Memory lane? For some ...maybe...Photax Paragon preset 500mm f8

[tao2]

Known by some as the "Moon Paragon"...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd6bKNijuHQ

It's very light, but around 2 feet long. It unscrews into 3 pieces though, so easy tae transport. It's a T2 mount and came with Olympus and M42 mounts. Ordered a Minolta MD and AF/Sony mounts, so all bases covered. Hoping tae get out in the next few days as the forecast is good. Even got some 20 year old film with the bundle but gonna try it on digital and up tae date film first. Think this'll be a stonkin' B+W lens.

Oh, it's f8-11-16-22, preset .

Was wondering if anyone here had owned this model or one comparable? Only drawback? Ah'll have tae carry a tripod...

Here's some shots of the Paragon...

















Got this in an Olympus bundle, wasn't looking for a long lens but ah was looking for a mint Olympus OM2n. Here's the bundle...

[Manfred M]

It reminds me of my Leitz Telyt f/6.3 400mm lens. Very long (two pieces) with a Series 7 filter slot somewhere in the bottom section. It came complete with a "gun stock" to brace the camera against the shoulder to steady the the whole thing for shooting. It's the only push-pull focus lens I've ever owned.

It was an M series lens for use with the Visoflex system, but I had a Leica M to Leica R converter, so was able to use it on the Leica R3. It was tough to focus, had a razor thin DoF, was 100% manual. Fortunately the R3 had an extremely bright and sharp viewfinder and it was a very sharp lens.

[tao2]

Hi Manfred,

Ah have the R3's twin brother....separated at birth - a great camera... still. Ah love using it.

[rpcrowe]

Neat bit of history which likely still works quite well.

For those of you who are not as grizzled with age as I am, you might be interested in how a preset lens works.

Before we had "automatic" lenses (automatic in that the lens automatically stops down from the maximum aperture to the shooting aperture for the photograph and then opens again to the max aperture), you had to focus with the lens at its maximum aperture and then manually stop down to the shooting aperture before tripping the shutter. This was a bit of a PITA and a slow process since the photographer really needed to look down at the lens to ensure it was stopped down to the correct shooting aperture.

With a preset lens, you could choose the shooting aperture and when you manually stopped down the lens to shoot, you did not need to look at the aperture. The lens would stop at the chosen pre-set (thus the pre-set designator) shooting aperture. This was easier to work with but, a far cry from the ease of today's lenses which automatically stop down and reopen as we shoot!

[Manfred M]

I agree Richard - but the Minolra XE and Leica R3 had a nice little trick to handle that. You can see a small rectangular square below the word "Minolta" and the red dot. That is a small prism that looks down on the lenses aperture ring and with these camera you could see what aperture setting you were using while looking through the viewfinder.

[Mike Buckley]

today's lenses which automatically stop down and reopen as we shoot!

This macro lens, which was released about a year ago, has no automatic aperture. I'm thinking of buying it strictly for use in my makeshift studio on a tripod.

[Manfred M]

This macro lens, which was released about a year ago, has no automatic aperture. I'm thinking of buying it strictly for use in my makeshift studio on a tripod.

A lot of modern third party lenses are like that. My 8mm Samyang fisheye is totally manual as well and has no electrical contacts to communicate with the camera. With that lens, focus is almost optional as for most shots, other than extreme closeups, everything is in focus.

Even some modern specialty lenses made by Nikon fall in to this realm; my Nikkor f/3.5 24mm PC-E lens has all the electrical contacts, but is manual focus and aperture is set by an traditional aperture ring on the lens. It can only be used in manual or aperture priority modes.

[DanK]

This macro lens, which was released about a year ago, has no automatic aperture. I'm thinking of buying it strictly for use in my makeshift studio on a tripod.

Given the equipment I already have, I don't have an interest in that lens, but I am very interested in their manual 15 mm macro lens, which does things no other lens will do.

[Mike Buckley]

I liked the answer to one of the questions at the website Dan provided. Rather than answering that the lens is fully manual, it explained that the lens is fully UN-automatic.

[DanK]

maybe some "pre-owned" lenses are "nonautomatic," while some "used" lenses" are "manual".

[Mike Buckley]

Good one, Dan!