TO ANSWER IF IT SUCKS OR NOT: It doesn't suck for the price. I was impressed with the sharpness that could be achieved. New $87 link: amzn.to/2p3Sbgn (the last one went up to $120)
Christopher Burress it looks pretty decent at 500mm (when watching on my phone, anyway). But it's pretty atrocious at 1000. The only use at 1000mm would be for surveillance of some sort. Thanks for the video! Definitely an interesting lens.
It does look atrocious at 1000mm because of the heat-shimmer in the atmosphere. a still image would remove that element. I'm not defending the lens, just adding some insight.
Depends on your location. Remember the Aqua Teen Hunger Force "viral" prank? Black box with wires dangling from it attached to a bridge... Boston: under lock-down - same thing in SF nobody gives a shit.
@ wackerr, lol, "Let's see, over here we have a police station, then a nuclear power plant, over there is the Governors mansion, a church and lastly my ex-wife walking the dog" yeah sounds legit :-D
Actually at 500mm it didn't look to bad at all. 1000 was pushing it; though I think the heat in air had a huge part to play. It reminded me of what its like to look at the moon through a large dobsonian telescope, where the atmosphere creates a moving fluid like distortion.
That's going to happen with any lens when there is a large heat gradient in the atmosphere. I don't generally take any long-distance photos, or use any telescope before allowing the optic to reach atmospheric temperature for just that reason. A closed lens takes longer to reach equilibrium than an open optic (such as a reflector telescope) does.
*Perfect! I can secretly film my crush without him calling the cops now. I hate it when he pranks me like that smh. We're actually married; he just doesn't know it yet! Wish me luck guys!*
@@jimmyhidalgo2680 Oh you don't get the joke don't ya. People like you are just stupit. I only open those comments to see people like you writing dumbshit :D
Largest refracting (read "telephoto")lens in the world is Yerkes Observatory telescope (40") with a focal length of 19,400 mm (63.64829 ft)! The format is 8"x10" so the DX "equivalent " would be about...29,000mm?? Long...
When the first sample picture of his wife came up I literally said wow, pretty impressive sharpness. I suppose considering my expectations were very low.
Heck even with low expectations that was INCREDIBLY impressive. The city shots were less impressive but that's mainly due to atmospheric effects, the actual air puts a limit on the sharpness that can be achieved, but the portraits literally blew me away. I was in no way expecting to be able to discern individual hairs, there's very little or no chromatic aberration at all... Unbelievable deal for certain situations.
Native Texan, no, there's a very clear super thin upper left circular arc section outline to the left of the round AT&T logo carved into the concrete and a diffuse unevenly darkened patch of concrete, like moisture damage, in the lower part of the same circle and they certainly don't disappear. The circle is about the same size as the logo too. It looks like they had the logo moved to the right. Similarly, dark spots to the right of the current logo spell "&T".
I stand corrected. In my honest defense...i wasn't lying. When I first posted that reply, I watched multiple times to be sure. I swear to god it disappeared a few seconds later. 110% positive. I just rewatched all the scenes with that building, nothing. Didn't disappear. I'm going to chalk it up to monitor issues I guess. I dunno. But it DID disappear a few seconds later every time originally. *shrugs*
For the price, that's a pretty good lens! I had been using a Schmidt cassegrain 500mm lens on a Nikon Ftn some time ago, and it was just about as good as the lens you used in this video at 500mm. The 2X magnification reduces the quality of the photos. The interesting thing about these long lenses is that in hot weather, the heat distortion becomes very obvious. Very well presented, and a pretty good deal for $81!!
I guess you can expect seeing a planet made of 99% chromatic aberration and 1% atmosphere. As for the moon, depends on the phase. Full moon - Most likely chromatic aberration all around the edge, and too bright to get any natural color and depth. Crescent - chromatic aberration along the edge, the rest too bright except for the darkest visible parts left. New moon - most likely just chromatic aberration.
Yeah I agree. Personally I don't think I've ever seen a 2X converter that worked good. If you can find the exception, please let me know if you know of a 2x converter that works amazingly. 💟✅👍
lightningwave I actually have a similar lens and took a picture of the moon that didn't turn out half bad. I used crop mode so it was effectively 1500mm. You can see it here instagram.com/p/9VLNY0Sk_c/
Airplane Emoji Thanks a lot for the link, looks quite good :-) Is this with editing afterwards or straight out of the camera? And do you have a link to the full size file by any chance?
lightningwave you don't need this long of a lens to take great shots of the moon. I took this image with a sigma 70-300mm cropped in post. instagram.com/p/BSzfsH9DWNg/
mirror lenses are also fun for this. i had a 500mm one with a x2 teleconverter. But the image quality was terrible, this lens looks a little better, but it's hard to objectify quality on a RUclips video.
Various companies have been selling this same lens for probably at least 20-30 years. I have one from the 90's and used it for several shoots and always impressed by the lens for the price I bought it for like 25 years ago it more than paid for itself probably 100 times over. I wish all lenses were like this one.
Here we go, someone who gets it. I've had dozens of comments telling me that I have wasted my time and money and should do something more productive. Well, it worked out didn't it....
@@ChristopherBurress I wouldnt say you wasted your money exactly but you do get what you pay for and a lens like this is fine for amateur photography but if you were doing a professional job then higher quality would be expected and you'd probably wouldnt get away with using an 80 dollar lens. It all depends on the use of the product. If you're just starting out then it's a good tool to get some practice on but eventually it's not going to do the job you're looking for as you progress.
