Gregory L. Hansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I've been looking around lately for telephoto lenses 500mm or longer. With some modern computer design, glasses, and coatings, I was hoping to at least find decent but small aperture fixed lenses pretty cheap. Will I find that all the truly long telephotos either cost $5000, are mirror lenses, or are turkeys?
Gregory, By "small aperture," I assume you mean "large aperture number (f/5.6, f/8), since you're savvy enough to know that you won't find any f/4 or f/4.5 in your price range. The short answer is Yes. None of the 500/8s that litter Ebay is distinguished. The better third-party lens makers (Sigma, Tamron, Tokina) have not put much effort into developing 500mm+ prime lenses that are any good, unless they are reasonably fast and cost an arm and a leg. Sigma makes a fine 500/4.5, but it costs upward of $2,000. Vivitar made a great 450/4.5 mirror lens, but it shows up on the market just a few times a year and will cost upward of $500 (more like $800 to $1000) when you find it. A Tamron SP 400/4 in Adaptall K mount with a 1.4X TC would deliver great results as a 560/5.6. will set you back $1000 to $1400 used. I simply don't know of any The story changes if you are willing to buy a screwmount lens. A Pentax Takumar or Super Takumar 500/4.5 meets your specs for about $400 to $500. Add a K-mount 1.4X TC, and you have a K mount 700/6.3 for about $700. It won't allow open-aperture metering, but neither did the K-mount version of this lens. The German firm of Meyer Optik made a 500/5.6 with interchangeable mounts for Praktina, Praktica, Exakta bayonet, Pentacon Six, and M42 screwmount. Weighing 3500 g, it was sold originally as Pentacon, then Meyer Orestegor. The history is a bit more complicated than this, but basically, look for Meyer or Pentacon. German Ebay is a good place to find old big glass like this. Zoomar and Fuji made some 600/5.6s in M42, but they're hard to find and not cheap. Believe it or not, your best deal would be to get a Tamron, Vivitar, or Soligor telezoom in the range of 120-600 or 130-650. You might also consider the two-touch Tokina 150-500/5.6 zoom, and a Sigma 170-500 f/5.6-6.3, an autofocus lens that sells (sold?) new for about $600. I listed specs for many of these back in December, I think. Search the archives for 120-600. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
