Hin's Photo Corner: soligor

Showing posts with label soligor. Show all posts

Pentax (Soligor) Auto 110 1.7x TC

2013-01-23 Posted by Hin Man

I bought this a while ago. I will not recommend it highly but it is a usable and cute TC considering its size but there are some caveats and some surprising pluses that I will walk through

The mounting rear end has two legs similar to the auto 110 lens but one side is noticeably shorter and hence the mounting will give a lot of play. It is a big minus if you want to hold the lens still while focusing.

The adapter has an extra aperture hole that seem to stop down the lens

smaller aperture in the inner plate

shorter leg on the TC on left that gives problems of insecure mounting. It may be fixable with some work

TC mounted with Pentax Auto 110 70mm f/2.8

TC next to Pentax Auto 110 50mm f/2.8

Few test shots with 70mm f/2.8 -- very casual test shots with some motion blur due to low shutter

More pictures in flickr set

I find the secure mounting issue to be a problem as it makes focusing harder when the lens is not mounted securely with the TC. It will be nice if I find a way to extend the shorter leg to get it securely mounted onto the auto 110 to NEX adapter.

Pentax 400mm f/5.6 lens choices

2009-03-24 Posted by Hin Man

Though I like my current set up in using a fast 200mm combined with a TC, I am looking for a prime with longer reach as in 400mm f/5.6 so that I can depend less on the use of TC. My current combo is small and lightweight and if offers the best in ease of use and pretty much less than 2 lb and it is very portable and I can grab and shoot quickly.

Soligor 200mm f/2.8 in m42 next to
Vivitar 200mm f/3.5 from Komine in K mount
Both are relatively small & lightweight

And I prefer quicker reaction in Av metering without stop-down and the M42 lens or an 'A' lens will do that. The Av mode, allows me to concentrate on the framing and panning when needed. I hear the plane after the cooper hawk this morning. And I practice on panning distant plane flying. It gives me the instant thrill to follow the plane in action. My 400mm combo usually does poorly for infinity object, perhaps I have good lighting today and that really helps in the shooting as I can stop down to f/8 and still have reasonable shutter for the panning. I used my K mount 200mm f/3.5 on Komine before on similar shooting and after the stop-down, the plane may have already turned to a different direction.

Soligor 200mm f/2.8 m42 +
Kiron 2x doubler
heavily cropped

1/125 sec, f/6.3, 400mm, iso 200, 0 Ev

Click on the image to view it in a larger size

1/125 sec, f/6.3, 400mm, iso 200, 0 Ev

heavily cropped
bird is way too far
1/1600 sec, likely f/5.6, 400mm, iso 100, -0.7 Ev

I hope I can find a good prime or zoom in 400mm f/5.6 that is both hand-holdable and offer better IQ that I can depend less on the TC.

I plan to get the Pentax DA* 300mm f/4.0. But for now, I am looking for inexpensive manual focus choices. My rough criteria:

I prefer lens that is hand-holdable, roughly less than 3 lb
less CA in working with tree branches in high contrast
good manual focus throw for precision and ease of focusing
good IQ when used with Pentax F-1.7x AF TC
lens with tripod collar when I need it
Ideal focal length is 400mm f/5.6 to work with similar to my 200mm f/2.8 + 2x TC.
Or a manual focus 300mm f/4.0 with good IQ.

As of now, I have these choices in manual focus:

Sigma or Tokina 400mm f/5.6 in manual focus with 'A' setting -- not sure on weight?
SuperTak 300mm f/4.0 in m42 -- about 985g
Pentax 300mm f/4.0 in K mount -- about 1020g
Pentax M*/A* 300mm f/4.0 in K mount -- lightest about 850g
Pentax K 400mm f/5.6 (or the Takumar 400mm f/5.6 equivalent in m42) -- about 1285g in K version
Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 mirror lens -- not sure it is suited for wildlife photography such as birds

Nature Walk with Soligor 200mm f/2.8 M42

2009-03-19 Posted by Hin Man

I took the Soligor 200mm f/2.8 in M42 mount for a morning walk. I have the Komine 200mm f/3.5 with me but I fell short in time and energy to do the comparison. I love taking pictures more so than comparing pictures from different lens.