@@AmazingKevinWClark Are you serious? This man invested $80, made a video with the lens that now has over 2million views, I'd say he's gotten way more than he paid in the money made from youtube along
People bash cheap lenses, But if you compare a $100 lens to a $1500 lens, you'll see minor improvements all across the board. at the cost of another fourteen lens's. it's just not worth it unless you're a full time professional.
+Probably Not A Chicken there we go, some common sense! Some comments here bashing it aren't considering the fact that this is a 500mm lens, and I would NEVER spend $2k+ on a lens that would be this specific of a use case. So no matter how bad the $100 version is, it's better than any alternative on my radar.
@@ArthurEmbleton and you have your reasons for that just like he has his reasons for a 100dollar glass. The only question should be what do your pictures look like and what type of work do you do?
As a professional photographer, I was expecting horrid things, LOL! The big drawback is starting at an f/8, that's where more expensive lenses exceed. But other than that, it was really impressive! I figured barrel distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting would be really bad. But for an $80 zoom lens, this really surprised me! I have a 500mm lens that cost me $500+, and while I can see the limitations of this lens, it wasn't a $500 Olympus lens, LOL! The one that really impresses me is the lack of barrel distortion. I figured the 1,000mm views would really show this flaw, but the lens did very well! If you didn't tell a professional photographer, they would be hard pressed to judge this lens badly. Although chromatic aberration is present, it isn't that bad. In fact, most wouldn't even notice it. And vignetting is almost non-present! One has to look at the really bright scenes to see it, and only when one looks close can it be noticed. This lens really blew me away! And I'm hard to please, LOL! P.S. The CCD needs cleaning. Telephoto lenses really bring out the flaws in a CCD's cleanliness, LOL!
When you get to really long lenses over distance, your single shot quality is often limited by the atmosphere, not the lens. Up closer, though, the cheaper ones probably have a super long minimum focus range, and show their weaknesses.
There must be a factory somewhere in Asia that churns these lenses out, and it's been doing it since the days of film cameras and wet processing. I've seen them with a dozen different brand names but the performance was always the same... slightly muddy image with less than ideal contrast, which was not ideal with film. Digital however makes these lenses great value for money as any shortcomings can be corrected somewhat in post. Another advantage of these lenses is you'll get to see how much use you'll have for a long lens without spending, and possibly wasting, a lot of money.
I think brutally might be a strong word, it was filmed in a kitchen with hard surfaces everywhere, a wooden table, and I microphone about 14 inches away. No camera gear was harmed in the making of this film.thanks for watching though!
With a 2x teleconverter, you lose 2 stops. (1,4x would be 1 stop). Forget 1000mm. You should use a solid tripod and a protected place where is no wind, then you are safe.
looks pretty decent. impressed, considering it's 80 bucks. people, keep in mind that some of the softness is ineviteably linked to atmospheric refraction. 1000mm lens+tele cropped by the sensor to 1500mm, is going to pick up serious air turbulence.
Christopher Burress you're kidding.. 35 feet. I've got a built-in 1000mm lens on my camera that focuses within roughly 10-12 feet? never bothered to check accurately, but damn. that's a lot further than expected.
Worth mentioning, in case no one else has: this lens has a preset aperture, two rings. One ring "sets" the aperture, and the other must be closed down just before taking a still exposure, or while doing video to actually closed the aperture to the F-stop you have chosen. Leave it open so you can more accurately focus, but remember to work up (on Manual) your exposure settings with the pre-set ring closed, then re-open to frame, and focus and close ring just before exposure or filming. Added problem is every time the lens is touched it creates vibration. For a still photo wait 10-30 seconds for jitters to stop. For video plan to shoot 10 seconds of "waste" footage before action. I see your camera has in-body image stabilization, sensor-shift. Does that help?
+BassPlayerAvailable I think that if you are wanting some serious reach and don't want to spend a couple grand this is totally an option that I would recommend.
Nice review @ChristopherBurress. I'd agree that it does NOT suck for that price and is surprisingly sharp. I might have to check it out and see how it performs with my Nikon 1 series cameras.
Spiratone was selling these back in the 60s and 70s. I had a 400mm for my Miranda. They are called "pre-set" aperture where you have to use the second ring to actually stop down. When you remember. And the T mount lives on!
Minus the fact that it's not automatic, the image quality is actually really decent. I'm half tempted to make the purchase now, this video gave me some confidence in this lens.
I have heard that above 50mm or so is great for capturing peoples faces, do you think there is enough compression at 1000mm to compliment people’s appearance? ;)
So on the a6500 that would essentially be a 1500mm lens. I have seen old lenses just like this for about half the price but no lens hood or teleconverter. Might have to look into this for moon shots
This 500mm prime preset manual focus lenses comes from many generic brands. I got one under a "Five Star" brand for around 28 USD (PhP1500 Philippine peso) bought surplus from a thrift shop. For the cheap price I paid, I got sharp photos of birds at f11 straight from my Nikon D90 or D300. The 1.3x area crop mode on my Nikon D7100 turns it into a 650mm lens. I was able to follow seagulls and heron in flight, but not the quicker swifts and sparrows - which I use another technique for those shy birds such as pre-focusing and framing while at rest and waiting for it to flap it's wings and fly. It's a bit tricky to use when using full manual, luckily the Nikon D300 and D7100 offers metering for full manual lenses that I use auto ISO and exposure compensation so the exposure is always good under sunny conditions outdoors (shooting in shade or cloudy skies requires to raise ISO at around 1600 to 2500 or so). A bit bulky to travel with a 500mm that big and a heavy D300 so I just bought today a used but good old Panasonic DMC-FZ70 with a hefty 60x zoom (equivalent to 1200mm) which I'm about to try on a light travel. With a superzoom from 20-1200mm you can have all that bulky lenses in one small package, as long as you limit the ISO under 1600 in low light.
