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A7R & Legacy LONG lenses

gurtch

Well-known member
Lots of talk here and elsewhere about using legacy normal and wides on the A7R. Makes sense: the camera is small, and these legacy lenses are also small. There is an untapped treasure out there if they work, at give away prices. I am talking about 300mm, 400mm, 500mm manual focus (and many manual diaphragm also) lenses. M42 screw mount manual diaphragm Tele Takumars such as 300mm f5.6, 400mm f5.6 and 500mm f4.5, etc. The manual diaphragm should not be a problem, as I envision using a sturdy tripod, focus wide open, then manually stop down, then shoot. Any one tried long lenses yet? My A7R has not arrived yet, so I have not tried this.
Thanks
Dave in NJ
 

scho

Well-known member
Lots of talk here and elsewhere about using legacy normal and wides on the A7R. Makes sense: the camera is small, and these legacy lenses are also small. There is an untapped treasure out there if they work, at give away prices. I am talking about 300mm, 400mm, 500mm manual focus (and many manual diaphragm also) lenses. M42 screw mount manual diaphragm Tele Takumars such as 300mm f5.6, 400mm f5.6 and 500mm f4.5, etc. The manual diaphragm should not be a problem, as I envision using a sturdy tripod, focus wide open, then manually stop down, then shoot. Any one tried long lenses yet? My A7R has not arrived yet, so I have not tried this.
Thanks
Dave in NJ
I've been thinking about picking up a Canon FD 400 f/4L or Contax 400 to use in the same way (tripod work only) with my A7R.
 

frozenbb

Member
My personal favorite legacy beast is the Tokina AT-X SD 150-500mm f5.6. Mine's a mint version in Minolta MD mount, which I picked up for a song last year. I believe Tokina manufactuered versions for all popular mounts of the day, including Canon FD, Nikon F, etc. If you locate one make sure you find a nice 2X teleconverter to go with it!

As I said, it's a beast of a lens, but it performs acceptably well wide open, even at 500mm. I've used it on my NEX-7 and am now using it happily on my A7R. I've also compared it side-by-side to a friend's 500mm Nikkor ais f4, and was surprised just how well the crazy Tokina held up. Not perfect, obviously, but closer than I would have expected!
 
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