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My Photosniper :)
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Photosniper is ...
Cool :)
57%
 57%  [ 24 ]
Rediculous :(
4%
 4%  [ 2 ]
Write "Photo" on that big lens so the police don't mistake it for a grenade launcher and shoot you!
38%
 38%  [ 16 ]
Total Votes : 42



PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:40 am    Post subject: My Photosniper :) Reply with quote
фотоснайпер

OK, I got a Photosniper sans film camera for $100 US shipped Smile

I am still waiting for the shutter release cable to arrive, this will act as trigger linkage.

It came in a robust aluminum case, everything is built "Tonka tough"



Here it is with the Canon 10d (like 300d, aka "digital rebel")





And here are some pics that compare the 300mm f/4.5 to the 50mm f/1.8, to show magnification, not a comparison of quality. The difference is considerable.

All 100% crops

Chloe @ 50


Chloe @ 300


Distant window @ 50


Distant window @ 300


Stop sign and blue reflector at 50


Stop sign at 300


Blue reflector at 300


Now I need to find some birds to shoot Smile

Cheers,
Craig

p.s. Show your Photosnipers too Smile

Last edited by spystyle on Thu Dec 25, 2008 1:27 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Here is what I saw while searching "Google images" for фотоснайпер

A smart fella labeled his to avoid police attention Smile

(not my pic)


PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I had in the past very sharp great lens ! Congrats! I found focusing inconvenience without gun and I couldn't use my Nikon D50 with gun so I sold. I did hunt a Tair300 in normal finish without gun.
I did one of my best bird photo with this lens.


PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 7:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I cant imagine walking around Boston with that thing. I sure the orders would be to "shoot first... ask questions later" around here.
Someday, there should be a thread on "your best photo-sniper stories" Laughing


PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I find that cool, but I can't help wondering how long life expectancy is with such an apparatus in the street... Police and people in general can react to that in a wrong way (cf post by Montecarlo)...


PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 11:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Same problem may be encountered with Novoflex's big guns ... Very Happy
I won a mini cat on ebay 2 days ago (Tokina 5,6/300) ... This lens is smaller than the "kit standard zoom" on Pentax Dslr ...
However , I used my PS in the streets of my town and didn't got any problem .


PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Helios wrote:
Same problem may be encountered with Novoflex's big guns ... Very Happy
I won a mini cat on ebay 2 days ago (Tokina 5,6/300) ... This lens is smaller than the "kit standard zoom" on Pentax Dslr ...
However , I used my PS in the streets of my town and didn't got any problem .


Surprised The idea of using a Photsnipper on the street is Laughing
A well as the obvious it is very doubtful you could even focus the beast in time to get a shot!
I agree P&S is the best tool on most occasions. I use my old G5 and Ricoh GX100 for 50+% of them though the DSLR and a short lens (16-50mm) is good as well as the good old film Compact RFs like the Olympus XA and Ricoh 500G.
Yes have a Photosniper bought from a Charity shop for £10 years ago. It is retired to the back of the cupboard, to be used (Perhaps) one day for some dreamy type summer portraits. I’m the so far one Ridiculous vote.
Perhaps not so ‘Ridiculous’ if you pay next to nothing for one and have a bit of fun with it.

My Tair. The photo was taken just after a friendly (Retired) reapair guy took the lens apart for cleaning and also added some extra internal matt black in an effort to reduce Flare haze when the lens is used against the light.


The Tair for nature/wildlife shooting. Here is a typical walk about kit.
Today’s kit. The Tam 500 and the AF Tamron 7-300 DI can be seen in the bag. Under the plastic groundsheet/camo/poncho lurks the Zenitar, Tam f2.5 28mm, Lens Baby and flash unit, plus a ham roll. 35-80 SP Tamron on the camera
And the Tair is in the Car Boot or left behind in the cupboard! Laughing


A slightly better but equally cheap 300mm. A Sankor f4. Afraid this lump is also at the back of the cupboard as performance at f4 and f5.6 isn’t much good, so it’s a waste of effort carrying the extra size and weight.