If you look at large lenses, cheap to expensive, the tripod mount goes to the lens instead of the camera. Especially when shooting football, they have massive zoom lenses with heavy glass. Try to hang that lens from the camera without being supported, and you'd mess up the mount hole.
The mount is m42 or t mount, i have the 400mm and the 500mm versions, both found on a local flea market, the adaptors cost about 2 dollars each, for the lenses i paid less than 30 dollars total
Good video. Getting back into the hobby after a 25 year absence. Fighting GAS already. Had to subscribe after seeing the parking garage and downtown you went to. Good to find a local on here. Thanks.
Funny that I saw a Dish Network dish on the AT&T building. It's pretty telling when the company that owns DirecTV doesn't use DirecTV. I guess they would know best.
I live in Greenville also. Do you ever get hassled by the parking garage security patrol about not being able to take pics on top of one of the public parking garages? I have been told I need a special permit. They said I was loitering.
I wonder how this APS-C mirrorless/ 500-1000mm f8 manual prime preset combo compares with superzooms bridge digicam such as the Nikon P900/ P1000, or Canon SX60. I have the older Panasonic Lumix FZ70 60x optical zoom, but the equivalent 1200mm far end produce quite muddy shots.
dave091790 it shouldn't look any worse than this does, just the shake from the camera will probably be worse. If it's on a weighted tripod though it should be very similar quality in both stills and video.
If there's an adapter, it should be possible without any problems. Because of that small sensor, only the sweet spot in the center of the lens is used.
That is pretty surprising at 500mm, given the tripod foot, the techart AF adapter should be able to drive AF by moving the camera body after a quick prefocus on the lens.
I have a Opteka 650-1300 lens and 2X extender for my Canon 650D. I've only used it once, and I was OK with it. It's not a Pro lens obviously, but it can take some good pics. It's definitely worth $80 bucks. Buy it if your not a professional photographer.
1000mm in urban environments is really tricky. The air convection becomes really noticeable. For wildlife work, and long distance stuff in clean air its not bad. Need the WiFi remote trigger though. Besides bird hunting, I really haven't found a use for the 1000mm capability (I own 6" and 9.5" telescope's so astronomy work gets done with those). 500mm... Now, that's a lot of fun. For $80.00 its worth it I think. Its a lot of fun, and if while you are playing it gets mangled you haven't lost next months mortgage payment.
Nay, i think he accidentaly put the text on the footage, nest both of them, then warpstabilized it. Usually the text shouldnt be stabilized altogether but it do make sense in this context.
My fear of heights would make this video completely different. You : *stood near wall* "We've got a church down here" *leans camera over the edge* Me : *stood spot on in the center of the car park* "We got a nice safe wall right there, and juuuuust over that wall we're not approaching is a hill we're not photographing"
See that vibration in the video, well that's the reason I bought a remote control for my Nikon camera. When you are using it on a long zoom, the least camera movement is magnified. (PS. The price in Australia was close to $350.00. plus postage. Why is Australia called the lucky country again? And of course, there is also a 10% tax on top of that).
Wow, watched most of the video thinking “that looks familiar” before I realized it was 30 minutes from my house. Good review though, maybe fun to look at the moon with the kids if we can avoid breathing on the tripod.
I have one of those cheap 500mm lenses. It's pretty good; doesn't focus very close and wide open it is f8. Completely manual of course and some cameras handle it better than others.
I found mine at a thrift store for 10 bucks without all the extras. 14 dollars for a t-mount to canon later... my wife stole it and shot Eagles all day with it. Oh well. She says it shots well.
Not nearly as bad as I expected! It was kinda surreal once I recognized the buildings (the ambulance gave it away) plus, I thought I recognized that vintage Honda - I see it parked downtown all the time!
It looks good for the money. Clearly the fact that it's a plastic bodied lens group means that it doesn't have enough mass to dampen vibrations, but mass is easy and cheap to add. I'm actually considering buying from this company to replace a lens that was stolen a few decades ago. It was a mid-range (in terms of quality) zoom lens (105 - 205mm) that my dad found at a garage sale for $25. It had no chromatic aberration at any setting. The find of a lifetime.
0:55 a fixed aperture should be the least of your worries with any piece of optics, i like using telescopes which by nature just dont bother with a aperture blade set.
You should zoom in on a plane flying over at cruise altitude. Used to do this w my P900, just for fun. I could see the planes quite clearly even at 35,000 feet, it’d be cool to see what this lens can do:)
TO ANSWER IF IT SUCKS OR NOT: It doesn't suck for the price. I was impressed with the sharpness that could be achieved.
New $87 link: amzn.to/2p3Sbgn (the last one went up to $120)
Christopher Burress it looks pretty decent at 500mm (when watching on my phone, anyway). But it's pretty atrocious at 1000. The only use at 1000mm would be for surveillance of some sort.
Thanks for the video! Definitely an interesting lens.
It does look atrocious at 1000mm because of the heat-shimmer in the atmosphere. a still image would remove that element. I'm not defending the lens, just adding some insight.
