random question here: since i know a lot of people on the alt board shoot canon cameras, does anybody have experience with the 70-300mm DO lens and if so have you tried it on a NEX?
i'm thinking of downgrading my leica 350mm that i use for birding to something that is easier to fit in a diaper bag. the canon is certainly compact and seems reasonably sharp with a good MF ring (for an AF lens). anybody ever tried one?
sebboh wrote:
random question here: since i know a lot of people on the alt board shoot canon cameras, does anybody have experience with the 70-300mm DO lens and if so have you tried it on a NEX?
i'm thinking of downgrading my leica 350mm that i use for birding to something that is easier to fit in a diaper bag. the canon is certainly compact and seems reasonably sharp with a good MF ring (for an AF lens). anybody ever tried one?
I would recommend the Sony 70-300 G, which is stellar and has a very large focusing ring. Since it's a Sony lens, you'd have control over its aperture via the ea-la1 or 2. In particulat the la1 would be a lot cheaper than the canon chipped adapter.
That 70-300 Canon lens wouldn't be a bad idea. It is compact and has some very solid image characteristics. The only downside is price. It seems really expensive to me. I have the 75-300 non-USM zoom, it can produce some great images for a lot less. I do like your idea though, that might be a great telephoto option for NEX.
sebboh wrote:
random question here: since i know a lot of people on the alt board shoot canon cameras, does anybody have experience with the 70-300mm DO lens and if so have you tried it on a NEX?
I used to own this lens, and didn't like it that much. It had low contrast, the sharpness wasn't fantastic, and the onion rings had some kind of effect on the boke. It was in 2006, on a 5D, so it isn't clear in my mind, but I would recommend looking at the normal zoom instead.
xbarcelo wrote:
I would recommend the Sony 70-300 G, which is stellar and has a very large focusing ring. Since it's a Sony lens, you'd have control over its aperture via the ea-la1 or 2. In particulat the la1 would be a lot cheaper than the canon chipped adapter.
my primary interest in the canon is the compact size when retracted and IBIS. it seems like the sony is a fair bit bigger, though i have heard it is a very good performer. the sony adapter doesn't seem that much cheaper than the canon ones (excluding the speedbooster one).
carstenw wrote:
I used to own this lens, and didn't like it that much. It had low contrast, the sharpness wasn't fantastic, and the onion rings had some kind of effect on the boke. It was in 2006, on a 5D, so it isn't clear in my mind, but I would recommend looking at the normal zoom instead.
thanks carsten, that's disappointing to hear. perhaps i should rent it to see if it can work for me. at this point i'm more concerned with size than iq. i'm generally pretty happy with my 350mm but i never use it due to space and time constraints. having something that is the size of a 85/1.4 would make the space constraint at least much less of an issue. that said, my use of the lens would be wide open at 300mm 90% of the time. if it isn't decently sharp at those settings it's not much use to me. if it had some troubles on a 5d i have a lot of doubts as to how it would perform on a NEX-7. my idea is that i would use this for the time being while i save for a 280/4 apo (hopefully i should have more free time in another couple of years too). perhaps i should look more at other compact options...
oh, and some pictures for the picture thread (crossposted from the leica thread):
sebboh wrote:
random question here: since i know a lot of people on the alt board shoot canon cameras, does anybody have experience with the 70-300mm DO lens and if so have you tried it on a NEX?
i'm thinking of downgrading my leica 350mm that i use for birding to something that is easier to fit in a diaper bag. the canon is certainly compact and seems reasonably sharp with a good MF ring (for an AF lens). anybody ever tried one?
I doubt this will allay your size considerations, but the Nikkor 300 4.5 Ai-s is a plastic bodied, stubbier (and of course shorter FL) lens that weighs a lot less than the Leica (although that is merely a guess). Before going the AF canon route, I would consider this lens. There are also MD rokkor 300mm 4.5's out there I would also consider first. Basically, I find the manual focus feel to be a lot better than a AF lens forced to MF, so that would be a big consideration for me too. Good luck with your choice.
taran wrote:
I doubt this will allay your size considerations, but the Nikkor 300 4.5 Ai-s is a plastic bodied, stubbier (and of course shorter FL) lens that weighs a lot less than the Leica (although that is merely a guess). Before going the AF canon route, I would consider this lens. There are also MD rokkor 300mm 4.5's out there I would also consider first. Basically, I find the manual focus feel to be a lot better than a AF lens forced to MF, so that would be a big consideration for me too. Good luck with your choice.
yeah, i'd definitely prefer a manual focus lens, but for a serious size reduction i'd be willing to make an exception (as long as it's usable). i'll have to look at the dimensions of all the 300/4-4.5 lenses as well as the modern 70-300mm zooms. i think the pentax 300/4 is the smallest of the manual focus primes but i've no idea how it performs. i'm kinda biased against pentax and nikon because of the focus direction...
First with Leica 90 Elmarit and then two with the 24 Elmar ASPH
