New Member Registered: July, 2016 Location: New York, NY. Posts: 1
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 17, 2018 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, colour rendering. | | Cons: | Heavy, difficult to handle manually, CA | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 7
Value: 9
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This is an overall great lens.
Decided to take a walk in the park to test it and after about 20 blocks my arm was getting numb.
I had a tripod with me, but I didn't bother using it since it was a nice bright day and relied in my camera 5 axis stabilizer.
Focusing is kind of difficult when shooting without a tripod and pretty critical when subjects are moving.
Chromatic aberration is present on multicolor magenta and green which in most cases can be fixed in post production and not an issue when shooting for monochrome.
Unfortunately I'm not able to share more pix for now, but the attached here was shot from my window (notice the fence and the green grass in the background).
It was the closest distance possible (about 8.9 feet) and at f/4.5 (wide open).
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New Member Registered: March, 2019 Location: Ontario Posts: 15
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 11, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $140.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | reach, sharp, little to no lateral CA, natural colours, easy to focus, very sturdy and durable, easy to repair, 16-bladed aperture, great build quality, very easy to adjust infinity focus, indestructible rubber lens hood, good value | | Cons: | some axial CA, some CF, some ghosting, VERY heavy, preset aperture can be a pain | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: Sony a6300
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Mine is the latest Photosniper kit and comes with multi-coating. (produced in 1990 at KMZ for export)
This lens blew me away on so many fronts.
It looks so sleek and modern with its minimalistic look. Its black, powder-coated exterior is a perfect match for Sony mirrorless cameras. Every aspect of this lens speaks premium. It sure looks attractive! Judging by photos of the older versions, they look every bit as good as well, just with a slightly different aesthetic.
This lens is pretty well built. Everything runs smoothly, all the mechanics mesh together perfectly. There is some rattling of the components when shook, but that's not a problem at all. It is really easy to adjust infinity focus on this thing, thanks to the focus knob. To adjust infinity focus, you do not even need to take apart this lens, you just loosen the three set screws bearing the engravings, and screwing the ring in or out. You might have to reinstall the focus knob, but that's easy enough.
Personally, I would never use this lens without the gunstock. it weighs 1.4kg (3 pounds)! I've modded my gunstock so that it'll work with my Sony camera, and the combination handles very well. This lens looks (and almost weighs) like a rifle, so if you're familiar with shooting rifles, you'll love this kit. If you're not familiar with shooting, like me, you're still very likely love this kit. There is a reason rifle are built the way they are. The focus knob is a joy to use, though it does get some getting used to. With this lens, I have no qualms shooting down to 1/60s without any image stabilization (bust mode helps a lot).
Optically, this lens is as much of a beast as it is physically. Images are soft wide open. Stopped down to f5.6, sharpness becomes really good, and at f8, it is pin sharp. I generally shoot mine at f5.6, and it is more than sharp enough to resolve every single feather on an American robin. At f5.6, there is some axial CA, which is pretty bad by modern standards, but very well controlled when considering the price and age of this lens. In extreme highlights, this lens suffers from some ghosting. When focused properly, PF is well-controlled but definitely there. Any excessive PF I got seems to be the result of axial CA. At f8, all seems to be good. For a vintage 300mm lens with only 3 elements, this really is quite an unbelievable performance. It's unimpressive by modern standards, but has unbeatable value and is probably one of the best vintage super telephoto lens.
There is very little fault to find with the rendering of this lens. Bokeh is good for an f4.5 lens. This beast has 16 aperture-blades, so stopping down won't ruin the bokeh, at all. As mentioned, mine is the multi-coated version. Contrast is okay. This lens does not have the pop of Zeiss or Super/S-M-C-Takumars, but the rendering seems more natural as a result. The MC really helps with contra-light performance. I find that my copy of the lens generally performs okay when shot directly into strong light, surprisingly (I have never seen any flares). However, it absolutely hates stray light, and the hood is not long enough to make a difference. It has to be noted that on my lens, the coatings on the rear side of the second element have been pretty badly damaged, so it may not be a fair representation of the multi-coat on this lens.
All in all, this lens is a beast in every single aspect. If you have the biceps to wield it, this is a really good lens. This lens made me shelf my Spiratone Plura-coat 400mm f6.3, and my 200mm lenses now see the light less often. This lens is lightyears ahead of the Spiratone in terms of sharpness. My 200mm lenses are sharper (they are rated 10 for sharpness), sure, but this lens is sharp enough, and much more fun to use. Now that I think about it, this lens actually performs slightly better than my Super-Takumar 200mm f4!
Photos (all shot on Sony a6300, a 24mp APS-C camera, which is quite a challenge for lenses. All shot on a dreary day unless blue sky is present. All shot with AdobeRGB, so please view with a colour-managed browser, Chrome isn't good with colours)
American robin, shot at f8, slightly overexposed to reveal details in the feathers. Note the absolute lack of PF at this aperture.
Here's a particularly fat borb shot at f5.6. At this aperture the lens is already pin-sharp.
Colours are really nice on a sunny day. Bokeh is really good as well.
(Cropped to 4:3 for better framing of subject)
No, I don't feed birds, no matter how cute they may be.
PF and contra-light torture test at f5.6, note the axial CA
PF is pretty bad wide open
Wide open sharpness is usable, but not great.
(focus is on head)
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New Member Registered: May, 2021 Posts: 15 | | Review Date: April 23, 2023 | Recommended | Price: $85.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, unique design | | Cons: | None | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: Sony A7III
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I recently picked up the Photosniper kit (with the 3-phs) and even though I've only used this lens for about a week now, I'm already really impressed by it.
Even wide open it's surprisingly sharp. The colours and contrast are very nice, and I just love the unique design of this lens. I really recommed it.
My first impressions of the Tair 3-Phs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RILrEktPII4 | |
New Member Registered: November, 2023 Location: Grande Prairie, Alberta Posts: 21 | | Review Date: November 24, 2023 | Recommended | Price: $60.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, great color, affordable, a joy to use | | Cons: | None for what I paid for it | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K10d
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I have owned this lens since high school and still own it 20 years later. I do not use it as much as my other lenses due to it's size when going for nature walks ( I have a feeling any 300mm lens would be similar in size so not a con for this lens in particular). What i love the most about it is that is just so unique. Every time I use it I feel like a little kid again, it is just so much fun. And even if the picture quality would be poor I would still recommend it. But it's far from poor, I love the pictures I get from my k10d with the photos nicer. I could not recommend it for pro fast action or wildlife work, however for taking pictures of local wildlife or just to have fun with it you will not be disappointed.
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