Why is the price so cheap on this lense, what is the catch?
The catch is that its made from cheap plastic and elements but for sucvh a price you really cant bitch.
Owen Chase science channel probably because its aperture starts at F8
Finally found a good vlogging lens. Thanks
Varga Dániel you happen to be a vlogging giraffe?
Varga Dániel 35 foot monopod? That's the minimum focus distance
Varga Dániel 😂🤣😂🤳
😂🤣😂🤳
who said he was vlogging himself? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I think your lens has a camera attached to it..
Have*
Allex_Raresh no it’s has
Allex_Raresh 🤦♂️ nice try
Lol. Well played !
Allex_Raresh has*
The perfect portrait lens for COVID-19 social distancing!
Hehehe yes
😜😜😜😜
hahahaahhahahhaahahahahah -_-
@Andrew_koala Or, you know, people who believe in science and don't want to die in a pandemic.
I need to block him he is doing a great job of making himself look like an ass here.
Looks like i dont even have to show up to the photo location now
:D
Lol!!! 😂
going on a roof with a Sniper's Optic looking lens on a tripod, good idea xD
Actually it would be safe in every country but the united states. To many gun crazy people there.
I thought the same thing, might look a bit suspicious😏
He could get some great shots of President Trump's motorcade.
Depends on your location. Remember the Aqua Teen Hunger Force "viral" prank? Black box with wires dangling from it attached to a bridge... Boston: under lock-down - same thing in SF nobody gives a shit.
Only an idiot would see that and think it’s gun related, looks just like a scope there’s not even a gun under it.
Don't use youtubes stabilization when posting. It makes the video look like jello
Lascactus Smith I accidentally applied rolling shutter correction to everything, not just the footage that needed it.
Good video overall though. Keep it up
Thanks!
that jello is from the camera, the 6500 has a known crazy rolling shutter.
JONODUBS the a6500 is no where near that. In video can see the jello on the text overlay too which suggests it happened post upload to RUclips.
lol "whoa there's a sniper on the roof"
wackerr seriously, got to be careful with a lens like that haha
wackerr that's what I was thinking the whole time. As a brown person, I feel like it would be wise for me to keep away from this lens.
wackerr of when you really badly need tot spy on someone
@ wackerr, lol, "Let's see, over here we have a police station, then a nuclear power plant, over there is the Governors mansion, a church and lastly my ex-wife walking the dog" yeah sounds legit :-D
Haha you should check out the "Novoflex Noflexar 400mm/f5.6, 600mm/f8 pistol grip" or the more professional grade and vintage TAIR-3S Photosniper
Finally some good lens for selfie’s
Gud luck finding a million mm selfie stick 😂😂😜
I take it your shirt-sleeves are always too short?
Are you taking those selfies with a drone that's 10000 feet in the air?
If you are on two continents at once
Set that timer to 30 minutes and run.
Actually at 500mm it didn't look to bad at all. 1000 was pushing it; though I think the heat in air had a huge part to play. It reminded me of what its like to look at the moon through a large dobsonian telescope, where the atmosphere creates a moving fluid like distortion.
I said the same thing. Shoot tests like that early in the morning just after sunrise when the heat waves won't be present.
Better use it in 4/3 camera to get 2x, or nikon j5
I think,this specifically is just the rolling shutter of the a6300
That's going to happen with any lens when there is a large heat gradient in the atmosphere. I don't generally take any long-distance photos, or use any telescope before allowing the optic to reach atmospheric temperature for just that reason. A closed lens takes longer to reach equilibrium than an open optic (such as a reflector telescope) does.
*Perfect! I can secretly film my crush without him calling the cops now. I hate it when he pranks me like that smh. We're actually married; he just doesn't know it yet! Wish me luck guys!*
But when I make the same comment on Facebook, the " *police* " have to get 'involved'.... Double standards.
I was thinking about how perfect this would be for observing my love from beyond the restraining order!!
@Andrew York @Vani Jay
you’re creepy
@@jimmyhidalgo2680 woosh
@@jimmyhidalgo2680 Oh you don't get the joke don't ya. People like you are just stupit. I only open those comments to see people like you writing dumbshit :D
I wish that lens was somehow even bigger
Lol
Meyer Optik 500mm Medium format lens. Affordable and gigantic.
Largest refracting (read "telephoto")lens in the world is Yerkes Observatory telescope (40") with a focal length of 19,400 mm (63.64829 ft)! The format is 8"x10" so the DX "equivalent " would be about...29,000mm?? Long...
Goat haha geeeez that's insane!!
Nick Finley Music lol 500mm 😱😱😱 aka basically a telescope!
dang. that turned out way better than I would have thought.
When the first sample picture of his wife came up I literally said wow, pretty impressive sharpness. I suppose considering my expectations were very low.
AgriVideos1 same here!
Marcus Nixon same here. Quite surprising.
Heck even with low expectations that was INCREDIBLY impressive. The city shots were less impressive but that's mainly due to atmospheric effects, the actual air puts a limit on the sharpness that can be achieved, but the portraits literally blew me away. I was in no way expecting to be able to discern individual hairs, there's very little or no chromatic aberration at all... Unbelievable deal for certain situations.
Crazy. On that close-up shot of the AT&T logo, you can tell the faint markings of an older logo that used to be there next to it! lol
Oh yeah, you can!
They probably had the old logo there before but off to the left and probably had the actual words AT&T next to that!
