The monster is pretty big. About 4.5 inches long. It weighs about 600 grams.
My 300d with kit lens attached only weighs 800 grams!
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"I will shoot at 1/250s
I will shoot at 1/250s
I will shoot at 1/250s..."
The first thing you will notice about the 18-55mm lens supplied with the 300d is that 55mm (like 88mm with the crop factor) just isn't long enough. Also with an aperture of f/5.6 at 55mm, the kit lens is starting to get a bit dark.
Now I've sorted out the wide-angle with the Peleng 8mm, it's time to find something with a bit of length!
Of course, EBay was the first place I looked. To my shock and horror, zoom lenses are darned expensive! Even used lenses of dubious ancestry (with fuzzy pictures and no box) command high prices on EBay.
Undeterred, I considered other options. With an M42 to EOS adaptor it's possible to mount old Pentax M42 screw mount lenses on EOS camera. Mmmm...
A few bids later, and I was the lucky winner of a Soligor 200mm in M42 mount. It cost me £10.50 including delivery (less than $20).
A few days later, and my purchase arrived... immediately I christened this one "The Metal Monster"
The monster is pretty big. About 4.5 inches long. It weighs about 600 grams.
My 300d with kit lens attached only weighs 800 grams!
Everything is metal - even the lens cap (aluminium I think). This is a very old piece of kit which appears to have been well used. Bits of paint are worn away in places and the aperture ring seems well-thumbed.
That focus ring turns a long, long way, almost right the way round. Minimum focus distance is marked as 2.3m / 8ft. Maximum focus is of course "Infinity and Beyond".
The aperture ring stops at f3.5 to f.22, with stops in between all the marked numbers.
Now, f3.5 is pretty impressive at this focal length. Mmmmm....
This is a big piece of glass. As it's a telephoto prime, there aren't many elements in the lens.
As far as I can tell, it may be just two elements.
You can see the aperture details. It's an 8 blade aperture.
Inside everything looks nice and clean, maybe the odd bit of dust, but no signs of the dreaded
lens fungus.
With the lens hood extended, it's about 6 inches long.
The monster is quite an imposing beast.
Here it is with the M42 to EOS mount adaptor.
This is a cheap adaptor I obtained from China (via EBay of course). These are not really very well made, but they actually work quite well. This one had some scratches and rough edges which a little work with a nail file managed to remove.
The adaptor has a little bit of side-to-side play when the lens is on the camera. This isn't noticable with smaller lenses (like the Pentax Super Takumar 50mm) but is more obvious with the monster.
There can be a problem with infinity focus when using some adaptors - no problems with
this setup though. Actually I found it more difficult to get a good focus at closer ranges
than infinity.
Next page - let's do some tests!