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Old 16-08-2009, 04:35 PM
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lacad01 (Adam)
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Too good to be true? super-tele for $500..

Gday all, saw this ad when browsing through eBay. Given the adage "get what you pay for", whadya reckon about this?? A 650-1300mm super telephoto $499AU. Claims to be an Aussie operation, I would hazard a guess that the lens is a Chinese clone, not sure as I'm only starting to get into dSLR photography so not sure what the non-genuine lens market is like (I mean I'd trust Tamron, Sigma, Tokina, etc but not sure of this)


http://cgi.ebay.com.au/650-1300mm-Zo...d=p3286.c0.m14
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Old 16-08-2009, 04:47 PM
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Is it just me or does the lens look bent in the photo? (under the heading "Description")
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Old 16-08-2009, 06:00 PM
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AstroFlyer (Arek)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lacad01 View Post
Gday all, saw this ad when browsing through eBay. Given the adage "get what you pay for", whadya reckon about this??
In this case you probably get less then what you pay for...
Crap IMHO.
You can search Google for reviews/opinions.

Arek
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Old 16-08-2009, 07:32 PM
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spearo (Frank)
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I agree
top quality Chinese stuff there...and the lens IS indeed bent in the description image despite the comment "solidly built"

I'd stay away from this myself
frank
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Old 16-08-2009, 09:33 PM
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yea, bent.. not to mention, yes, long focal length, but manual focus.. I'd like to see anyone try to line up a shot at that focal length with a moving target and try to achieve focus before you've missed the opportunity.. Get a good quality 300mm lens and crop the image.
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Old 17-08-2009, 07:37 AM
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lacad01 (Adam)
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Interesting comments, thanks Read a couple of the online reviews as well, thanks for the link.
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Old 17-08-2009, 08:14 AM
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Originally Posted by MrB View Post
Is it just me or does the lens look bent in the photo? (under the heading "Description")
Have you ever succeeded at taking closeups and having everything appear straight? I'd be surprised if anyone would do the field flattening just for an ebay image.

On the other hand, you aren't going to get Zeiss/Leica quality for Chinese prices.
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Old 17-08-2009, 02:02 PM
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Leave it alone Adam, it looks very dodgy to me, now if that was a Canon Lens one would expect to pay about $20,000 Plus.

Leon
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Old 18-08-2009, 06:24 AM
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http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=20274121

Optical quality seems OK, but fixed f ratio and no AF and no communication between the lens and mount.

Alex - AF has been around for only 20 odd years, how do you think pros managed at sporting events with the older Nikon F and Canon FD lenses? AF is a great bonus, but it is possible to manually focus on fast moving objects with a lot of practice.

Dave
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Old 18-08-2009, 06:47 AM
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lol - I like the sample images. Shot of a group of people taken from a hundred metres away without and with the lens.

OR, just a thought.... you could walk up to the group you were photographing and use a normal lens.
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Old 18-08-2009, 10:03 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dpastern View Post
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=20274121

Optical quality seems OK, but fixed f ratio and no AF and no communication between the lens and mount.

Alex - AF has been around for only 20 odd years, how do you think pros managed at sporting events with the older Nikon F and Canon FD lenses? AF is a great bonus, but it is possible to manually focus on fast moving objects with a lot of practice.

Dave
True.. I have manually focused and photographed a dragonfly in flight with a 500mm super-tele before.. but it was a pure fluke! I know it can be done, but in this day and age, would you if you didn't have to?
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Old 03-09-2009, 03:16 PM
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it is probably VERY slow aka f13 and very crap optics.. I bought a 500mm f8 for like $400 when i was in high school..

I pointed it at the moon and was surprised to see a ghost image of the full moon that was every bit as bright as the moon itself..
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Old 03-09-2009, 06:06 PM
dpastern (Dave Pastern)
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Originally Posted by AlexN View Post
True.. I have manually focused and photographed a dragonfly in flight with a 500mm super-tele before.. but it was a pure fluke! I know it can be done, but in this day and age, would you if you didn't have to?
It doesn't hurt to hone manual skills imho. Whilst I generally let AF do the work these days, in poor light or contrast, I usually switch to manual and do it the old fashioned way.

