> Well, I have heard from Gary, and I now officially take back
> anything bad I said about the 600/6.5 that, in my ignorance, I
I'm going to kick in and contribute an opinion or two on the
600/6.5 also. I borrowed Patrick's 600 while he was off vegging
in the middle of the Pacific.
Getting sharp images with the 600/6.5 is as much artform as it
is science. This is one very tough lens to use. I can honestly
say that I've never been challenged by a lens as much as this
lens did to me.
If you can get the camera/lens stable the sharpness is
exceptional. The color and constrast is terrific and exhibits
no color-fringing that seems to be present in every 400+ lens.
I found that a tripod doesn't work as well with this lens as
you'd like. First of all, the lens acts as a giant billboard in
the wind. No matter how tightly you clamp down the tripod head
it's gonna move. Leverage! My best results were when I would
aim the lens slightly low and then push down on the camera when
taking the camera. The harder I pressed, the more damped the
lens became. I checked it out on a monopod and felt that it was
quite a bit more solid than the tripod. Go figure.
My best results were when I had it tripod mounted AND used my
shoulder-stock. By anchoring in two locations the lens/camera
became very solid and the resulting shots are suitable for
decent enlargment. The rest? Well...
Don't bother trying to track flying birds with this lens. Maybe
on a monopod or a heavy-duty video tripod. I went through
almost four rolls of film shooting eagles and had only a couple
of keepers.
Would I personally buy a 600/6.5 after my medium-term
test-drive? No. In my experience, 400mm is a much more usable
focal length, with smaller size, brighter optics and an extra
usable shutter-speed. The rack and pinion focusing is also
something that I couldn't come to grips with. Since getting
either is out of the question right now, I'll just stick with my
200/4. With just a handful of exceptions, I couldn't get sharp
images with any film slower than ISO 400.
But it did have awesome chrome rings.
AG-Schnozz
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