Well, it had to be tried: Can you strap an antique 400mm F5.6 Tokina telephoto on a state-of-the-art modern mirrorless, as in the Fujifilm X-T1? Why, yes! Yes, you can. And an eagle might drop by.
The family cried “The eagle’s down at the dock!” Miraculously, after I ran in, got out the camera, got out the lens, put the adapter on the lens, and put the combo on the camera, he still was.
He’s scruffy and wet because he wants dinner, which involves splashing into the briny Pacific. He’s standing on an old wooden arch thingie on our dock, which I guess is a nice vantage point: We saw him take a couple of tries, coming up empty. Even with the Fuji’s outstanding manual-focus aids, a striking raptor is a tough capture. Eagles are big and this guy is big among eagles; his claws thick as your fingers.
Once he left, I cast about for other targets, and ended up snapping blossoms an average of 10m or so away. It’s not the effect you get by getting in close with a good macro, but I like it anyhow.
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I should have taken a picture of the lens/camera combo, it looks absolutely 100% ridiculous. And I have to admit that the mount isn’t 100% solid, there’s a tiny bit of flex; I guess I’ll blame that for the focus imperfections.
Also, have I mentioned recently that cameras are fun?
Comment feed for ongoing:
From: ebenezer (Jun 24 2014, at 08:40)
Cameras are indeed fun, and I don’t even necessarily know more than a tiny bit about them.
This probably isn’t a good comparison but I have a Nikon D5100 and, for a bit, had the 24-70mm f/2.8G Nikkor wide-angle lens. I only got one (iPhone, as I recall) photo of that combination and it might not have fully conveyed the awesome ridiculousness, but I still like it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vvl347oalnmvd4w/D5100-24-70-FX.JPG
If you’re able to duplicate the combination you mentioned in order to get a photo, that would be splendid to see.
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