Soligor 600/8 Super-long lens (NOT Telephoto)

[luisalegria]

This type of lens usually sells for way too much. Luckily I got this one cheap, possibly because it had a bent locking screw for the tripod mount. Easily fixed.





It is a two-element doublet in a very long mount, 600mm indeed. Its not a telephoto, there is no shortening of the physical length through additional elements.

Its a VERY solidly made conventional T-mount preset otherwise. This is a very heavy item that seems to have been designed for medieval warfare. One could probably use it for hand-to-hand combat !

I have seen the same lens sold as a Lentar and a Vemar, but no doubt it was sold in other brands, perhaps I may have seen it in the lineups of some of the camera makers in the 1960's- Yashica, Ricoh, etc. I don't know who made this but I suspect Komine because of the characteristic o<-.->c marking on the aperture ring, but I could certainly be wrong about that. There is a line of 400/6.3 lenses commonly found under the "Astranar" brand that may be from the same source.

There was another 600mm f/8 of different design from those days that is definitely a Tokina, and can be found under the usual variety of brands. It can be identified through a "gunsight" device near the front of the lens.

This is not an easy lens to use. Besides size and weight, the placement of the focusing grip behind the point of balance makes it almost impossible to use hand-held. A tripod is a necessity. Mine did not come with a hood, and the filter thread seems to be an odd size (86mm?), so I made do with a paper hood. Minimum focus is a long 36ft/12m, so much of my zoo shooting was done with an extension ring.

Performance was mixed. There is no problem with contrast or flare, but there is a problem with sharpness wide-open (and I only shot wide-open to get fast shutter speeds). My Pentax IS does not seem to work quite as well on this one as it does with shorter lenses. And then there seem to be worse aberrations than usual in out of focus areas. All in all, I am not used to this sort of monster, its 200mm too far for me.

















The bird -



crop -

[casualcollector]

Excellent work with that lens, Luis! I really think the digital cameras use the sweet spot of these lenses. I think there's an 800mm big brother to search out!

[Schnauzer]

I think it worked great for you. Nice series.

[ManualFocus-G]

Holy cow, that's hugey

Well done for getting some sharp shots, that must be really tricky! Does your camera have mirror lockup? I'm guessing that would be very useful with a lens this long.

[Helios]

I have the big brother ... 800mm f/8 , yet not tested on digital bodies . Remember the subject : http://forum.mflenses.com/show-us-your-big-guns-t7819,highlight,gun.html . I however ask myself how can I use this monster to take decent pictures ... I promise to make a trial soon ...

[ManualFocus-G]

Just seen one on Ebay for £90.00, for the collectors out there! KA serial number = Kawanon?

Click here to see on Ebay

[martyn_bannister]

I have a couple of shorter lenses of this type. I find they sharpen up markedly when stopped down a couple of stops. Need a sunny day and have to up the ISO though to get usable shutter speeds

Good shots none the less

[iangreenhalgh1]

Very nice shots, took some skill to make them with such a monster lens!

I just destroyed a 8/500 and a 5.6/300 of this type, they were crap lenses so I decided to use them sans glass to remount my Ross Xpress 8.5 inch and Wollensak APO Raptar 21.25 inch.

[kokezuniga]

Amazin lens.

Any information on the name of the "ugly bird"?????



The bird -



crop -

[/quote]

[dragom]

Excellent series. The first one is awesome!

[FluffPuppy]

This sort of construction can produce excellent lenses. I own the Leitz 560mm f/6.8, a similar lens. Outstanding in every way.

[dsmlogger]

It actually looks better than a Sigma AF telephoto lens and definitely much better than most mirror lenses (except perhaps MTO and Zuiko 500mm).

[luisalegria]

I figured some time ago that the maker probably was Kawakami/Kawanon
It is identical in details to some Kawanon lenses I have seen (350mm) and it is related to the common Astranar 400/6.3's
because of this also.

I did sell it, it was not an easy lens to use.

The ugly bird is a Marabou Stork from Africa. They eat carrion, like vultures.

[Lloydy]

Impressive results from a lens that can't be easy to use even in ideal conditions.

[danfromm]

[stingOM]

Looks very good to my eyes. Perhaps you were expecting too much from the lens?

[luisalegria]

I don't think I expected too much. Performance was adequate for what it is I think.

I usually buy, try, and sell, unless I have some reason to keep it - maybe if its in a line I am collecting, or is amazingly wonderful, is a part of a project I have in mind, or is broken and can't be resold without repair, then I hang on to it.

[Pancolart]

Pentax Q yesterday. T2 to Minolta MD to Pentax Q adapters. No crop. Colors by Q's internal processing.

[luisalegria]

Excellent results considering you used a Pentax Q.
That is a very dense sensor (lots of pixels/mm2) that makes high demands on lens quality.

[Pancolart]

Thanks Luis. I had to use tripod and timer 12s. Focusing was a pain. I made many bad shots to select these three.

[55]

[Doc Sharptail]

Nice work.

Images like that from third party lenses always surprise me.
Very well done indeed!



-D.S.

[Phalbert]

One should be able to find a 2nd hand hood from the sigma 600 mirror. The 2nd version came with a 86mm filter ring size (first one was 95mm) I have a 600 hanimex wich comes with a 90mm ring. Apparently Found only with Leitz. 87mm? Sounds unique too.