Michael ThompsonWhile I was in the middle of taking an extended series of black and white street portraits, over a period of several months with a 400 Takumar often combined with 1.4 or 2.0 extender that people I focused on saw me more often than not, before I could get a shot off. It started to frustrate me to be robbed again and again at the last moment of the naturalness of someone unaware. I wanted to capture that magic moment before they realized their picture was being taken – or better yet – not at all. So what were my alternatives? Up to now I had been doing all my work hand held. I knew that using a larger lens would mean having to use a tripod. This I had to accept. The question was how much larger was I willing to go. I first checked out the specs on the 500mm and 600mm. The 500mm I felt would not to be powerful enough. And the 600m – what a weighy monster that one is. See Michael Reichmann’s reviewhere.There had to be lens that would give me that reach and the flexibliity to capture the unaware. It was when I saw the specs of the 800mm ED(IF) that my head started to spin – especially when I read the price of a new one is $15,000. That was certainly too high for my budget so I started looking around for a reasonably priced used one. After a few weeks I ran across an ad for one in mint condition in Hamburg, Germany (I am living in Switzerland) for $6000 – complete with original case and the specially designed 1.4 extended (see Fig 4). I called to reserve it and by the following weekend I had already shot a couple of rolls using my old video head and tripod setup. That was the easy part. When I got the negatives back from the lab I noticed that they were all "soft". My disappointment led me to find a more suitable tripod and head.800mm with hood fully extended Fig 1What I did not fully realize when I bought this lens is that I would need a very robust tripod and head setup to stabilize the weight of this lens to insure sharpness. I will never forget the moment I picked this baby up in the shop – it was a bit intimidating just seeing the shiny alu flight case in comes in. I knew right then and there that there was no way I was ever going to shoot this white beast hand held! I then started looking for a suitable tripod. After trying several I came across a well made swiss carbon fiber tripod that was light weight and robust enough to properly balance this lens. Another advantage of this particular tripod is it’s light weight and quick release clamps which make setting up and tearing down quick and painless (see Fig 3). Now all I needed was a head. (Or so I thought!) This lead me all across the internet through forums and reviews of other large heavy llenses. The name Wimberely keep coming up in discussion groups, so I decided to check this company out. After a few quick back and forth informative emails and after sending them the exact weight and diminsions of the 800mm ED along with a photo of the plate hole arrangement that I finally ordered one of their Wimberly Gimbal Heads and appropiate attachment plate. I was naturally very excited unpacking and assembling the head – now I would finally see the full capabilities of the 800mm ED! Again I shot a few rolls and waited unpatiently to pick the negatives. To my disappointment only the shots taken at 500 or 1000 were super sharp everything else was again "soft". Now I really was at a loss.800mm with Wimberly Gimbal HeadWas it the tripod, the head or the lens itself that was causing this softness – or even worse a combination of the three? Then I remembered reading "somewhere" on the web about some sort of supporting rod that attaches between the camera and the tripod. I just had to remember where. It was the 600mm review cited above that had mentioned this very important detail. So I ordered a Manfrotto 359 Long – Lens Camera Support (see Fig 2). Now with this new ingredient added to my setup everything fell into place. In fact I can with confidence take photos 30 and most of the time even lower. Definetly worth the $50! I then purchased a rugged and light mountain climber’s narrow backpack just long enough for the 800 to fit without the camera attached. I can attach the tripod on one side and the camera support on the other side. I wear a small LowePro pack infront carrying the camera body,lens and accessories. I am mobile with this set up and can walk or hike a long distance if need be.Detail Manfrotto 359 Long–Lens Camera Support Fig 2 Detail Schweizer CT–75CF Carbon Fiber Tripod Fig 3I have so far used this lens exclusively for shooting street portraits in black and white. For examples see below. When everything is set up this lens is a joy to use. Just looking through the viewfinder still gives me a thrill. Besides being heavy(6.5Kg) this lens is solidily built. The aperture ring is not too stiff and clicks smoothly in place (see Fig 5). The rubber coated focusing knobs are a delight to adjust – smooth and precise action at your finger tips (see Fig 6). One can even lock the focus with a small horizontal metal knob located directly above the focusing wheel on top of the lens (see Fig 1) 1.4 Extender specially designed for 800 ED(IF) Fig 4 800mm 1.4 Extender attached to 800mm ED(IF) Fig 5
1.4 Extender specially designed for 800 ED(IF) Fig 4 800mm 1.4 Extender attached to 800mm ED(IF) Fig 5
Changing rear filters is a snap (see Fig 7). Just turn the black knob and lift the metal filter holder out add a filter and slide it back into the slot. With a twist of the knob it is locked securely in place. The leather lens cover is well made – my only complliant is that the inner lining is red and it begins to rub off and become visible on the while outer coating of the lens.Since I was shooting in winter light and often with either the 1.4 or 2.0 extenter I was quite limited with shutter speeds and apertur settings especially because my subjects were often walking and I was using 100 ASA film most of the time.
Focusing wheel Fig 6 Rear filter holder Fig 7The quick focusing knobs made my shooting a breeze. Sunny days were the best even though bright overcast days proved also excellent results. Always having to compensate for the extenders (1 to 2 stops for the 1.4 and 2 to 3 stoops for the 2.0). But even with these limitations I was able to use 75% of the shots. It is such a pleasure to pan with the Wimberly head that I soon became addicted to feeling its smooth and precise movements. It became almost a game to see how fast or close I could pan someone and still achieve sharp results (see below Fig 16). One of my main complaints when using color film is the viqnetting with the lens wide open (6.7). This disappears at 8 and with B+W film it is not noticable. Many of the portraits were taken with 6.7 and never any smaller than 11 due to the avaliable light and low film speed. I can say without a doubt that this lens is sharp wide open._____________________________________________________________________________
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Michael Reichmann is the founder of the Luminous Landscape. Michael passed away in May 2016. Since its inception in 1999 LuLa has become the world's largest site devoted to the art, craft, and technology of photography. Each month more than one million people from every country on the globe visit LuLa.