Author Topic: Rubinar 500mm f5.6 M42 samples ***** (Read 4022 times)

Ray · « **on:** June 06, 2011, 01:52:42 PM »

The lens (it has a volume of about three times the size of the Panasonic G1 but thats the price of great optics at this focal length)

Source: kremlinoptics.com

Just as its little MTO (3M-5CA) 500mm f8 brother (both lenses came from the same factory) this lens is also really sharp but one stop faster at f/5.6. The focusring has smooth action though a bit heavy because of its large diameter. All in all this is a great lens to be out with but it is also a bit heavy compared to its f8 sibling(s). These russian optics are amongst mirrorlenses what the Canon L lenses are amongst refractor lenses, sharp, great color rendition, no CA, no hazyness and very little distortions.

These samples are from the banks of our main river, simply called the 'Maas' (best translated as 'Maze'), from the city of Rotterdam.

It was an overcast day with a constantly threatening sky so dont expect any pop

both pictures are ISO200 with a shutterspeed of 1/30th on tripod.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #1 on:** June 06, 2011, 02:17:57 PM »

Outstanding IQ....
Nice samples.
for an under $500.00 lens, it packs a lot of punch

voyager · « **Reply #2 on:** June 06, 2011, 04:19:35 PM »

Very detailed sample thread, thanks for posting!

Ray · « **Reply #3 on:** June 10, 2011, 03:21:51 AM »

The only thing missing really are the image details themselves but better late than never I guess.

Iso 100, sunset, distance over one hundred meters.

1:1 detailcrop

By the way, in the lens archive thread this particular lens is designated as being an MTO lens but its production brand is "Rubinar" really. It is very hard to find any well documented source about the history of this particular brand of lenses. All there is to find is in the Russian language and I dont speak that language unfortunately. Here's a link to its products page from the company that produced it and where these two brands are on display next to eachother: http://lzos.ru/en/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=2

adash · « **Reply #4 on:** June 10, 2011, 03:38:39 AM »

Quote

By the way, in the lens archive thread this particular lens is designated as being an MTO lens but its production brand is "Rubinar" really.

Not sure why it was added as MTO, as MTOs seem to be 352/5,6 500/8,0 and 1000/10 as per this list:

http://www.zenitcamera.com/catalog/lenseslist.html

Maybe LZOS had a different MTO 500/5.6 that KMZ did not have?

The photos are amazing, btw, great sharpness for a 500mm!

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #5 on:** June 10, 2011, 06:51:24 AM »

Well, I thought in my research I found it was an MTO, but, I can't find it now, So I corrected the listing. Thanks for pointing that out.

Still impressed with 1:1 crop.

adash · « **Reply #6 on:** June 10, 2011, 08:09:14 AM »

The pigeon is amazingly sharp ( I wasn't impressed initially because of the crappy monitor at work).

Ray · « **Reply #7 on:** June 10, 2011, 08:19:07 AM »

What impressed me most were the colors and the sharpness but no more than the MTO mirrorlens did and because it doubles in weight compared to it I have decided to keep the MTO and resell the Rubinar, despite of its one stop wider aperture.

Size difference

adash · « **Reply #8 on:** June 10, 2011, 08:36:16 AM »

Why not keep both?

Ray · « **Reply #9 on:** June 10, 2011, 08:49:57 AM »

I see no point in keeping both really, also it is quite hefty compared to the other lens and initially I did not expect it to be anything of a bother but it seems to be made of lead once your used to the weight of the MTO. There seem to be two different versions of the lens by the way cause on the LZOS website its weight is specified as being 1,2kg but this sample weighs about 1,6kg and upon further investigation across the web indeed one source mentions the 1,2kg and others 1,6. The MTO weighs only about 620 gram and performs the same except for one stop of light.

Rubinar 500mm f5.6 M42 samples *****