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Pastimes : Digital Photography -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Murrey Walker who wrote (14579)	8/25/2006 8:12:05 PM
From: Elsewhere	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 21652

Thanks! Talking flying objects - I have always been fascinated by planes but so far my longest tele option had been the Sigma 70-300 at 300 mm, its weak end. Nikon lenses >300 mm will be beyond my budget for the foreseeable future. What to do? I picked up a cheap lens at eBay, a Walimex 500 mm f/8 for about $100. Apparently it's a relabeled version of a decade-old design. Its nickname is "Wundertüte", "wonder bag", which was coined in a review in 1980. I happened to find a post by the review author explaining the lens to a new generation. forum.astronomie.de The lens has a T2 mount, I got it with a Nikon T2 adapter. Thus there's no autofocus and no automatic exposure on my D70. I have developed a simple exposure practice. It's a sunshine lens; I always use f/8, I need 1/1000 s for handholding - so I expose by guessing ISO <g> If ISO 1600 doesn't suffice I still have a reserve of two stops due to RAW. I had set my expectations very low - but was surprised pleasantly. A couple of examples: Thistles across the street, close to the minimum focus distance of 10 m: And now planes - I live close to the landing path of airport Tegel. The planes pass in a distance of about two miles. The new 500/8 enables me to get better acquainted with the air traffic. An example: That's Czech Airlines CSA OK518 coming from Prague on August 3, the plane is an Aerospatiale/Alenia ATR 72. Just to get an impression of the 500 mm effect: the 25 mm view of planes is Can anybody spot the plane? It's right to the branch at the left border. And now a good night to you people across the ocean! (Sunset through trees with the 500/8.)