Sun Optics 80-210mm f/4.8 Hi-Tele Zoom Lens - Hit or Miss |
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It has a range very similar to my Vivitar 90-230 f4.5, but the comparison stops there. The lens is smaller, half the weight and very well balanced in the hand. The lens is a pre-set design, and instead of a secondary stop down ring on the barrel, the action is controlled by a trigger on the handle. There is also a mount for a double ended release cable used to trigger the shutter on manual cameras.
This design was obviously meant for sports use, where pulling the trigger both stopped down the aperture and then fired the shutter - while allowing the photographer to keep a steady grip on the lens. However, on a dslr, it's of little use. Although I could fashion an electronic remote switch in place... (Hmmm). Fortunately the handle is removable, and once removed, aperture control is returned to the dial, and the lens can be used as a normal zoom.
The focus is smooth with just enough resistance to dial in and hold the sweet spot. The glass is in pristine condition, and only a few mars and scratches are evident on the focus barrel and lens hood. The hood can be reversed and stowed onto the barrel, and includes an all meta cap, (I just wish I had the cable to complete the collection).
Even though Sun comes from a history of making fine lenses for Leica cameras. I'm not expecting much in the way of optical performance of a 1960's zoom lens -and mostly likely not built to Leica standards either. The lens did ok. Nothing stellar, and it's rather soft with edge distortion when shot wide open at f4.8, which is quite dark to begin with. Stopping down to f5.6 and 8 helped much, but not without going to ISO400 and higher, thus robbing any advantage to gain in sharpness. The lens flares easily, and the supplied hood could be a little longer, and many shots were pretty much robbed of decent color due to the flare. All shots were done hand-held with the handle removed. Unless your a left handed shooter, it's too awkward to use when I need the right hand to work the shutter. I could fashion an electronic trigger to the thing, and use it more effectively, and most likely gain some stabilized shots in the process. While field test results were so-so, in the studio, on a tripod at f/8 shows it be rather sharp. Obviously I should use a monopod, or better yet, fashion an electronic remote shutter to the switch and use the handle as the design engineers intended. Like any lens, if you learn to work within it's limits, it can be useful. It could make a decent portrait lens, and other cases where sharpness does not make the picture. However, I would have hoped for more than a 6-bladed aperture to create the effect of sharpness through greater separation between foreground and background subject matter. In conclusion, the lens takes a lot of work to get shots right. There are better zooms to be had, such as Vivitar Series 1 for example. On a positive note, it wins in the cool looking department. It also comes with an Canon FD T-mount, so I might consider it's collectable value and not bother performing a hack. Research on the net finds a few other users having similar results, and it appears that not many of these are in user condition. Many of them most likely regulated to dark closets, boxes or trash heaps. Sun also makes a 80-240mm f4 that is much better, and I was able to aquire a decent copy which you can read about here.
-Keep Shooting
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