Discussion Forum for various Lenses of different major labels in a shared environment at Photography In Malaysia

1. From : Bob Drummond (rbikerboy99@aol.com)
Url : http://
Date : 07:25 AM Tuesday 08 August, 2006

I just brought an Nikon F4 I plan to use with only manual lens. What is the better focusing screen to use? I have the B screen. I thought I read somewhere J, K, or P? Thanks

2. From : Robert Glenn Middleton (the_redd_groyne@hotmail.co.uk)
Url : http://
Date : 10:56 AM Monday 07 August, 2006

Janet, This is an auxiliary lens, or should I say part of the kit, that is made to fit compact digital cameras. You need the adapter tube for whatever camera you want to fit it on. They have sold as complete sets on eBay recently for approx $10 - $15, however an original manufacture's matched set will cost much more than third party items.

Your lens has a focal length reduction factor of 0.45x. If it did not come with the adapter tube, your best hope is to find a store that sells the kits and ask them to order one. You could always see what eBay has on offer if you cannot find a local supplier.

3. From : Ken Durling (kdurling@comcast.net)
Url : http://
Date : 01:25 PM Sunday 06 August, 2006

Can't add much to Robert's excellent summary, but if the 300/2.8L is out of your budget, as it was mine, Tokina makes a very good 300 - their 300mm f/2.8 SD AT-X. It's still being made in EF mount. Have a look on eBay to see if there are FD mount ones - there usually are some around. I had one for a while, and was very happy with it. I only sold it to get a 400 for my bird photography. Takes a slightly different drop-in filter size than Canon's, and Tokina makes their own line of filters, including a circular polarizer, which is not available for the Canon.

4. From : Janet (janet.mansfield@gmail.com)
Url : http://
Date : 12:03 PM Sunday 06 August, 2006

Can anyone help me figure out a little about a wide angle lens I bought while I was visiting San Fran. a couple of weeks ago. It is a Zice 0.45xprofessional high speed auto focus lens. It is a tatium lens. Made in Japan. I thought it might be made by Zeiss. I can find no proof of that. The item number on the lens is 1045-46/52zi. Help. I have only found it one other place and it was on e-bay for a lot more than what I paid.

5. From : Larry Day (larrydday@verizon.net)
Url : http://
Date : 05:21 AM Sunday 06 August, 2006

I am looking for information on a auto vivitar 300mm f5.5. ss# 3718402. I have not been able to find any information for this lens on the web. Is this lens a any good who made it and how old is it.

6. From : Robert Glenn Middleton (the_redd_groyne@hotmail.co.uk)
Url : http://
Date : 02:22 AM Sunday 06 August, 2006

John, I suppose the market price will depend on where you are located and which 300mm f2.8 lens you are after. Here in the UK the dealer price for a nice looking 300mm f2.8L with clean optics is in the ï¿½750 - ï¿½1300 range, but I have seen well used lenses go for as little as ï¿½450. You must remember that these lenses were marketed for professional use, as such the cosmetic appearance can be awful but if the lens has been well serviced it will perform faultlessly. Because these lenses tend to be rather dogeared, when nice minty ones come on the market they tend to be sold at premium prices to the collector.

There is a 300/2.8L on the US eBay site at the moment. Bidding stands at $330 - reserve not met, and auction ends sometime on 8th August.

You may find one of the earlier Fluorite SSC 300/2.8 on the market in a lower price range. The only ones I have seen recently were in really bad condition and not worth buying.

You should look out for an optically clean user 300/2.8L if you insist on going down this road. However I would point out that just having a long, fast lens is not going to make you a better photographer or give you better images.

I used a 300/2.8L - T90 setup for years as part of my everyday professional kit, it still gets frequent airings when film is the first choice for a commission. One thing I have realised over the years is that the thought process, when using a long lens, is more akin to that used when shooting with medium and large formats. By this I mean it is easy to produce a technically good image, however to produce an image that has that eye grabbing factor requires you to think/plan in a much more ordered way.

7. From : John Robinson (pjonrob@yahoo.com)
Url : http://
Date : 12:17 PM Saturday 05 August, 2006

I think i'm pretty hot to find a good used FD 300mm 2.8 lens for
my ae-1. I've got a canon S2IS digital which is very good at most tasks, but film still rules for sensitive shots.
Want the nice light power of the 2.8 fd 300mm lens for obvious reasons. How much am i going to need to pay to find a good one?.
I'm thinking that it's production has stopped long ago.
I'm not an expert shooter, but this lens could really help me be one.
Any help or comments would be great, thank you. John Robinson.

8. From : rick oleson (rick_oleson@yahoo.com)
Url : http://rick_oleson.tripod.com
Date : 03:58 AM Monday 24 July, 2006

Hi Bill: I have both of these lenses, though not in Nikon mount. They were made in the 1980s when autofocus SLRs first came in, to add autofocus capability to a manual focus camera. Optical quality of both of the lenses is good, in my book. The 28-70 uses a separate optical system to focus, and it focuses very quickly, but it is bulky. The lens has a 1:4 close focus capability, but without autofocus function in the "Macro" range.

The 75-200 focuses through the lens itself, similarly to an actual autofocus SLR. Focusing is much slower than with the 28-70, but you have a number of advantages: the lens focuses continuously down to 1:4 with autofocus all the way, and since it's focusing through the lens you can retain autofocus with a diopter closeup lens attached. The lens is bigger and heavier than a manual focus zoom, but it's relatively less bulky than the 28-70.

Neither of these lenses was equal in focus performance to the dedicated AF systems of their day, and they are awkward and cumbersome compared to today's cameras, but they aren't bad lenses and they were an interesting accessory for people with established manual focus SLR systems.

9. From : Bill (wrsymons@yahoo.com)
Url : http://
Date : 02:29 AM Monday 24 July, 2006

Hello: I recently aquired 2 Vivitar lenses with Nikon mounts. I would like to know more about them. The lenses are as follows

28-70mm 1:3.5-4.8 Auto Focus Zoom
75-200mm 1:4.5 Auto Focus Zoom

They both have compartments for AAA Batts. any help would be appreicated Thanks WRS

10. From : rick oleson (rick_oleson@yahoo.com)
Url : http://rick_oleson.tripod.com
Date : 03:01 AM Sunday 23 July, 2006

Hi Bill: I'm not positive, but I do not think there is an adapter to use FD lenses on a Contax. I believe that the Canon body is shallower than the Contax body (since you have both you could check this), so that there would be no room to insert an adapter and maintain infinity focus. If there is an adapter, it would probably have a glass correcting element in it for this purpose, which can be expected to change the effective focal length of the lens and reduce image quality.

PAGE | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 100 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 | 123 | 124 | 125 | 126 | 127 | 128 | 129 | 130 | 131 | 132 | 133 | 134 | 135 | 136 | 137 | 138 | 139 | 140 | 141 | 142 | 143 | 144 | 145 | 146 | 147 | 148 | 149 | 150 | 151 | 152 | 153 | 154 | 155 | 156 | 157 | 158 | 159 | 160 | 161 | 162 | 163 | 164 | 165 | 166 | 167 | 168 | 169 | 170 | 171 | 172 | 173 | 174 | 175 | 176 | 177 | 178 | 179 | 180 | 181 | 182 | 183 | 184 | 185 | 186 | 187 | 188 | 189 | 190 | 191 | 192 | 193 | 194 | 195 | 196 | 197 | 198 | 199 | 200 | 201 | 202 | 203 | 204 | 205 | 206 | 207 | 208 | 209 | 210 | 211 | 212 | 213 | 214 | 215 | 216