Bargain telephoto (<$100)

[gobears]

Just got a Sony Nex 5n and the Contax g 28, 45, 90mm. Love them!

I am now seeking some inexpensive telephoto glass to goof around with, in the following classes:

(1) 70-200 or 100-300 zoom
(2) 150 to 250 mm primes

Lightweight around F4 would be great, but it would be fun to look at F2 to F2.8 range too.
Could stretch the budget to $200.

Any ideas?

[RioRico]

Best bargain zooms IMHO are the much-beloved super-cheap Samyang-made (Korean) 70-210 or 80-200 f/3.9 or f/4 branded as Sears or Albinar. I have had 5 of these, all for under US$10 each. I've only kept 2 because I didn't need the duplication. Fast-ish 200mm primes may cost a little more, but I didn't pay much for my Focal, Lentar, and Vivitar 200/3.5s, nor for the Super-Takumar nor Jupiter-21M 200/4's. (That Jupiter is HUGE, weighs 950g!)

[luisalegria]

Tamron Adaptall-2 80-210 f/3.8 Model 103A

Its very common and cheap, and you can't go wrong. In the US at least these are easily found for under $20

There are plenty of fine 180-200mm primes.

Some can get a little obscure, but in general, if you want cheap and common ones -

- Any T-mount 180mm preset - these were sold in dozens of brands so its no good quoting any in particular, though Soligor, Vemar, Lentar and Hanimex are common ones. The good makers were Tokina, Komine, for certain, though I have a fine Kawanon (I believe). Normally you won't find them under the makers names.

Prices should be $10-30 depending on the bidding. I have noticed people going for them more lately.

- Super or S-M-C Takumar 200/4

You should be able to find one for $40-50

- Nearly any third-party 200mm Auto lens (Vivitar, Soligor, etc.) should do very well. or more than well enough.

[Lloydy]

I've got a Vivitar 80-200 f4 - constant aperture - that's fairly small and light. It's a lens that is overshadowed by the Series 1 lenses but I've also got a 70-210 Series 1 that's way bigger and heavier. And to be honest, there's not enough difference in the results to make a massive difference. But everyone loves the Series1 and the 80-200 is one of the lenses that's overlooked, so it's cheap. They're all over Ebay like a rash.
Mine's a kobori built one touch zoom lens, with a macro that does 1:3.4, and I like it a lot.

[SXR_Mark]

Although it's not the FL range you requested, I would recommend the Tokina AT-X 50-250 zoom. I would argue it is probably a better range for a crop-format camera as well. It's an excellent performer and definitely one of the better zooms I've tried. Check out WolverineX pictures in his "Testing my lenses" sticky.

http://forum.mflenses.com/testing-my-lenses-part-13-tokina-at-x-50-250mm-4-5-6-t31136,highlight,%2Btesting+%2Blenses.html

There are plenty of 200mm primes at f4 that would be in your budget. The Zuiko OM 200mm f4 is very good and not expensive if you are patient. The Zuiko 200mm f5 is also very good and very compact for 200mm. I have a Panagor 200mm f3.5 that cost peanuts and is good but is better used stopped down a bit. I think those are the only 200mm lenses I have personal experience of.

Any 200mm as fast as f2.8 will surely be above your budget.

Off hand, I can't think of any 150mm or 250mm primes (Well, Minolta did a 250mm mirror lens but that is hideously expensive).

Mark

[Attila]

Keep Contax and buy 200mm f3.5 Tessar it is pretty big , but excellent or try Nikon, Konica , Takumar , Pentacon 200mm f4 lenses they are lighter and almost good as than Contax. Forget faster lenses for 200 USD ,except if you find one with scratched front etc.

[glasslover]

Hi!

I love my Sun-built Soligor C/D 35-200mm f3.8-5.3 zoom. It's often available pretty cheap, it's a good range for a crop sensor, it's very sharp, it has excellent contrast, and it even has a nifty and very usable macro mode. Don't be confused by the non-Soligor lenses with the same specifications, or by Soligor lenses with specifications that appear better. For example, there's an Access lens that looks almost the same: 35-200mm f3.8-5.3, but its optics, while good, aren't as good as the Soligor and its macro mode isn't nearly as usable. There's also a Sun-built Soligor lens with these specifications: 35-200mm f3.5-4.5. It's not even in the same league as the 3.8-5.3 lens.

Substantially heavier and harder to handle, and with better optical characteristics--though without a useful macro mode--is the Tokina 100-300 f4.0. It can frequently be had for a little less than $100, in fine shape. I like this one, too, but as I said, it doesn't handle as well as the Soligor. Plus, I've found the hood to be large and quite flimsy.

A few others have recommended the Tamron 80-210mm f3.8-4.0 lens, model 103A (not 03A). It's pretty good, and available very cheaply indeed, often less than $20. I never use mine, because I have the much more expensive, and truly superlative, Tamron 80-200mm f2.8, model 30A. I highly recommend this one, but it usually runs more like $300 for a good example.