Are you sure that's the old logo marks? The marks disappear a few seconds later. I thought it was an artifact of the lens somehow.
Native Texan, no, there's a very clear super thin upper left circular arc section outline to the left of the round AT&T logo carved into the concrete and a diffuse unevenly darkened patch of concrete, like moisture damage, in the lower part of the same circle and they certainly don't disappear. The circle is about the same size as the logo too. It looks like they had the logo moved to the right.
Similarly, dark spots to the right of the current logo spell "&T".
I stand corrected. In my honest defense...i wasn't lying. When I first posted that reply, I watched multiple times to be sure. I swear to god it disappeared a few seconds later. 110% positive. I just rewatched all the scenes with that building, nothing. Didn't disappear. I'm going to chalk it up to monitor issues I guess. I dunno. But it DID disappear a few seconds later every time originally. *shrugs*
For the price, that's a pretty good lens! I had been using a Schmidt cassegrain 500mm lens on a Nikon Ftn some time ago, and it was just about as good as the lens you used in this video at 500mm. The 2X magnification reduces the quality of the photos. The interesting thing about these long lenses is that in hot weather, the heat distortion becomes very obvious. Very well presented, and a pretty good deal for $81!!
Whats the moon and saturn look like with that thing - that's a good benchmark test.
That's what I was thinking I'd use it for
The moons not real you idiot.
You guys expect too much off of 80 bucks!😂
I guess you can expect seeing a planet made of 99% chromatic aberration and 1% atmosphere.
As for the moon, depends on the phase. Full moon - Most likely chromatic aberration all around the edge, and too bright to get any natural color and depth.
Crescent - chromatic aberration along the edge, the rest too bright except for the darkest visible parts left.
New moon - most likely just chromatic aberration.
Hazy and blurry with lots of chromatic aberrations...I'm guessing :|
That's actually way sharper than would have expected. The vet seen a few reviews for these kinds of lenses and none of them looked that good.
When you’re really shy but still want to get footage
Ideal for horizon shots for Flat Earth research
Zippy, we need folks like Dave. Makes the normal people seem intelligent.
I bet it can be used to prove you have a flat head
It's obviously banter, calm down guys.
Get the P1000
What you see through the lens is a government conspiracy though
at 500mm is was pretty good, the 2x converter ruined it.
That is also my take-away. You could probably the same result as with the teleconverter just by cropping.
with an a7RII I'd think it'd be superb for crop in or 2x crop with stabilized m43 sensor...
@@smashtime1904 I don't think it'll resolve enough for there to be a difference between teleconverter and the m43
Yeah I agree. Personally I don't think I've ever seen a 2X converter that worked good.
If you can find the exception, please let me know if you know of a 2x converter that works amazingly. 💟✅👍
@@padkirsch dusting off my memory banks... didn't Nikon make a Nikkor 2X Teleconverter at one time?
Kinda surprised how well it actually came out. I just recently ordered another more expensive lens but kinda regret not watching this one first lol
Did you by any chance manage to take a photo of the moon? Someone I know wants a cheap way to be able to take picture of the moon.
lightningwave I actually have a similar lens and took a picture of the moon that didn't turn out half bad. I used crop mode so it was effectively 1500mm. You can see it here instagram.com/p/9VLNY0Sk_c/
Airplane Emoji Thanks a lot for the link, looks quite good :-) Is this with editing afterwards or straight out of the camera? And do you have a link to the full size file by any chance?
lightningwave you don't need this long of a lens to take great shots of the moon. I took this image with a sigma 70-300mm cropped in post. instagram.com/p/BSzfsH9DWNg/
mirror lenses are also fun for this. i had a 500mm one with a x2 teleconverter. But the image quality was terrible, this lens looks a little better, but it's hard to objectify quality on a RUclips video.
300 mm lens ? How ?
Various companies have been selling this same lens for probably at least 20-30 years. I have one from the 90's and used it for several shoots and always impressed by the lens for the price I bought it for like 25 years ago it more than paid for itself probably 100 times over. I wish all lenses were like this one.
It's 80 bucks, it works for that price.
“this might have been a bad idea [...]” what? he’s a genius, he just turned these 80 bucks into a 1000$+ video
Here we go, someone who gets it. I've had dozens of comments telling me that I have wasted my time and money and should do something more productive. Well, it worked out didn't it....
@@ChristopherBurress 👌😂
@@ChristopherBurress I wouldnt say you wasted your money exactly but you do get what you pay for and a lens like this is fine for amateur photography but if you were doing a professional job then higher quality would be expected and you'd probably wouldnt get away with using an 80 dollar lens. It all depends on the use of the product. If you're just starting out then it's a good tool to get some practice on but eventually it's not going to do the job you're looking for as you progress.
@@ChristopherBurress get the 80's version spiratone 500mm for $30 used with better build.
@@AmazingKevinWClark Are you serious? This man invested $80, made a video with the lens that now has over 2million views, I'd say he's gotten way more than he paid in the money made from youtube along
Do you still have this lens? I'd be interested in seeing pictures of the moon.
Chromatic aberration control is terrible. Every high contrast area is magenta. Then again, 80 bucks.
So easily to fix post production though
People bash cheap lenses, But if you compare a $100 lens to a $1500 lens, you'll see minor improvements all across the board. at the cost of another fourteen lens's. it's just not worth it unless you're a full time professional.
+Probably Not A Chicken there we go, some common sense! Some comments here bashing it aren't considering the fact that this is a 500mm lens, and I would NEVER spend $2k+ on a lens that would be this specific of a use case. So no matter how bad the $100 version is, it's better than any alternative on my radar.
