We are finally getting some winter weather here in Toronto. The temperature has dropped below 0c today and with bone chilling wind. Despite the cold, Dillon and I rode our bikes to the Ashbridge Bay for some much needed exercise and some picture taking. There were some really interesting clouds today and I have a thing with clouds; I love clouds! Pictures with clouds always seem to add impact and interest. Clouds can be the subject of the photo too.
I have recently expanded my Minolta manual focus lens collection since 2011. I have the popular MC Rokkor 58mm f1.2, 85mm f1.7, and there is a couple more coming: the MD 85mm f2 and the very small and hard to find Rokkor 250mm f5.6 mirror lens. I am really not a mirror lens guy, although I briefly owned the Tamron 350mm f5.6 and the 800mm f8 that were really good and sharp. The only problem with them is that the maximum aperture is rather small and hand holding them is a big issue. I still have a very compact Makinon 350mm f5.6 mirror lens that I use occasionally, but it's optically not in the same league as the Tamron. Then again, it was only $10. I have read many good things about the Minolta 250mm RF lens. Hopefully I will like it, but if not, eBay it goes. Can't wait to try it, and the 85mm f2 out.
Looking foward to your "review" of the Rokkor mirror lens and will need to search out your comments/photos of the other mirror lenses you used in the past. I would love to find an afforable reflex lens to use with my G1. Good luck with your employment situation. I can certainly relate to your situation, only that it happened to me many years ago and I am still searching! Keep up the great work with the blog!
ReplyDelete@Thomas: Thanks for your kind words. I actually didn't use the Tamron mirror lenses to take a lot of pictures, but you can see some of them here at my pbase gallery. SP 350mm f5.6: http://www.pbase.com/gummiebear/tamron_sp_350mm_f56
ReplyDeleteThe first picture is a full sized one that you can check for the sharpness.
Tamron 800mm f8:
http://www.pbase.com/gummiebear/tamronsp500f8
The last picture is full size.
I guess you mean Tamron 500mm and not 800mm (as you state in your original blog post and above). Do you remember if it was the original version or the later version? I would love to find a Canon FD reflex as it might be a good compromise between quality and price, although the newer Tamron is also on the top of my list. Thanks for the URL links. Thomas
ReplyDelete@Thomas: Sorry on the focal length of the Tamron 500mm. I don't remember what version it was, as it was 3.5 years ago when I last used it and I no longer have it. The Canon FD and Nikon versions are still quite expensive but I am sure they are at least as good as the Tamron.
ReplyDelete