Kimunor 500mm f8 Super Tele-Photo Lens

[Gas Man]

Just wondering if anyone has used any of these, you see them all the time on places like eBay, are they any good at all ?

[Tannin]

I guess that they are very cheap, probably mirror lenses, and pretty much useless. For starters, at f/8 you have no auto-focus capability. The cheapest usable 500mm lenses are around $1500 new. How much does the Kimunor go for?

[Gas Man]

I'm not sure, was just curious to see how they were, I know I can get a Tamron 400mm for $1500 roughly.

[Tannin]

I'm only guessing about it. No doubt someone else who knows (rather than just guesses) a bit about them will be along before too long. But you should be OK with the Tamron, or any of several others in the same general class. I've seen people post very nice pictures using them.

[arthurking83]

I'm guessing that this Kimunor lens is more likely to be of the Newtonian type rather than a reflector type.
The non mirror type of 500mm lenses seem to be cheaper(therefore suggesting cheaper to manufacture?).

The only issue I'd have is one of resonance. Having such a long and thin lens produces resonance(and with that, lots of vibes and blur) on most camera bodies(having Mirror Lock Up helps).

It's going to be manual focus, most likely and that may also be hard to do with most DSLR's too.

I suppose I should actually research my replies before posting, rather than make baseless assumptions

I have a Nikon 500mm mirror lens, and it can take the odd great photo.. but I can assure you it's bloody hard work!
(and I need a much more stable tripod to make them )

Tamron's 400/5.6 is a good lens apparently.(I did research them a little back when I was looking, and found some good images coming from them)
But at $1500.... that would be the 400mm f/4 manual focus lens???

For $1500 you can get a Sigma 50-500mm(very good from all the samples I've seen) or a Sigma 150-500mm for less than $1500(I think)

There are very few great 500mm lenses that sell for very little money.

Tamron's 500mm mirror is OK.
Sigma's 600mm mirror is supposed OK too.
There are a multitude of Opteka, Kenko, and M42 adapted lenses available too.

What camera are you using it on?

[Gas Man]

Thanks for the info fellas, much appreciated, i'm asking because i'm kinda new to this all and don't understand all aspects of cameras, lenses, photography in general, haha.

I am going to buy a Canon 40D, Arthurking83.

[Gas Man]

Just found a Sigma APO 135-400mm F4.5-5.6 DG, so what exactly does this mean ?

Selling price was $949.

[arthurking83]

Ah!! OK.. a 40D is good.

135-400mm Sigma is old news.

There is a new 120-400mm lens from Sigma which looks a lot better in IQ and has Image Stabilisation too
For close to 1K.. I'd spend the extra $200 or so on the new one(or the new 150-500mm)

135-400mm is an OK lens, but not one of the greatest Sigmas available.
(well... I'm yet to see an image that describes this lens as one of the greatest lenses available)

[Gas Man]

Where did you find the lens too ?

[arthurking83]

Where did you find the lens too ?

if you're referring to the Sigma lenses I mentioned they are 'everywhere'


these are just the ebay versions ....

Sigma 120-400mm on ebay

Sigma 150-500mm on ebay

These are just random links to the first listing on my ebay search.

You can also get them from a lot of retailers here in Aus for approximately the same kind of money.. so think about why you wanted to use ebay in the first place(saving lots of money huh? If you only save approx $50 in the total price is it worth it?

Go to your local photographic store and try to present your case for a similar price, as your first option for purchasing something like this.

[pgbphotographytas]

I have one of these 500mm eBay lenses, it gets very little use but sometimes I do use it but it is hard work to get a decent photo out of it.

Paul

[Gas Man]

Yea i'm looking to get my hands on a 400mm or 500mm to use on the Canon 40D for sporting shots, but have to go outta town to Adelaide as we don't have a camera specialist here where I am, sadly... Cheers for the info too.

[arthurking83]

Yea i'm looking to get my hands on a 400mm or 500mm to use on the Canon 40D for sporting shots.....

"for sporting shots"

OH!!


In that case put aside at least $2K for something along the lines of a Canon 100-400mm as a minimum level of the kind of lens you may be wanting.

For sport you will almost certainly need faster shutter speeds and f/5.6 is just pushing that limit.

You can get decent 300/f/2.8's for approximately $1K..... like SeeSee, who just got a good Tokina 300/2.8.... and couple that to a 1.4TC which gives you a 420mm f/4.

I have a manual focus version of the same set up which is also hard to use.

500mm, and slower than f/5.6 aperture.... and you're pushing the current level of your sanity, as much as the level of IQ that you'll want to get from a medium ISO setting(say 400-800 as a starting point).

Whilst the combo may work well at midday till approx 4PM, as the light 'yellow' up in the afternoon the shutter speeds will drop and you will be disappointed with the images you'll get.

Remember that there is something called the 'inverse law' where it's commonly acknowledged that a good shutter speed is One over the Focal Length of your lens.
ie. at 500mm, you may want to stick with 1/500 as a minimum.. and more like 1/1000 and faster to be sure. If you have ever tried to handhold a lens at 500mm you'll understand why... the smallest lil vibe looks like an earthquake through the viewfinder.

This is where Image Stabilisation will come in handy, especially in the lens, rather than in the camera body, as the view suddenly smooths out and those sharp, motion sickness inducing bouncey shakes become smooth floating movements.

All this costs $$$$$, and while the Sigma may work "OK" with it's f/6.3 aperture(I think Canon's stop AutoFocusing at slower than f/5.6 apertures!!.. can some Canon folk confirm that)

The problem is(even though it's going to work in very bright light) you are starting at the base end and you have very little, or no room to move, if the light levels fall a little.

Hope this helps

[Gas Man]

Yea think i'll just buy the Canon 40D body and see about a 500mm or so lens... as i'll use that more then any other lens.

[SpaceJunk]

Just found a Sigma APO 135-400mm F4.5-5.6 DG, so what exactly does this mean ?

Selling price was $949.

I have a copy of that lens, and have recently acquired a Canon 100-400 L , alas the siggy mentioned is not in the same paddock for image quality or focusing

[BBobe]

I have one of these lenses and used it fine on my Canon AE1 Programable 35mm film camera. I now have an Canon EOS XTi and am looking for an adapter for my lenses. I am not very savey when it comes to cameras so could use some help.

* Link removed - members with under 50 posts cannot promote commercial sites - Admin *

I found this.

2" UltraWide Prime Focus Adapters for Telescopes with 2" Eyepiece Ports Non-Vignetting SLR/DSLR Telescope adapters! for Canon EOS, Nikon, Olympus 4/3 and more

I can not see how it mates with my lenses.

At this site:
* Link removed - members with under 50 posts cannot promote commercial sites - Admin *

I found this.

Fotodiox M42 Lens EOS Adapter for Select Canon Cameras - Black

Any one got suggestions of how to mate these to my camera???

Any suggestions or other solutions???

Thank for your help

[yarnella]

I have an older screw-mount version of this lens. It is not the Super version that you reference. It is MF and I use it occasionally on my K10D.

It is not perfect but I got if for nothing so I am not complaining.

Here is an example image:

_IGP5942 by Ray Allen, on Flickr