Battle of the Giants

A monster film-era zoom, a big fast film-era prime and a modern stabilized zoom
battle it out for ownership of the 200mm turf. 
 Who shall pass?

Ugh - I didn't check the settings (typical, and in part why I hate doing lens tests) so first tests were +0.6EV, iso800 and blindly spot-metered (no spot showing on the VF) on an unevenly-lit tree whose lighting changed continuously.  Clearly I need to learn better how to adjust settings!   All were hand-held with the nx300.  My one distress over this camera is that the Fn button brings up a half-dozen settings that are good to adjust on the fly but leaves several others off; the lens iFn is similar that way.  Practice practice..

Anyway - on to the results!

images are really not worth showing but here's a triplet shot.  Ugh-ly, even at small resolution..

The 50-200 won but not by a mile, and mostly because I didn't find the OIS-off switch while testing (no fair!).  I should toss in the Pentax SMC-M 135mm* and crop, see how it fares - the contest is wide open after these severely unprofessional tests.  Even focus peaking did not help the two manual lenses feel all that sharp.

* update.. a copy of the 150mm f3.5 Pentax is on its way!

big lenses can be fun too..

Now I've done it.

My brother was trying to offload some old Minolta MC/MD/SRT-era glass a year or two ago, and I said I'd try to help.  The only value such items have any more is for the mirrorless crowd - hey that's me now!  I actually tried them with my micro|43 gear but it wasn't quite for me.  Perhaps with the NX300 I'd reconsider?  So  today I picked up a $12 MD:NX adapter, so at the very least we'll add the Rokkor 50/1.4 for its possibilities in extra-low light.  And of course I'll have to haggle with my brother about the price! :^)

This purchase opened the door to another option: finding a good 200mm lens.  The Pentax smc-M200/4 is a nice lens to own, I've done so at least twice.. but it's fairly heavy (by my low standards!) and not as well liked as slightly smaller classic Pentax primes.  Wandering into Minolta mount I found several bargains at 200mm - but these were heavier still.  One fun option is the MD 250mm f/5.6 mirror lens, but at around $1k it's expensive, rare and therefore out of reach.

from e-bay listing

But hmm, what is this? A no-name, Minolta-mount 200mm f/3.3, $36 shipped.

Curious.  Where can I learn more about it?

Well, very few places in fact.  Many folks make f/2.8, 3.5 and 4.0 versions but f/3.3 is a real oddball.  Searching the web in vain I finally hit this mini-review of a Hanimar 200mm f/3.3 with the cool green stripe, 67mm filter size and all the rest.  Unlike the off-brand f/3.5s I read about this one showed some promise - but it was one massive beast!  I had a line on a Soligor 200/2.8 in Pentax mount a few months back but for $100 and more; this was getting closer to my reach financially if not in other ways.  No tripod mount, sadly - but the Rexatar looks almost new, quite stylish, and frees up the JCPenney 80-200mm f/3.5 for someone else to stick on a shelf and admire.

Sold!  Oops.