Why would I want 15 lenses? I have three and that works for me.
@@ArthurEmbleton and you have your reasons for that just like he has his reasons for a 100dollar glass. The only question should be what do your pictures look like and what type of work do you do?
@B Roli well that 400 becomes 520mm on a 1D body or a 640 on a crop sensor. There you go...😎
@@juanpena5797 1d? you mean a full frame camera? no it stays at 400mm
As a professional photographer, I was expecting horrid things, LOL!
The big drawback is starting at an f/8, that's where more expensive lenses exceed. But other than that, it was really impressive!
I figured barrel distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting would be really bad.
But for an $80 zoom lens, this really surprised me!
I have a 500mm lens that cost me $500+, and while I can see the limitations of this lens, it wasn't a $500 Olympus lens, LOL!
The one that really impresses me is the lack of barrel distortion. I figured the 1,000mm views would really show this flaw, but the lens did very well! If you didn't tell a professional photographer, they would be hard pressed to judge this lens badly.
Although chromatic aberration is present, it isn't that bad. In fact, most wouldn't even notice it.
And vignetting is almost non-present! One has to look at the really bright scenes to see it, and only when one looks close can it be noticed.
This lens really blew me away! And I'm hard to please, LOL!
P.S. The CCD needs cleaning. Telephoto lenses really bring out the flaws in a CCD's cleanliness, LOL!
I think I'll buy it thanks to your mini professional review. It should help me out. Thanks LOL!
Starting at F8 isn't all the best but most kit lens go to F5-F8 at full zoom so you are still better off with this.
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL SO HARD
Kentucky Ranger LOL!
Shut up.
7:39 Isn't the aperture closed? Usually that's when the dirt becomes visible...
When you get to really long lenses over distance, your single shot quality is often limited by the atmosphere, not the lens. Up closer, though, the cheaper ones probably have a super long minimum focus range, and show their weaknesses.
You should take pahoto of Full Moon by using this lens
+Sandi Afui that's the plan! We are right in the midst of a new moon now though so there is no moon to work with :/ soon though!
That's no moon...!
Chris...any joy on that lunar shot yet? That would be my primary focus with a lens like this. I was wondering about it while watching this video.
My thoughts, exactly. Considering how cheap this thing is and how clear it seems to be, it may be worth it for moon shots, alone.
MrR2185 I have one arriving Tuesday just for that purpose lol
Pretty dang good at 80 bux for cheapoin around town! Nice video.
Azerone Photo
Azerone Phot
6:44 A cigar and a cap. That's all the protection you need.
so this is a wide angle lenshood on a 500mm lens? :D
No, its a lenshood , to prevent glare
@@BigBadLoneWolf petal hoods are wide lenses. The tube type would be more appropriate considering its a 500mm le s
There must be a factory somewhere in Asia that churns these lenses out, and it's been doing it since the days of film cameras and wet processing. I've seen them with a dozen different brand names but the performance was always the same... slightly muddy image with less than ideal contrast, which was not ideal with film. Digital however makes these lenses great value for money as any shortcomings can be corrected somewhat in post. Another advantage of these lenses is you'll get to see how much use you'll have for a long lens without spending, and possibly wasting, a lot of money.
Not sure you'd add sharpness in PP.
More than half of the shots I have taken with mine have not been recoverable in lr. I pretty much just use it on rare occasion to shoot the moon lol
Is it normal for photographers to slam their stuff on the table so brutally?
I think brutally might be a strong word, it was filmed in a kitchen with hard surfaces everywhere, a wooden table, and I microphone about 14 inches away. No camera gear was harmed in the making of this film.thanks for watching though!
Christopher Burress :)
DasEtwas You should see Linus Tech Tips! Dude smashes everything! lol
you should look at Casey Niestat dude literally throws everything
DasEtwas for ne I am very careful with camera and lens because if you do it it could cost you way too much
Perfect stadium graduation lens
+King Flip all except for that stinking f/8
can't help but ask...it can only be used in broad daylight right? and is f/8 available @1000mm?
With a 2x teleconverter, you lose 2 stops. (1,4x would be 1 stop). Forget 1000mm. You should use a solid tripod and a protected place where is no wind, then you are safe.
For what purpose this lens is used , for photography or vediography
looks pretty decent. impressed, considering it's 80 bucks. people, keep in mind that some of the softness is ineviteably linked to atmospheric refraction. 1000mm lens+tele cropped by the sensor to 1500mm, is going to pick up serious air turbulence.
Can you make a video with pictures of the moon or Jupiter? I’ve seen the quality of other lenses and would like to see a comparison.
This lens FINALLY helped me find my pecker ! I couldn't afford the microscope !
For 80 Bucks thats awesome.
Whats the closest focusing distance on this sucker?
+Tim Wolf about 35 feet. It's a long ways off. The portraits of my wife were within a foot of minimum focus
Wow... thanks for the quick response :)
Christopher Burress holy balls 35 feet?!
LOLWTF673 Yeah, long ways
Christopher Burress you're kidding.. 35 feet. I've got a built-in 1000mm lens on my camera that focuses within roughly 10-12 feet? never bothered to check accurately, but damn. that's a lot further than expected.
Worth mentioning, in case no one else has: this lens has a preset aperture, two rings. One ring "sets" the aperture, and the other must be closed down just before taking a still exposure, or while doing video to actually closed the aperture to the F-stop you have chosen.
