Originally posted by stillshot2 Thanks I'll give that that look. The reason I was interested in the Spiratone is that I inherited one from my uncle that he took some amazing photos with, and I was possibly going to swap the rear elements to keep his lens "alive." It's a super light lens, and very simple in design which intrigues me. The lens just screws right apart without any tools at all!
there are lots of relatively simple yet good 400 mm lenses out there.
I have the vivitar, which i bought new in 1982 as an end of production line close out sale for $159 CDN. they sell usually for less than $50 today, and are an automatic stop down lens (so focusing is at full aperture.
i have not used mine in years, but i never part with anything, so it just sits. I dont really see the value in selling it. since it's inflation adjusted value is about 10x what i can get for it, but i also have a newish (bought in 2003) sigma APO 70-200/2.8 with 2x TC that is excellent, so i dont use the MF lens any more. perhaps i should