telescopic lens

missbushnik · May 14, 2009

I have been doing some searching on the net and have found this:
650-1300mm Zoom Lens for Canon EOS
could u all check it out and tell me if it is a bad deal or poor quality?
I am getting my cannon eos 50d tommorrow and really want to add a lens to take moon pics or whatever i deem worthy!!!! =D

benhasajeep · May 15, 2009

missbushnik said:
I have been doing some searching on the net and have found this:
650-1300mm Zoom Lens for Canon EOS
could u all check it out and tell me if it is a bad deal or poor quality?
I am getting my cannon eos 50d tommorrow and really want to add a lens to take moon pics or whatever i deem worthy!!!! =D

That is an extremely cheap lens. It will be manual focus only on your EOS! The lens will have some serious flaws in its picture quality. Now you will be able to see the pics and they will be in focus, but not a high quality. Also this is a cheaper made version of a lens this size (4 elements in 2 groups). Also the price is $50 higher than the better ones of this lens size (basically your paying more for a cheaper lens!).

If you really want a super zoom Adorama sells a similar version under the Vivitar brand. Same 650-1300mm but it at least has 8 elements in 5 groups. It is $50 less than the one above and the lens has some multicoating unlike the one you listed. The Adorama lens will also be manual focus only. I am not sure but I don't think either one will meter propperly (that I am unsure of), you may need a hand held meter.

Now I have never used the Adorama lens but I have seen shots from them. And I thought they would be horrable. But they were decent. But don't plan on making huge prints from them as they are not as sharp as the better lenses.

Do not buy the one you listed! If you really want to try one, at least go the Adorama lens. Cheaper and should be better. But basically these are gimmic lenses.

Oh,

Welcome to TPF

Edit:

I just did a little looking and that les you listed is sold by 47th st Photo for $229 under the Opteka brand name through their site and through them on Amazon. So, the site you found is pretty much price gouging for a cheap lens.

The slightly better one is actually made by Phoenix and sold under different brand names. B&H sells the better 8 element lens under the Phoenix brand for the same $299 price as Adorama sells the Vivitar branded lens.

I have seen Moon shots with this lens and they come out as if they were from a telescope (probably original design of lens). But you need a good sturdy tripod and remote release. This lens is very prone to camera shake due to its length.