Leave it open so you can more accurately focus, but remember to work up (on Manual) your exposure settings with the pre-set ring closed, then re-open to frame, and focus and close ring just before exposure or filming.
Added problem is every time the lens is touched it creates vibration. For a still photo wait 10-30 seconds for jitters to stop. For video plan to shoot 10 seconds of "waste" footage before action. I see your camera has in-body image stabilization, sensor-shift. Does that help?
That's much better than i was expecting for $80. Makes me wish my 40D had optical stabilization in the camera. I think you would need it with 1000mm
So, overall what did you think of it yourself Chris? Worth a punt? Its looks so.
+BassPlayerAvailable I think that if you are wanting some serious reach and don't want to spend a couple grand this is totally an option that I would recommend.
BassPlayerAvailable )
Dude just threw a whole telescope on his camera
summary.... it does a great job as long as you dont drink redbulls
Nice review @ChristopherBurress. I'd agree that it does NOT suck for that price and is surprisingly sharp. I might have to check it out and see how it performs with my Nikon 1 series cameras.
Spiratone was selling these back in the 60s and 70s. I had a 400mm for my Miranda. They are called "pre-set" aperture where you have to use the second ring to actually stop down. When you remember. And the T mount lives on!
Minus the fact that it's not automatic, the image quality is actually really decent. I'm half tempted to make the purchase now, this video gave me some confidence in this lens.
I have heard that above 50mm or so is great for capturing peoples faces, do you think there is enough compression at 1000mm to compliment people’s appearance? ;)
Wow, great lens! I could read Grace Church, Downtown, 101 W McBee Ave, Greenville SC, and Greenville County on the ambulance.
So on the a6500 that would essentially be a 1500mm lens. I have seen old lenses just like this for about half the price but no lens hood or teleconverter. Might have to look into this for moon shots
This 500mm prime preset manual focus lenses comes from many generic brands. I got one under a "Five Star" brand for around 28 USD (PhP1500 Philippine peso) bought surplus from a thrift shop. For the cheap price I paid, I got sharp photos of birds at f11 straight from my Nikon D90 or D300. The 1.3x area crop mode on my Nikon D7100 turns it into a 650mm lens. I was able to follow seagulls and heron in flight, but not the quicker swifts and sparrows - which I use another technique for those shy birds such as pre-focusing and framing while at rest and waiting for it to flap it's wings and fly. It's a bit tricky to use when using full manual, luckily the Nikon D300 and D7100 offers metering for full manual lenses that I use auto ISO and exposure compensation so the exposure is always good under sunny conditions outdoors (shooting in shade or cloudy skies requires to raise ISO at around 1600 to 2500 or so). A bit bulky to travel with a 500mm that big and a heavy D300 so I just bought today a used but good old Panasonic DMC-FZ70 with a hefty 60x zoom (equivalent to 1200mm) which I'm about to try on a light travel. With a superzoom from 20-1200mm you can have all that bulky lenses in one small package, as long as you limit the ISO under 1600 in low light.
Awesome video man!
+Julio Ribera thanks!
That LENS needs it's own tripod
If you look at large lenses, cheap to expensive, the tripod mount goes to the lens instead of the camera. Especially when shooting football, they have massive zoom lenses with heavy glass. Try to hang that lens from the camera without being supported, and you'd mess up the mount hole.
Dude, your Channel is great!
rev_lenni thanks! I'm glad you like it!
Thank you. This is what I need for bird and astronomy photography
Holy shit! Is there something like that for Canon mounts?
The mount is m42 or t mount, i have the 400mm and the 500mm versions, both found on a local flea market, the adaptors cost about 2 dollars each, for the lenses i paid less than 30 dollars total
Good video. Getting back into the hobby after a 25 year absence. Fighting GAS already. Had to subscribe after seeing the parking garage and downtown you went to. Good to find a local on here. Thanks.
Gas? I'm guessing something to do with apathy?
@@Ck87JF Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Pandemic, unemployment, poverty are all cures!
I was looking for a street photography lens. Thanks for the video 😊
Funny that I saw a Dish Network dish on the AT&T building. It's pretty telling when the company that owns DirecTV doesn't use DirecTV. I guess they would know best.
I live in Greenville also. Do you ever get hassled by the parking garage security patrol about not being able to take pics on top of one of the public parking garages? I have been told I need a special permit. They said I was loitering.
I wonder how this APS-C mirrorless/ 500-1000mm f8 manual prime preset combo compares with superzooms bridge digicam such as the Nikon P900/ P1000, or Canon SX60. I have the older Panasonic Lumix FZ70 60x optical zoom, but the equivalent 1200mm far end produce quite muddy shots.
Gee I could imagine walking round with this lens on my camera
For the price this is really cool to play around with. Nothing though I would post on my main Photography page.
Agreed, once the moon comes back out i'm going to see how it does with shooting that. Those might make for some pretty good shots.
I like shooting the moon too. It's funny how fast the Moon moves across the viewfinder so fast at those focal length.
For sure! You have to frame and shoot fast otherwise it'll be halfway out of the frame.
Can you upload pictures of moon somewhere and share it later ? Thanks
KOMAD sure thing!
Now I want this for my G85. 2000mm equivalent. I bet it would look terrible.
dave091790 it shouldn't look any worse than this does, just the shake from the camera will probably be worse. If it's on a weighted tripod though it should be very similar quality in both stills and video.