I find 200mm getting me closer to nature and I feel great carrying the Soligor around in nature walk. The K mount should be better fit as there is certain wobbling on the m42 mount. But the M42 does have the Av mode advantage not requiring the stop-down metering -- critical for reaction time needed in grabbing a shot.

I am not a bird shooter, I have problems in hearing the birds but not finding them easily. I managed to get few sparrows that are quite far away, I end up cropping the shots quite a bit

cropped, f/5.6

And a biker snapshots

bokeh shots

f/5.6

f/4.0

Impressions & Notes

Some wobbling with the M42 mount due to weight of lens, K mount won't have that problem.
But the m42 allows Av without stop-down metering
Sharpness is reasonable in close distance as in 10 to 20 feet.
I have test shots in farther distance and contrast and resolution is not as good. Pictures are quite soft
f/4.0 has a nice balance in bokeh and sharpness
I go between f/4.0 and f/5.6 mostly for birds on tree
Birds are difficult to nail focus due to their small size, I have quite a number of misses from my test, I should try spot focus
200mm seems way too short to get to birds, a lot of cropping as a result

Soligor 200mm f/2.8 M42 on Birds

2009-03-12 Posted by Hin Man

I plan to use the Soligor 200mm f/2.8 on bird shooting. I also like to use it for candid street shooting. I am a shy person and the 200mm will keep a good distance for me. I am in the process of gathering inputs from friends in how to test a 200mm lens properly. And thanks to Mike E. in suggesting a great article from Mike Johnson on How to stress a camera lens. With Mike E. suggestion, I will also explore the lens into landscape shooting.

So far, the lens is not doing too well in the sharpness criteria as it is quite soft in f/2.8 and CA is very pronounced in wide aperture. But all things considered especially on the cost, it is still quite a decent lens to have. Some test pictures on birds using the Soligor with a 2x doubler from Kiron 70-150mm f/3.8 . I got a 400mm in the setup. I should have tried it on 200mm alone but I find myself too close to disturb the birds, hence the doubler. I mostly used in iso 400 and f/6.3 and f/5.6 in the setup, it is a bit slow to freeze the fast moving birds in eating.

Not much in this picture but I always love the energy and tenacity of hummingbirds in eating

Initial Impressions & Notes

my m42 has serial # starting 37
I find wide open f/2.8 a bit on the soft side.
Contrast and color is quite good.
I find f/4.0 very usable.
The lens is well built.
filter size is 72mm, a bit bulky but hand-hold-able
lens iris is not symmetrical when stopped down
PF happens in wider apertures
built-in lens hood very nice

Soligor 200mm Tele-Auto f/2.8 in M42

2009-02-20 Posted by Hin Man

I recently got a Soligor 200mm f/2.8 in M42 mount. The lens is in pristine condition but I have not taken any shots from it except few product shots. My lens has a serial number starting with 37 and the lens may be related to Tokina as Vivitar brand has serial number starting 37 were manufactured by Tokina.

Soligor Tele-Auto f/2.8 MC
72mm filter size
Serial #: 37....

This older M42 lens does't come with a A/M switch. It has a long pin sticking out with the aperture wide open and my K20D body won't depress it to the close down the blades according to aperture stops

I am planning to do some modification to make the lens manual permanently. I researched on various discussions with questions to all my buddies such as Mis, Peter, Frank, and few others from another forums, here is the summary of possible remedies:

Use some way to jam the pin with cotton swap
- Converting Auto-Aperture M42 Lens to Manual Aperture on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Crazy clue to press down the pin in position
- Peter reported success with Helios-44M
- Unfortunately, my pin is long and the spring seems very strong underneath
- Subject to glue used, possible to undo the change
Use of Kindai M42 to K mount adapter
- Helios 44m-5 is good for k10d?
- thanks to Frank for the suggestion

Hin's Photo Corner

Pentax (Soligor) Auto 110 1.7x TC

Related:

Pentax 400mm f/5.6 lens choices

Nature Walk with Soligor 200mm f/2.8 M42

Soligor 200mm f/2.8 M42 on Birds

Soligor 200mm Tele-Auto f/2.8 in M42

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