[ovim]

I've been lately playing with a Russian 8/500mm 3M-5A mirror lens. It's M42 and cant be screwed all the way in because it hits the onboard flash housing. But luckily it focuses way beyond infinity so you can get infinity focus with a 2mm spacer.

Some boring birds from the neighbourhood. All hand held.

[8540tomg]

Not so boring Ovim. Amazing hand held effort.

Tom G

[Piotr]

Long lenses more than 300mm

Pentax K20D ,Leitz 560mm f/6.8 Telyt-R
1/800s f/8.0 at 560.0mm iso200


Pentax *ist DS ,Sigma 100-300mm f4 EX
+TC1.4 1/30s f/8.0 at 420.0mm iso400


Pentax *ist DS ,Pentax smc 500mm f/4.5
+TC1.4 1/180s 700mm f/8.0 iso200


Pentax PENTAX K20D,Sigma 300mm f/2.8 EX APO
+TC2 1/320s f/4.5 at 600.0mm iso160

[Raybo]

Russian 1000mm MTO, all are Jpegs right out of my K100DS and please don't laugh.

[ovim]

Russian 1000mm MTO, all are Jpegs right out of my K100DS and please don't laugh.

Very nice, these Russian mirror lenses are not too bad regarding contrast and sharpness. Can you mount the MTO without problems or do you need extension? Is your lens fixed f:10 and do you find the focusing difficult?

With my 8/500mm my chinese split screen on my K100D blacks out on one side if I don't look at it in just the right angle. But it's nice to get sharp hand held shots with a 500mm (Thank You SR!).

[Raybo]

Very nice, these Russian mirror lenses are not too bad regarding contrast and sharpness. Can you mount the MTO without problems or do you need extension? Is your lens fixed f:10 and do you find the focusing difficult?

With my 8/500mm my chinese split screen on my K100D blacks out on one side if I don't look at it in just the right angle. But it's nice to get sharp hand held shots with a 500mm (Thank You SR!).

The lens mounts fine on my K100DS with about a 1/16th of an inch to spare w/o extention, it's f10 and a bear to focus and the dof is razor thin at the distance I was shooting. The bird images were taken at 48ft and no PP or cropping involved, I did up the contrast one notch along with the sharpness.

I also have the 500mm MTO and can shoot freehand with no problem at iso200 and 1/350 in sunny conditions, it still gives me FC.

[ovim]

The lens mounts fine on my K100DS with about a 1/16th of an inch to spare w/o extention, it's f10 and a bear to focus and the dof is razor thin at the distance I was shooting. The bird images were taken at 48ft and no PP or cropping involved, I did up the contrast one notch along with the sharpness.

I also have the 500mm MTO and can shoot freehand with no problem at iso200 and 1/350 in sunny conditions, it still gives me FC.

what's FC?

[Raybo]

what's FC?

Focus confirmation

[pacerr]

K100DS with Super Takumar 300/F4 and Vivitar 2x TC. ISO 400 - F5.6 - 1/500 - at 27 feet.

[Ron Boggs]

A few big gun images. No sharpening on any of them...

Backlit Willet Wing shot a week ago with FA*600/4. No cropping, sharpening or other post processing other than resize for forum.

Singing Yellowheaded Blackbird and too close Yellowheaded Blackbird shot this weekend with FA*250-600/5.6. Slight crop on singing bird and lightened half a stop. Too close version as shot no changes--it isn't an artistic shot, but shows the great sharpness of this lens at f/6.3--look at the eye! This lens close focuses to 11 feet which is very close for a 600...5-8 feet closer than the Canon, Nikon and Pentax 600/4 lenses.

White Faced Ibis shots from this weekend could have been with either 600/4 or the 250-600/5.6 as I was using them interchangeably. Lightroom can tell me the exact lens used, but I haven't taken the time to edit yet (cull the bad shots) so haven't yet imported the keepers into Lightroom. The preening shot was heavily cropped, the others were slightly cropped but otherwise as shot without post processing.

[heliphoto]

and I like it .

These are from the Tamron SP 400mm f/4 again, this time with the Pentax-F 1.7x AFTC (for a 680mm f/6.8). All were shot using AF-S with the automagic gadget... Lens on a tripod. All shots are full frame with a couple 100% crops thrown in for pixel peepers. Fairly heavy sharpening and NR done in Lr...



100% crop

exif

100% crop

exif

exif

[Squier]

This is my Tamron CZ-735 70-350mm Constant Ap f4.5. Havent had too much play with this yet. I blame the British weather...a reputation thats well earned, believe me.

There's a green AA battery next to the lens for size perspective, and it came with its own heavyweight case.

[hinman]

I have tried various 300mm and 400mm on prime, zoom, and addition of 1.4x and 1.7x TC, my most satisfied lens is Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5. The lens best itself for its small size and relatively lightweight compared to others. It will take the Pentax DA* 300mm f/4.0 to beat this lens in the 300mm. I highly recommend this lens for wildlife, use good TC to reach 400/500mm. It has excellent color and sharpness.

My copy is pretty beaten up but it is my most used 300mm for wildlife ever since I get it.

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Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5

[gscara]

Canon fd lenses can be modified to fit the Pentax mount and are an inexpensive way to get into longer glass. I have two Canon lenses, one is a 400mm f4.5 and the other is a 300 F4 L. Both lenses cost less than $200.

The lenses have to be used in stop down mode, similar to the takumars and other screw mounted lenses. Another advantage is that both lenses are light, easily hand held, and feature internal focusing which means that bird in flight photos are achievable.

The 300mm F4 L lens has zero CA and PF and is exceptionally sharp wide open. The 400mm lens does have slight ca and negligible PF wide open.

The next step is to find a pentax 1.4L and test this combination out on both these lenses. All of the following images are hand held, cropped and developed in lightroom.

300mm F4L shot wide open

300mm F4L shot wide open

400mm f4.5 shot at f4.5

400mm f4.5 shot at f5.6

400mm f4.5 shot at f8.0

[Squier]

Seriously good shots - i'd love to know how you modified the FD lenses to fit. Did you do a write up at all ?

AS i understood it, FD lenses were made in Bayonet mount and Breech mount - which type did you modify ?