The G85 has Ibis too. Not that it will be enough at these focal lengths.........
If there's an adapter, it should be possible without any problems. Because of that small sensor, only the sweet spot in the center of the lens is used.
That is pretty surprising at 500mm, given the tripod foot, the techart AF adapter should be able to drive AF by moving the camera body after a quick prefocus on the lens.
I have a Opteka 650-1300 lens and 2X extender for my Canon 650D. I've only used it once, and I was OK with it. It's not a Pro lens obviously, but it can take some good pics. It's definitely worth $80 bucks. Buy it if your not a professional photographer.
i'm wanting to buy one like this..the same one!
was nice to watch this to have a preview idea
1000mm in urban environments is really tricky. The air convection becomes really noticeable. For wildlife work, and long distance stuff in clean air its not bad. Need the WiFi remote trigger though. Besides bird hunting, I really haven't found a use for the 1000mm capability (I own 6" and 9.5" telescope's so astronomy work gets done with those).
500mm... Now, that's a lot of fun. For $80.00 its worth it I think. Its a lot of fun, and if while you are playing it gets mangled you haven't lost next months mortgage payment.
I nearly peed myself lauighing at the silly petal shaped lens hood,probably off some 24mm lens !
Love how the "@500mm" and 1000mm text wobbles as well, the little things lol
Nay, i think he accidentaly put the text on the footage, nest both of them, then warpstabilized it.
Usually the text shouldnt be stabilized altogether but it do make sense in this context.
Since it is not mentioned anywhere.
Artist and song is
Kataraman - Until Sunset
Thanks I completely forgot what song it was.
@@ChristopherBurress thank you for the video! It was entertaining and I'm on the hunt for a long lens :)
@@ChristopherBurress And thanks for introducing me this awesome song!
very impressive for the price. Nice review
"Im gonna show you a few of the things im planning on shooting at" Man, that sounds wrong when you are sitting on top of a parking garage.
Exactly ! Haha :D
My fear of heights would make this video completely different.
You : *stood near wall* "We've got a church down here" *leans camera over the edge*
Me : *stood spot on in the center of the car park* "We got a nice safe wall right there, and juuuuust over that wall we're not approaching is a hill we're not photographing"
Lol nice
Loved the video, BTW. : )
Seems like a pretty decent lens, for so cheap.
What happened at the end? I feel this video isn't finished. Would be cool to see pictures where the object is hard to see without the lens.
See that vibration in the video, well that's the reason I bought a remote control for my Nikon camera. When you are using it on a long zoom, the least camera movement is magnified.
(PS. The price in Australia was close to $350.00. plus postage. Why is Australia called the lucky country again? And of course, there is also a 10% tax on top of that).
For that price it achieves pretty damn good results!
Wow, watched most of the video thinking “that looks familiar” before I realized it was 30 minutes from my house. Good review though, maybe fun to look at the moon with the kids if we can avoid breathing on the tripod.
Take care, he can spy you up now. °-°
You need to turn off that RUclips auto stabilisation! I was wobbling everywhere!
It's not on.
It’s just bc he’s using a a6500 and the senser on that that thing is kinda a joke
he accedentaly applied anti rolling shutter to the entire video
I have one of those cheap 500mm lenses. It's pretty good; doesn't focus very close and wide open it is f8. Completely manual of course and some cameras handle it better than others.
The little thin gear ⚙️ cicle on the lens hood is meant to be put on with the hood and then tightened to secure the lens hood in an upright way
its called a spotting scope...
I found mine at a thrift store for 10 bucks without all the extras. 14 dollars for a t-mount to canon later... my wife stole it and shot Eagles all day with it. Oh well. She says it shots well.
Please turn off that Autostabilisazion
Not nearly as bad as I expected! It was kinda surreal once I recognized the buildings (the ambulance gave it away) plus, I thought I recognized that vintage Honda - I see it parked downtown all the time!
05:53 - 08:30 Why was the @500/1000mm text glitching out with the camera movements? I might just be stupid but I can't make sense of it.
Accidentally applied rolling shutter correction to all the footage.
@@ChristopherBurress I see, thanks for enabling me to sleep at night not thinking about it hahahah
Then set the a6500 to jpeg and used the Sony digital zoom and you will be at 4000mm. lol
this lens perfect for moon shooter
look like this lens came off from a Snipper
bunna tang got my snipper reefle
bunna tang You put one letter more, then that's it dude, internet is gonna come for you. lol
LeandroBRC47 What, like s?
What is the size of the thread that screws into the adapter?
It looks good for the money. Clearly the fact that it's a plastic bodied lens group means that it doesn't have enough mass to dampen vibrations, but mass is easy and cheap to add. I'm actually considering buying from this company to replace a lens that was stolen a few decades ago. It was a mid-range (in terms of quality) zoom lens (105 - 205mm) that my dad found at a garage sale for $25. It had no chromatic aberration at any setting. The find of a lifetime.
You need a walkie talkie for your wife,or scream for her to smile😂
Not bad at all...
Thanks for that simple but, interesting review man!
I'd imagine it's pretty useless without ibis. It definitely picks up more wind too since its long and lightweight. Cool toy nonetheless
0:55 a fixed aperture should be the least of your worries with any piece of optics, i like using telescopes which by nature just dont bother with a aperture blade set.
You should zoom in on a plane flying over at cruise altitude. Used to do this w my P900, just for fun. I could see the planes quite clearly even at 35,000 feet, it’d be cool to see what this lens can do:)