600 mm manual super telephoto advice?

gtc

Hello all

As you may know I am on a manual focus trip and am now considering a 600 mm.

I dont want a catadioptric.They dont fit my 20d in any case.

I know Pentax made some- one for their 6X7 cameras .

I dont think that this can be adapted easily.The S-M-C Takumar range stops at 500 mm,except for an older and impossibly long and unwieldy 1000 mm,which I think was uncoated-shudder!

Canon also made one with a fluorite element but unsure of the mount-I think it was designated 600 mm FL but ,again,I am unsure of the mount and whether it can be adapted.

Does anyone have any pointers on these or any other 600 mm manual focus primes? Ziggy? Anyone?

Greg

DanielB

get a Canon 600 f/4L and switch it to MF:D

gtc

not that easy
thanks daniel, but I am trying to avoid paying $10,000

ziggy53

Greg,

I found an FD mount Canon 600mm, f4.5 SSC (which means it's old) which might be good enough to warrant a physical rework into a genuine EF mount (just the physical attachment of course). It would be quite an undertaking, but might be worth the effort.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-FD-600mm-f-4-5-SSC-Excellent-NO-RESERVE_W0QQitemZ7616693990QQcategoryZ48552QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Nikon made a splendid 600mm F mount lens that you might be able to find and adapt with a single adapter. It will probably be expensive as Nikon shooters are usually aware how good it is.

You might also be able to find an old refractor telescope that has about 600mm and can be adapted for photographic use.

Good luck,

ziggy53

ziggy53

Or there's a brand new Vivitar 600mm, f9.9

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vivitar-600-2000mm-Lens-for-Canon-EOS-5D-30D-20D-NEW_W0QQitemZ7614610480QQcategoryZ4687QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

or the Phoenix 650mm, f8 (also sold under different names)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-EOS-Mt-650-2600mm-Lens-Digital-for-5D-30D-10D-NEW_W0QQitemZ7614335566QQcategoryZ4687QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

MPerdomo

Nikon 600mm f/5.6 or f/4

The 5.6 will run 1000-1500 if you can find one. They are prized by collectors

Zoom Raider

gtc wrote:

Hello all

As you may know I am on a manual focus trip and am now considering a 600 mm.

I dont want a catadioptric.They dont fit my 20d in any case.

I know Pentax made some- one for their 6X7 cameras .

I dont think that this can be adapted easily.The S-M-C Takumar range stops at 500 mm,except for an older and impossibly long and unwieldy 1000 mm,which I think was uncoated-shudder!

Canon also made one with a fluorite element but unsure of the mount-I think it was designated 600 mm FL but ,again,I am unsure of the mount and whether it can be adapted.

Does anyone have any pointers on these or any other 600 mm manual focus primes? Ziggy? Anyone?

Greg

I don't know if you're interested or not in a zoom lens of 300-800mm, but I saw one and I can't remember the name-brand, but it cost $400-$600. I'd like to have it, but I'm trying to learn how to take portraits and macros with the smaller lenses. Sigma's 300-800s are around $4000, more or less.

Bob Bell

ziggy53 wrote:

Greg,

I found an FD mount Canon 600mm, f4.5 SSC (which means it's old) which might be good enough to warrant a physical rework into a genuine EF mount (just the physical attachment of course). It would be quite an undertaking, but might be worth the effort.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-FD-600mm-f-4-5-SSC-Excellent-NO-RESERVE_W0QQitemZ7616693990QQcategoryZ48552QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Nikon made a splendid 600mm F mount lens that you might be able to find and adapt with a single adapter. It will probably be expensive as Nikon shooters are usually aware how good it is.

You might also be able to find an old refractor telescope that has about 600mm and can be adapted for photographic use.

Good luck,

ziggy53

FD Mounts wont fit EOS because film plane to rear element is shorter than EOS. This is why the adapter that came out in 87 to mount FD glass on the EOS 650 had optical elements. There were other adapters out there, that were essentially teleconverters like 1.2 if memory serves.

