish I had one tenth of your awesome skill at shooting birds in flight.


PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nisseliten wrote:
Don't take this the wrong way sonicscot, but seeing images like this and your falconry series makes me hate you just a little bit Smile
Wish I had one tenth of your awesome skill at shooting birds in flight.

Laughing
Thank you very much.


PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks really good but its from Russia with love! Smile
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