Manual Telephoto - zoom or prime?
I thought I’d take a moment to go over two general range telephoto lenses. First defining “general telephoto” as a 300mm, mainly because 400 gets you into the “pro-domain” or “super-tele” and they’re really expensive. Manual focus lenses are generally more affordable, and the two I have here are both Nikon lenses. The Nikkor 100-300 f5.6 AI-s and the Nikkor 300mm f4.5 ED-IF AI-s. All sample photos were taken with the Nikon F3 on Kodak Portra 400. Both lenses are roughly the same size and weight, the 5.6 has a 62mm filter thread, and the 4.5 has a 72. The zoom lens covers 100-300mm and has a close focus on the 100mm. The 300 ED lens has Nikons secret sauce glass for sharpness. This lens has a close focus of 8 feet, which isn’t very close. The prime also has a tripod collar, which the zoom didn’t, and with a teleconverter this is an issue. I’ve shot at least a roll on both lenses with and without a 2x teleconverter, and noticed hands down, that at 300mm