Having spent almost 2 years in the manual glass on EOS body phase I have investigated a lot of things.

The reason Zeiss and Leitz/Leica works on EOS is that they were meant to be farther away from the film sensor than EF. So you could take up 2-4 mm of space for an adapter and still be able to maintain infinity focus.

I don't have the link anymore but there is a site out there that lists the element to film plane distances and if its more than 1 mm more than Canon EOS - EF than an adaptor would work and probably exists out there.

I have kind of gotten out of the phase now with exotics. I was thinking of buying later model FD lenses which use the same super spectral coating as todays EF lenses. The 200/1.8 was in FD, 50/1.2 was in FD and I believe there was once an 800mm.

I just wish I had my Canon adapter from 87 Since they are rarer than rare now.

ziggy53

Bob Bell wrote:

FD Mounts wont fit EOS because film plane to rear element is shorter than EOS. This is why the adapter that came out in 87 to mount FD glass on the EOS 650 had optical elements. There were other adapters out there, that were essentially teleconverters like 1.2 if memory serves.

Having spent almost 2 years in the manual glass on EOS body phase I have investigated a lot of things.

The reason Zeiss and Leitz/Leica works on EOS is that they were meant to be farther away from the film sensor than EF. So you could take up 2-4 mm of space for an adapter and still be able to maintain infinity focus.

I don't have the link anymore but there is a site out there that lists the element to film plane distances and if its more than 1 mm more than Canon EOS - EF than an adaptor would work and probably exists out there.

I have kind of gotten out of the phase now with exotics. I was thinking of buying later model FD lenses which use the same super spectral coating as todays EF lenses. The 200/1.8 was in FD, 50/1.2 was in FD and I believe there was once an 800mm.

I just wish I had my Canon adapter from 87 Since they are rarer than rare now.

Bob,

It's true that a simple adapter won't work. What people have done is actually remove the rear lens linkage, and create a machined adapter to replace the entire back of the lens. Obviously, this only works well with lenses which have recessed rear optical elements, and the control for the aperture needs to be removed and compensated for.

It's not easy, and it can be terribly expensive unless you do a lot of the work yourself, and there are no prebuilt plans to do this type of surgery.

When you want a lens that's even more expensive with the proper/appropriate mount, it can make some sense to do the conversion.

Here are a couple of links to folks who, "did it their way" and machined/made their own mounts (rebels such as they are).

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=205279&postcount=6


http://www.desperadocycles.com/Wisconsin_Nature_Photography/Camera_Equipment/Exacta_To_EOS_Lens_Adapter.htm

... and here is the link to someone who said they were going to do the deed for you for $75/lens.

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00FKe7&tag=

Unfortunately ... (read the message at the link)

http://home.mchsi.com/~justinvalleau/

ziggy53

Manfr3d

Well if you want 600mm and MF, why not go
with a state of the art 300mm/f4 and a 1.4x or
a 200mm/f2.8 and a 2x Teleconverter.

I use a Canon 300mm/f4 L (used ~600$) with
a 1.4x TC on a 1.6x Crop body which gives
me a virtual 640mm/f5.6 lens. The image quality
is very satisfying, and i bet magnitudes over
what a 200$ vivitar 600mm can offer.

www.photozone.de has reviews of the canon
200mm/f2.8 II and the 300mm/f4 L with TC you
might wanna check out.

gtc

thanks for your thoughts on this
Thanks all for your advice-it seems that a 600mm is out of reach for quite awhile yet- the Nikon is about $2500 for one in ordinary condition plus freight.

300/4.0L is too much money too..

The ones you mentioned Ziggy are going to be too slow.

I have found out how to get into the front elements of a SMC Takumar 500/4.5,in order to clean dust ,so am thinking about making an offer on one which sits in a shop window here in Melbourne .

If the dust is in the central part of the lens it would need to be stripped down,and I am not confident of my ability to put something like that back together again,so would need to pay someone.

500mm should be enough for the time being-its quite a beast of a lens though and may require a heavier trpod to keep it steady.