[Raybo]

In case anyone is interested about this lens, here are a few images.
Jpegs right from the camera, no PP or cropping (sharpness and contrast were turned up in camera)

All images at ISO 200.

Downey at 50ft

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...hka/Downey.jpg

And another..

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...ka/Downey2.jpg

Cardinal at 50ft

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...a/Cardinal.jpg

Thanks as always,

Ray

[Raybo]

Are my images that bad??

Ray

[HokkaidoStu]

No they're not so bad.

I'm not familiar with that lens I have to say. Is it a kind of scope or a cheapie from e-bay?

The shots look a little blurry though..............what kind of shutter speeds were you getting?

[iporali]

Originally Posted by stuprice68

I'm not familiar with that lens I have to say. Is it a kind of scope or a cheapie from e-bay?

To my knowledge it is a Russian catadioptric ("mirror") lens with a fixed aperture (f/10?). A very good low-cost alternative to digiscoping IMHO. A small problem with this kind of lenses is a little "nervous" out-of-focus blur (bokeh), but in the first two pics even this is very well controlled. I think they are actually quite sharp for un-post-processed pics.

Ray - are you aware of "focus trap" -technique, which is quite handy with those manually focusing lenses. Two examples:
1. Turn the camera's AF/MF-switch to "AF"-position, prefocus carefully on a tree branch using a selected focus point, move the focus point to an "empty" area where the bird should appear, keep the shutter release pressed down. The shutter will fire immediately when something appears in the focus point.
2. Keep the bird in the focus point and hold the shutter release pressed down. Focus slowly back and forth. The camera takes pics only when it thinks the subject is in focus.

Best regards,

Ilkka

[iveljay]

MTO 1000 has been around for decades - as with all cats & mirrors out of focus images are a bit different with unfocussed highlights forming 'doughnuts'. They largely disappeared when everyone went autofocus. However, some of the sharpest images I've seen of this combination on digital - excellent stuff.
Using technique 2 for focus trap would need a (very) rigid tripod setup and/or fast shutter speed to avoid vibration.