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TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5 Review RSS Feed

TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5

Sharpness 
 9.2
Aberrations 
 8.0
Bokeh 
 9.6
Handling 
 7.6
Value 
 9.8
Reviews Views Date of last review
5 35,455 Mon June 6, 2016
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Recommended By Average Price Average User Rating
80% of reviewers $110.00 8.60
TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5

TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5
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TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5
supersize
TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5
supersize
TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5
supersize
TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5
supersize
TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5
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Description:
There are several versions of the 3 element Tair 300mm f4.5 and they were manufactured at different plants:

Tair-3 4.5/300 – S. A. Zverev Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant (KMZ).
Tair-3A 4.5/300 - Zagorsk Optical Mechanics Plant, Sergiyev Posad (ZOMZ).
Tair-3 4.5/300 – Kazan Optical Mechanics Plant (KOMZ).

Tair 3 This is the original one, different structurally to the later ones, conventional milled focus ring at the front of the lens, no preset. Often found in M39 mount.
Tair 3S/3C/3 PhS (or FS). The classic "Photosniper" variants of the Tair 300mm f4.5 designed to be mounted on a stock with focus operated by a disk on the underside of the lens. Reviews here
Tair 3A/ 300-A This one - the most conventional of the variants: preset A-mount (see below) lens, focus at the rear end of the lens
Tair 33 This lens was designed for the medium format kiev mount cameras. Lenses for those are very difficult to adapt to other cameras - no review page here. It is a 4 element design (triplet objective)as opposed to the 3 element tairs and there is a good comparison of a Tair 33 with nikkor ED 300mm f4.5 and Mamiya-Sekor 300mm f5.6 here.

These 300-A's are well known for suffering from stiff focus with age.
The -A in the lens name means that the lens has the interchangeable KP-A/N mount. The design of this mount is like that of a T-mount see pics. It is straightforward to unscrew the grub screws, prise off the mount (don't try to unscrew there is no M42x.75 thread) and replace an M42 with the exterior/bayonet part of a PK T-mount (although I should caution there may be a bit of trial and error/mix and match in getting a good fit). For practical purposes this and other -A lenses can be regarded as a swappable like- T-mount, and this is the case with some other Russian lenses as well eg the
Jupiter 11A, Tair 11A

Focal length: 300 mm
Aperture: F4.5 of the blade 16 with F22
Weight: 1600 grams
Year of issue: 1979, but about 1950-2005
The diameter of the front lens: 72mm;
Minimum Focus: 2.2 m
The mounting thread: M42

History: In 1958, at the world exhibition in Brussels lens received the award of 'Grand Prix'.
Mount Type: M42 Screwmount
Price History:



Add Review of TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5
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Sort Reviews by: Date | Author | Rating | Recommendation | Likes (Ascending) Showing Reviews 1-5 of 5
New Member

Registered: September, 2012
Location: Belo Horizonte
Posts: 17

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: January 8, 2013 Recommended | Price: $160.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Very good contrast, Quality, Very Sharp
Cons:
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 10    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 10   

Extremely sharp lens with a minimum focus of 2.2m the a bokeh unique.
lens for easy handling.
a little heavy, but nothing not to hold
bought a state of mint.

Its 16 blades make a perfect circle used in any opening.

Optimal lens, I recommend if you can afford one.

Below are some photos taken with it.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/427599_405503846190347_157239311_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/527432_405504106190321_295522495_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/479940_405504259523639_1241572549_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/603327_405503612857037_594402339_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/268588_405503549523710_1769761561_n.jpg
   
New Member

Registered: August, 2014
Posts: 2

4 users found this helpful
Review Date: February 20, 2015 Recommended | Price: $45.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: sharp, build, Bokeh, close focus, 16 aperture blades,
Cons: Heavy, Stiff focus, some CA,
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 7    Value: 10    Camera Used: Sony NEX 5R   

Bought for £31 on ebay this is a beast of a 300mm lens weighing in at 1.6kg, Excellent value at this price, I think this has the ability to be pin sharp but I need more practice handling the thing. Feels more like a military grade piece of kit than a consumer camera lens. The bokeh is stunning at all apertures due to the 16 blades and the close focus is around 2 meters which I find quite useful. Anyway as usual I find pictures more telling than me blabbing on!

All taken without a tripod but resting on a ledge

Kingfisher (Tair-3) by Caledonia84, on Flickr

Kingfisher Bashing a fish (Tair-3) by Caledonia84, on Flickr

Kingfisher (Tair-3) by Caledonia84, on Flickr

Kingfisher (Tair-3) by Caledonia84, on Flickr

Woodpecker (Tair 3) by Caledonia84, on Flickr
   
New Member

Registered: June, 2011
Location: Setubal
Posts: 6
Review Date: March 20, 2015 Recommended | Price: $160.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Built quality, sharpness
Cons: weight, CA
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 9    Value: 10    Camera Used: Pentax K-X   

I've bought this huge lens by 130$ shipping not included.

I really enjoy using it as much as I can. It's a huge, heavy lens the first one where I screw the camera to the lens and not the other way around
I didn't test it too much yet, but for the time being the only down side to me is the CA problem that my copy has.

I'll submit some samples later.
   
New Member

Registered: August, 2015
Posts: 13
Review Date: August 30, 2015 Not Recommended | Price: $125.00 | Rating: 6 

 
Pros: Low price 300mm lens,
Cons: Heavy, hard focusing, no sharpness
Sharpness: 7    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 5    Value: 9    Camera Used: K-5, K-3   

Тhis lens did not meet my expectations absolutely. Heavy, hard focus (even after lubrication), on top of all this, it gives a completely blurred images. Only at f / 8 you can talk about the relative sharpness! Wide jpen completely unsuitable.

This is a 100% crop image:
   
New Member

Registered: June, 2016
Posts: 3
Review Date: June 6, 2016 Recommended | Price: $60.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: SHARP, looks utterly cool
Cons: heavy...
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 7    Value: 10    Camera Used: K-3   

Optically, my example is superb. Mechanically, well... The focus stops are missing, so if I go too close, the lens falls apart! That not Tair's fault, but the fault of whoever took it apart and couldn't put it back together right.

Resolution is astonishing, from wide open. Bit of purple fringing, and contrast is only okay. But what do you want a lens like this for: to capture the texture of the features on a bird 50 metres away. This will do that. At f4.5.

However, it is very heavy, you will not be surprised to hear. Tripod mount works well in terms of balance. It is fast enough to hand hold, but I suggest some serious gym training in advance.

I have a Tamron 300 f5.6 which is just meh. This beast is astonishing.
Add Review of TAIR 3A / 300A 300mm F4.5



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