My preferred MF 300mm (And I do prefer MF for wildlife etc) are the great Tamron SP f5.6 300mm or if I want the extra versatility the bigger heavier Tamron SP 60-300mm. I also like my Russian f4.5 300mm Rubinar mirror lens. That Tamron AF 70-300mm is also pretty good, but of course AF does tend to hunting about when you are trying to follow an animal in the woods, MF is quicker


PostPosted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
I had in the past very sharp great lens ! Congrats! I found focusing inconvenience without gun and I couldn't use my Nikon D50 with gun so I sold. I did hunt a Tair300 in normal finish without gun.
I did one of my best bird photo with this lens.


Sorry for digging in older threads,
I have both "conventional" Tair-3A and "rack and pinion" Tair-3s.
In my experience, photosniper version of Tair-3 is more convenient to use,
Tair-3A is almost unusable without monopod or kind of gun grip at least -
it's a bit heavier (but that's not a big deal). The main problem is that this lens is huge and very well sealed. When You attach it to the camera, the focus ring is so stiff, that it's easier to unscrew lens from the mount than change focus, so without help from monopod it's a nigtmare (You can keep lens in both hands during focusing of course, but forget fast action shots).
At the beginning I thought that the grease is stiff, but when unscrewed from the camera focus ring works just charming Smile
The reason is: it's huge lens, well sealed one. During focusing front part moves within quite long distance and during this the air inside is compressed/decompressed causing drag when trying to get out or inside the lens while attached camera works as a cork. I have though about making small hole in the m42/eos adapter to prevent this, but I've decided to use "sniper" version (it's ventilated very well Smile for hand-held shots.
And interesting thing about Tair-3A and 3S/PhS versions - Tair-3A is a bit more sharper, but shows definitely more CA, sniper versions seems to be tweaked to have better CA control with a bit less sharpness (Tair-3S produces pictures pretty alike these from Canon EF 300/4 L USM) Smile.
And what is important, if You use UV filters from the Sniper set, be aware that quality of these vary. My 3S version is much better lens after removing UV filter Wink


PostPosted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Damn, I think that is the one that I bid on. Nice Job! Good luck with it.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I like the quirky sniper. I have the lens only and not the gunstock which is mad.

I didn't think my copy was sharp but doing some pixel peeping on test shots I was impressed with it at F8-16. It's not at all bad at F5.6 which is where I use it most. It does lack a bit of saturation and contrast but not really a problem if you shoot digi.

Also I have walked around with mine for hours before I had a mono pod. It's only about as heavy as my Canon L zoom.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have used mine less since I sold my K100d, cos it fit straight to the gunstock, using a Pentax t- mount to attach it to the camera. The Samsung GX-10 will fit but it takes a lot more fiddling to get it there. Good lens though and I agree with Wariag about the filters, they can degrade the image sometimes


PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Does anyone know if the gunstock works with any Zenit camera, or were there special cameras made just for the photosniper outfits?


PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks cool (: , i think its intended for heavy lenses though. All in all its heavy for me so when i'll do wildlife shoots i'll use a good tripod.


PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 8:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
This is an oldie but goodie thread. I enjoyed the PhotoSniper when I owned it but ended up selling it. I buy and sell a lot of manual focus lenses occasionally.

I ended up getting a funky German made 400mm f/5.5 as well.
http://forum.mflenses.com/tele-astranar-piesker-400-5-5-rackandpinion-focus-t11232.html

I got that with aperture blades removed for like $40 - the seller had a T-mount to K-mount adapter on it and said he couldn't get it to achieve infinity focus on his Nikon camera (doh). I used an M42 to K-mount adapter and it worked great on my Pentax film camera. I also have an M42 to Canon adapter and it works great on my Canon film rebel.





I can't stop down past 5.5 though because the aperture blades are not installed.

But a more practical alternative in K-mount is the "Sears" 60-300mm zoom, I got one for $20 but had to remove the dreaded Rikoh pin. It's a lot more sensible to have that zoom rather than lugging around these big monster lenses.

Manual focus lenses are fun Smile Toys for grownups!

Cheers,
Craig
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