Before I go any further, I want to state loudly, clearly, and with out question the following statements.
- If you are looking for top-notch photos from your slr, put up the money for the glass on front.
- Most of the time, this means, use the manufacturer lenses for said slr.
- Most of the time you get what you pay for.
That said, I could not resist the temptation that lay in wait for me if I chose to bid on one of the 10 Promaster 80-210mm lenses on eBay. What was so attractive? The price. For $9.99 + $12.99 S&H, I had to give it a go. For those at home keeping score, thats less then the average release cost of a DVD, or two weeks of coffee at your local coffee cart.
With my heart set on taking the gamble, and if I lose, I’m out ~$23 and a good tale. If I win, I get a lens that will hold me over until I have enough money saved for either the Nikon 18-200 w/ vr or 80-300 with vr-II. Now come to think of it, regardless, I end up with a good story.
When I opened the packaging, I was surprised to see that the lens was higher in quality then I thought it would be. Remember, $23. It included a higher quality butt-end cap then included with the kit lens for my D40, so hey, when I get more lenses, I have something to cap the kit lens with. The Promaster also included a lens hood that can easily be used with the lens.
So back to the tripod, I went. I set it up at 89″ again and snapped off some photos. Now this lens lacks an internal motor like Nikon AFS lenses which means with my D40, I can’t use the auto-focus. Anyone with an internal servo in their Nikon (this statement only excludes the D40 right now) can take advantage of the auto-focus screw on the lens. After a few snaps, I was surprised at what I saw. Granted, I do NOT have a professional eye, but for $23 I was more then satisfied with the results. You’ve been scrolling past pictures using the lens as you read this. Below are two 100% crops from the photos at 210mm. You be the judge, worth the $23 or not? It won’t be the last lens I get that covers this range, and I’ll rely on my kit lens first, but until I can order up a bright and shiny Nikon replacement I’ll have some fun pulling in objects further away then the kit lens would.
Edit I came in to work a little earlier and took a few photos on the way dsc_0106 and dsc_0108. I added a couple to the gallery that’s linked to by any of these photos. I also grabbed a few in the office dsc_0120 and dsc_0121. The later of which is the kit lens at ~18mm to give an idea of the size of the office and how far away that elevator door is. I also forgot to check settings, but as people What I see in these photos is that in certain instances you can get dark areas in the corners. I also see that to get anything with this lens, it will need to be tripod mounted, or rested on something and the timer shutter release must be used. Guess, I’ll be looking fro a travel sized pod and the ML-L3 shutter release.
So what did $23 get me? 1) a good story, kinda crappy, lense, but it will be fun to play around with.
Still, for $32, it seems like some nice glass! You can’t get much for that these days.
I own several Promaster products and think they are great. I think it is a little unfair to call the lens “crappy” since the lens is not AFS. The lens is just not designed for a D40. I shoot with a 28-200 on a D50 (which does not use the AFS system) with wonderful results. I also use a Promaster 7400 flash …slightly less powerful than the Nikon equivalent but $170 less. Again … no complaints.
I love the blog. Keep it up.
Thanks for the comment Kevin, I’m not basing it lack of AFS. This specific lens, had plastic elements that had no coatings at all. This meant that outside the light dispersion was terrible, resulting in cloudy images.
I have no doubt that some other Promaster stuff may be good, but in the case of this specific lens, it was only good for indoor use, which is counter intuitive to a telephoto.
My installation of gallery has since broken and the photos would show the case, I have to retrofit all these old posts with the new location of the photos.