I am thinking my FA* LBA is complete... maybe...
Received the super telephoto zoom lens last Friday, but I’ve been quite busy these last few days!
The stars finally aligned and I have purchased the same lens you see in our own PF lens review database. I had the honor of meeting up with the owner (Jay) of this lens in October, 2008 for a shooting session. A sincere thank you to Jay (aka Sirfishalot) for letting me spend some time with this lens last fall and come to the realization that it’s in a class of it’s own! Thank you again for packing it so well and shipping it to me...
It’s brilliant yet sharp wide open from 250mm through 600mm and really sharp stopped down just a bit. This is a larger lens at close to 13 pounds, but it’s literally as new! I already have a Wimberley MK Gimbal that I will test drive to confirm its place in my support system arsenal, alongside my Arca-Swiss Z1 head that I normally use in a blind. I’ll be getting either the Gitzo 5541LS or Gitzo 3541XLS as the tripod of choice.
Here's a teaser shot of lens in the trunk...
This shot was taken at F/7.1... to intentionally hide the lettering on the metal badge on the trunk...
Here's the badge detail on the trunk:
I opened the trunk and I see a nicely padded interior, cutouts and of course the beautiful curved silver surfaces of the FA* 250-600/5.6:
I pulled out the lens and removed the lens hood (aka hood bonnet):
Closer details of the lens barrel:
For some reason I like this one a great deal - a little tighter and it's almost like a product shot:
Here's the scale test - from left to right: trunk and accessories, Wimberley lens plate (P-50, which I already had), FA* 80-200/2.8, FA* 200/4 Macro, FA* 300/2.8 and FA* 250-600/5.6.
That little black lens in front of the FA* 200/4 Macro is the DA 50-200...
Last image for now - this is much better at showing the physical size of each lens:
I hope you enjoyed them!
Regards,
Marc