As for primes, the 200mm f3.5 Tamron Adaptall-2 lens is light, good handling, and <$100. There are various Vivitar 200mm f3.5 or f4.0 lenses that are pretty good too, and quite sharp, but they weigh more and handle less well than the Tamron.

Best of luck!

[gobears]

Some great suggestions here!
I need some time to go research these options.
Unfortunately, with the mention of the 200mm Tessar, and given my love of the contax lenses, that is looking pretty good!
Maybe I'll get that and one of the zooms mentioned here.

I also came across this lens, which looks interesting:
Pentax (645) 200mm f/4 SMC A

Anyone have experience with this one?

[gobears]

Sorry, just realized that is a medium format lens.
I am still learning, and had not heard of the Pentax 645 system.
Now I do! I guess its part of the learning process, and what makes the world of MF lenses alot of fun.

[gaeger]

I just bought another Nikkor 80-200mm f4 AIS in excellent condition for $50, so that's a possibility, but I wouldn't call it small and light.

[mfkita]

The Nikon 200/4 AI or AIS is very compact and quite good

[heartcat]

I have an RMC Tokina 80-200mm 4.5 in M42 mount, that I picked up for $10 plus shipping. I have found this to be a nice telephoto zoom. Not very big or heavy, and it also has a close focusing option, which is nice.

I find it to be sharp from wide open, with decent colour, contrast and sharpness. Not quite as impressive as a Tokina prime, but for a zoom I'm quite pleased with it.

A few samples:

[mfkita]

very very nice heartcat!

[Attila]

[iangreenhalgh1]

Wow, those are great samples. I have this Tokina in Nikon mount but sadly with aperture stuck wide open. I can confirm it is a very sharp lens, even wide open.

[mfkita]

Here's a heavily cropped shot with the Nikon 200/4 AIS @ 5.6


IMG_3295R2H by kitaflix, on Flickr

From this full frame...

IMG_3295R2ffL by kitaflix, on Flickr

[revers]

Beauty shot of the Green heron. It seems you got more detail in the crop than the original looking @ the feathers.

[Tedat]

Contax T* Tele-Tessar 3.5/200
Hanimex 3.5/180 (also sold under a lot different names)
Vivitar Series 1 3/200

Zooms:

Konica UC Hexanon 4/80-200
Vivitar 3.8/75-205 (One Touch)

I have/had all those lenses and can highly recommend them.. great lenses!


Got the Hanimex together with a few more lenses for less then 40 Euro, the Vivitar Zoom did cost me 1 Euro + shipping. Wasn't expecting too much but couldn't believe how good performers they are. More "bargain"doesn't seems to be possible for me..

[Glenn72]

I recently picked up a m42 mount of a near mint SMC Takumar 200mm f/4 for 60 euros. A great lens and very sharp wide open.
Weather has been a bit cold to put it through the paces.


Pulling up an old thread here shows the test charts of the older Super Takumar 200mm f/4 that you can use for comparison as the SMC is the same optical formula but with 7 layer multi coating to reduce flares.

http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic.php?t=4468&sid=b121f025864e903a27dba3d39dbcd3de

[gobears]

So many great choices... so little time...
The various Pentax SMC / Takumar 200mm F4's keep getting mentioned, and the Contax T* Tele-Tessar 3.5/200 got mentioned twice.
I am kind of leaning towards one of those.

Also, in my research, I came across the Contax 100-300.
I know its WAY beyond my budget, but maybe I will get one of the primes above and save for the contax zoom.

[mfkita]

ERROR ALERT

....my shot of the heron on the wood rail was taken with the 200/F4 Nikkor-Q, the cheaper 200 (vs. the AI/AIS versions), the one with the wider focusing knurls that focuses to 7'/3m...
...sorry about that....

[Tedat]

[IAZA]

Nikon 200/4 AI/s is most compact 200mm I ever tried, and great sharpness
if you wanna check this Nikon, here

[Chayelle]

Very nice Green Heron shot, mfkita!!

My Nikkor 200 f4 ais is sooo small and lightweight.
Does some very nice photography... It is one I hope to keep...
I also have a Vivitar (Kiron) 135mm f2.8 that is about the same size,
perhaps a bit smaller than the nikkor 200. This lens produces
some really beautiful pictures, as well.
However, the 135 may be too short for what you want...

[ForenSeil]

RMC Tokina 200mm F3.5 is also very good and dirt cheap prime.
It plays in the seam league as the Nikon 200/4 but costs only half of the price. Only drawback is it's bigger size.

It's also sold as Soligor and I guess some other brands for many mounts (Canon FD, Konica,...).
There are different versions, some with silver aperture ring and some with black aperture ring, but all are very good as far as I know.

You can get it between ~35-60€ (in auctions) and 70-90€ ("Buy it now"). Sometimes even cheaper (someone in the biggest bargain thread shot a relabeled one for less than 4 pounds on ebay.co.uk )

EDIT 2013: There are several different versions of this lens. Some are decent, some are not worth the money. I's also sold as Soligor etc. It's much bigger than the Nikon 200/4 so in the meanwhile I would recommend to buy the Nikon instead.