The lens does appear, by all accounts, to be optically half decent. That said, it's far too large to be used without a tripod, and that'd make it awkward for any moving subjects. Probably would be quite good for stuff like Safaris etc though.

Dave
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Old 03-09-2009, 07:42 PM
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Hey guys don't even go there, it is not worth it, you can't buy a lens that big as it is suggested, a good filter would cost that much, the glass is sure to be plastic, but that is IMHO

Leon
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Old 03-09-2009, 07:57 PM
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Hey guys don't even go there, it is not worth it, you can't buy a lens that big as it is suggested, a good filter would cost that much, the glass is sure to be plastic, but that is IMHO

Leon
Too true leon - I'm paying $400+ for a Hutech filter for my 300mm lens!!

You get what you pay for!!!
Buyer beware!!!!

errrr....sorry run out of cliches!
Doug
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Old 08-09-2009, 10:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dpastern View Post
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=20274121

Optical quality seems OK, but fixed f ratio and no AF and no communication between the lens and mount.

Alex - AF has been around for only 20 odd years, how do you think pros managed at sporting events with the older Nikon F and Canon FD lenses? AF is a great bonus, but it is possible to manually focus on fast moving objects with a lot of practice.

Dave
I know a prof sports photographer , he told me autofocus if often more hassle than it's worth , and he frequently uses his long fast lenses in manual mode because on many occasions the lenses hunts too much and you can loose the image before autofocus finds the focus, whereas an experienced camera jocky can get a very good focus manually in less time.

You use the depth of field to give sharp focus over a range of distances.
If you want better depth of field - for more forgiving focus - you stop down the lens a few stops.

Would I buy the lens ? .... no, I don't need a lens with that focal length range.
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Old 08-09-2009, 11:03 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny L View Post
it is probably VERY slow aka f13 and very crap optics.. I bought a 500mm f8 for like $400 when i was in high school..

I pointed it at the moon and was surprised to see a ghost image of the full moon that was every bit as bright as the moon itself..
Being very slow f no , is no big deal , will have very deep depth of field , and you can compensate with modern DSLRs by setting the camera ISO to a higher value to keep the exposures short.

Is it too slow for astroimaging .... no not really , it appears to have big front lens so light gathering will be pretty good , it'll probably be OK but will have quite restricted field of view.

I wonder if they have a telescope conversion, bung on an eyepiece and it's probably a decent refractor.
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Old 10-09-2009, 07:10 PM
dpastern (Dave Pastern)
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It really comes down to the photographer. I've used AF for motorsports photography, and it makes it easier, and more reliable in getting sharp shots. I know I could do it manually if I had to, but when you're a working pro, you need every shot (or as many as possible) to count. I'm not a working pro, but that'll be their modus operandi.

I rarely use the AF on my Mark IIn, mainly because my specialty area is macro photography and I obviously manually focus for that. It's nice to have great AF though. Have a look at Artie Morris' birding images - he uses AF to great effect, as do many birding photographers.

I sometimes have to laugh at these new photographers just getting a DSLR - many keep it in P mode and don't learn anything at all about the technical side of photography. As an example, a South African girl I know has just bought a nice Nikon D5000 and when I mentioned the exposure triangle to her (shutter speed/aperture/ISO), she had no idea what I was talking about. Lucky she's keen to learn. Pity she's not living in Australia, she's good looking and I'd happily give her some one on one training lessons lol.

Dave

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian Robinson View Post
I know a prof sports photographer , he told me autofocus if often more hassle than it's worth , and he frequently uses his long fast lenses in manual mode because on many occasions the lenses hunts too much and you can loose the image before autofocus finds the focus, whereas an experienced camera jocky can get a very good focus manually in less time.

You use the depth of field to give sharp focus over a range of distances.
If you want better depth of field - for more forgiving focus - you stop down the lens a few stops.

Would I buy the lens ? .... no, I don't need a lens with that focal length range.
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Old 10-09-2009, 08:28 PM
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Hi,

Another option to consider would be an ED80. Maybe the aperture is not quite as big as this lens but they do have ED optics and are excellent units for a similar $ (havent seen a bad one yet either).

Realise its not quite the same as a camera lens but they are also very portable if astro is the main consideration. Amazingly good little planetary scopes too for the aperture.

Cheers
David
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