Advice needed please

[paulr5604]

I have pretty much no budget for new lenses, however I am selling some things on eBay and will be in a position to afford an old manual focus long reach lens.

Bearing in mind that it will likely be years before I can get a modern lens would you advice to get the old lens and have fun or don't bother and not waste the money.

[antoeknee]

Re: Advice needed please

By long reach do you have a focal length in mind.?

On your crop sensor there is a 1.6 factor with some lenses of course.

Obviously not sure of your budget but I got one of these second-hand for £150 a little while ago, Tamron SP AF 70-300 F/4-5.6 Di VC USD .

Whilst not L class I've found it good (see images in my Flickr account) . IIRC these can be bought new for sub £300.

I'm sure you'll get some other suggestions as well.

[paulr5604]

Re: Advice needed please

The focal lengths I have been looking at are 400 and 500 my budget will be around £100 not a lot I know but don't have anything else to put to it due to childcare cost etc

[DrJon]

Re: Advice needed please

Ah, you answered my question while I was writing...
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The obvious questions would be how long do you want to go and what's the budget likely to be around? Also most manual focus lenses would need an adapter too.
IMHO the best bang-for-the-buck long Canon lens is the 70-300 IS which is currently £368 new so presumably £2xx for a decent used one and you get auto-focus (mbp seem to have some for just over £200).
Longer than that gets expensive fast, plus you have to decide if there is enough sharpness to look better than a cropped 70-300 pic.

...or were you thinking of the 650-1300mm Telephoto Lens f/8-16 T2 Mount which pop up on ebay with various manufacturers names against them? There are also T-mount mirror lenses around too (Rokinon 500mm F6.3 for about £150 etc.). Some people use Schmitt-Cassegrain telescope tubes (e.g. Celestron 6" = 1500mm f10, £520 new, I have an old C5 that I have used back in the day, but it's too much trouble for what you get IMHO, example: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/39787663 ).

[Nathaniel]

Re: Advice needed please

The focal lengths I have been looking at are 400 and 500 my budget will be around £100 not a lot I know but don't have anything else to put to it due to childcare cost etc

Paul, have you thought of a Mirror lens (new). This too is manual focus and the modern ones are better then the older ones. I have considered this but due to my eye sight problem and difficulty in trusting my manual focussing I prefer auto focussing lenses.

I understand your child care costs very well as my daughter certainly has to contend with this, when I am not around to help out. The only positive thing is that children grow up quite quickly.

[paulr5604]

Re: Advice needed please

I'm thinking of something like in the following link

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/310832827431...id=97605411597

[Cyberman]

Re: Advice needed please

For your budget its tricky.
Do you still have the 55-200mm thats in your signature? If so a 1.4x or 2x extender might be an option. Optically this might give better results than the Opton you list, also at f8 its not going to be great for all types of shots.

Found a few negative reviews about the Opton so i would be cautious before you spend your money and make sure you've researched it fully.
I now have a Canon 70-300mm IS that I will be selling due to getting some new lenses, I'd happily sell it to you but guess its too 'short'.
My feeling is look at extenders for your lenses and at least you've got reasonable optics.

[collywobbles]

Re: Advice needed please

You cannot use extenders with the EF-S 55-250mm. (Or, as far as I know,) any EF-S lens.

[S_J_P]

Re: Advice needed please

I'm thinking of something like in the following link

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/310832827431...id=97605411597

I have to say that I think you'll be better off using your existing 55-250 and cropping- in to achieve the equivalent of 500mm. The slowness of the 500 f/8 coupled with the manual focus and built-to-a-budget optics aren't likely to yield images you will be happy with!

[Cyberman]

Re: Advice needed please

You cannot use extenders with the EF-S 55-250mm. (Or, as far as I know,) any EF-S lens.

What about the tamron lens in his signature? That's what I meant.

[colin C]

Re: Advice needed please

This design of lens has been around for 40 years or so and pops up now and again under different brand names.

It is an f8 lens, which is going to give a very dark image in the viewfinder and without auto focus, you will find it very difficult to manually focus, because the image is simply not bright enough. Add to that, this is a lens for wildlife and sport and the subjects will not stay still while you are attempting to nail the focus. This is a manual stop down lens, which is very primitive and time consuming and you will need to stop this lens down 1 to 2 stops to get any acceptable quality out of it.

I did mention it was a 40 year old design, so here's how it works:

Manually decide the aperture you require for the shot and adjust the aperture ring accordingly. Open up the stop down ring to maximum and focus on the subject, close the stop down ring and press the shutter button. You will need to take separate meter readings for manual settings, although it may work in Av or Tv, I can't quite remember.

You mentioned getting the old lens and having some fun .............. regretfully, there won't be a lot of fun involved and I recall that for the majority of the time, when you have gone through all of that rigmarole, the subject will have moved anyway! I am a firm believer that it is the photographer that makes the shot and the equipment is largely irrelevant - a good photographer will get the shot regardless of the kit, but there are limits.

My advice would be to walk away, sell a few more bits and bobs and wait a while longer for something more usable.

[paulr5604]

Re: Advice needed please

The Tamron lens I have is an EF fitting so technically would work with a TC. Am I right in thinking that at 200mm and 5.6 a 1.4 Tc would make it f8 and a 2xTC would make it f11.

Can anyone recommend one I have read that the Yonguo 2x TC and my 40D would allow AF but would it be too slow to use for wildlife?

Sorry for the questions just don't want to make a mistake buying something that isn't going to work for me

[colin C]

Re: Advice needed please

Your 40D will only autofocus with an extender, where the combined aperture of the lens plus the extender does not exceed f5.6.

So, a 300mm f4 plus a 1.4x would work at f5.6. The same lens with a 2x would not autofocus as the combined aperture is f8. Only a 1 series body will autofocus at f8.

Your Tamron is f4 - 5.6. Which is f4 at 55mm, changing to f5.6 somewhere before it gets to 300mm. As it is already at f5.6 at 300mm, you will not be able to retain autofocus if you add a TC.

[paulr5604]

Re: Advice needed please

Thanks for the reply Colin, Will the optics in my Tamron be better than in an old fixed length manual lens as I will have to manual focus the Tamron.

Or would I be better just scrapping the idea entirely.

[Paulstw]

Re: Advice needed please

I went through this also Paul for ages when I had my 600D. I got the very cheap 75-300 Canon lens and tbh it was good for a while. No USM focus and pretty bad contrast and saturation. The Tamron 70-300 VC was a real step up in the right direction. Mirror Lenses like Nat said are dead cheap but come with a price on IQ.

The Sigma 120-400 is quite reasonably priced used, but the Tamron 70-300 is still a great lens for the £200 mark used. I'd just be whacking all sorts on ALamy with the 17-85 if I was you. You'll be surprised what might pop up. Get yourself into the news thing and take some really bad weather pics. That's how I got my money together for my stuff.