800mm lens

I was all set to get a 500mm f4.5L FD lens, when I saw an 800 f5.6 for sale.

I quite fancy it as most of the wildlife I photograph is very wary and will not allow a close approach.

I work as a wildlife cameraman and when I use a 600mm on my film or tape cameras I get the equivalent of about 1600mm so am used to working at a distance and letting the action unfold, so I quite like the idea of a comparably long stills lens.

Is the FD800 5.6 REALLY BITING sharp? How does it handle?

Any experiences?

Cheers,

Steve

Steve,

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I use the 500mm f/4.5L FD lens myself (though more conventionally

than you - on T90s and an F1N!) and fine it an absolute joy to use.

I'm sure you'll be aware that the 800mm f/5.6L has a very different

focusing system, which might initially be a bit offputting. I've

never actually used the 800mm, though did handle one in the shop I

used to work at.

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Interestingly, I believe some of the most converted lenses to C mount

(I think - is that the motion picture mount??!!) appear to be the

400mm f/2.8L and the 150-600mm f/5.6L (from what I've seen and heard

about). The latter uses the same rotating knob focusing as the

800mm, so it can't be that problematic.

<p>

I would imagine that the 800mm on its own would be slightly crisper

than the 500mm with 1.4x convertor, though the latter combination is

still known for suffering very little with the 1.4x.

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Hope this is of some help. Regards, Joel

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Incidentally, I saw your posting on new FD lenses. I'm in New York

on holiday at the moment, and have been trying to find some good FD

equipment while I'm here. It's drying up! B&H have fewer new lenses

than Ffordes (though cheaper for 35mm TS), but I did manage to pick

up an almost mint F1N-AE plus drive FN + battery pack for $500, which

I'm rather pleased with. There are still plenty of brand new Hi-

power NiCD pack FNs here - let me know if anyone needs contact

details for these.

Thanks Joel.

<p>

I do intend to use the 800 or 500 for stills (like you on an F1N).

On my film camera I use Nikon 300 and Leica 105-280, plus my Zeiss

10:1. The mount is "PL", the "C" mount was the old standard used on

Bolex cameras and the like.

<p>

I have seen the 400 2.8 and the 150-600 (a big wildlife film-makers'

favourite) but the most common is the 300 f2.8, with 2x converter.

It may be interest to some, that to put stills lenses on film and pro-

video cameras it's usual to put a "universal" mount system on the

lens. This involves literally sawing off about 2 inches off the back

end (including the iris assembly) and bolting on a strong screw

thread-I know this sounds a bit crazy!. Onto this you can put a mount

for any stills camera, film or video camera or whatever. There's a

stills photographer that has done something like this with a Canon

800 and put it onto a Contax AX to give it autofocus (the Contax

autofocus system is in the body and not the lenses). Now that's an

interesting idea!

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If anyone's interested in this conversion post it here and I'll give

more details.

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Best wishes

<p>

Steve

Steve,

<p>

I'm not sure if you are considering the 300mm f/2.8L with a 2x

convertor (for which, incidentally, you need the 2xB rather than the

2xA), but I've never really been that convinced by results I have

obtained with it. This could, of course, be operator error (!) but

the most I would want to stretch the 300mm would be using a 1.4x,

which probably drops it short of the focal length you are looking

for. Pity really, as you can pick up used 300mm f/2.8L lenses

relatively cheaply compared with the 500mm and 800mm (have just seen

a couple of near-mint 300mm f/2.8L lenses in New York for just under

1000 pounds).

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Depending on where you saw the 800mm for sale, the shop might

consider hiring it to you for a weekend for a few percent of the sale

price, refundable if you purchase it. They'd probably want a deposit

on your credit card even if they go for the hire.

<p>

The most interesting lens I've heard converted to some kind of

cinematic mount was when the shop I worked for was asked to supply a

dozen (!) 14mm f/2.8L lenses for that purpose. Presumably the reason

was the high degree of correction in the lens to prevent too much of

a fish-eye look while still giving extreme wide-angle. How many

lenses would they need like that, though?!

Anybody knows a fear market value for used canon 800mm 5.6 L lens ?

<p>

Edouard

http://www.delanet.com/~starka/CanonFD_ebay.htm

Try this for prices of canon fd stuff.

David