lenses so they don't have quite the contrast of non mirror lenses but I find the
Vivitar at least to be acceptable if I accept that at close to infinity the contrast
will be less than I'd like. I have a few bird photo's taken with the Vivitar at
a distance of about 100 yards and I found them to be more than acceptable. I'll take a
look and see if I can them and post them on the web. I also have a lighthouse photo
you can see here.
http://www.mindspring.com/~palling/photography/gallery9/photographs/Old_Saybrook_LIghthouse.jpg
It's taken around dusk and as you can see it's a bit flat. I don't have direct
experience with the Sigma but it has a better reputation for contrast than the Vivitar
and is a bit lighter. Either would fall within your budget and there's a Vivitar on
e-bay (t mount) and an older Sigma in Pentax K mount. There's also a newer Sigma in
Minolta mount. Unfortunately I don't think the Sigmas have interchangeable mounts.
At 08:37 PM 3/8/2003 -0500, you wrote:
I think I figured out why my Kalimar 500mm reflex seems to give washed-out pictures.
Because it's crap.
I took pictures of the same scene, one with an old Sears 80-200mm with cheap 2x TC, and one with the Kalimar. The zoom plus TC combination had better contrast and colors.
So now I'm starting to think of a new lens in that range, even though it will take some time before I can work it into my finances. I plan to spend around $600. So what are my options? At that price point, the Sigma 170-500mm f/5.6-6.3 looks like about all there is. There's a Sigma reflex, but I don't think I want to go with another manual focus reflex, I want AF and adjustable aperture. And I'll probably use it with a TC, I do want to be able to get somewhere in the 1000mm range.
I know there's the Pentax 600mm's for around $2000 and up... ain't gonna happen.
Are there any treasures that I've missed?
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. --Groucho Marx
