I need a tube lens for Nikon BE Plan 10x (mrn70100). My nikon 18-200mm sucks, really bad vignetting.
Any recommendations ?
Thanks.
Tube lens for Nikon BE Plan
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
You have a variety of options. Assuming you have a Nikon DSLR, a good choice would be one of the older Nikkor 200mm lenses available on the used market. The AI and AI-S lenses should work fine as a converging lens (aka tube lens), and can cost less than newer versions.
A second option is a zoom lens in the range of 70-200mm or 80-210mm. Many or these work fine as converging lenses, when used at close to 200mm. Your zoom lens, at 18-200mm, is a very different sort of beast from these (going, as it does, into the wide-angle range). It should be noted that while many (most?) zooms in the range recommended above seem to work, unless you choose a model that somebody has tested, you may run some risk that it will vignette. That said, your odds are good.
Alternatively, you could purchase an official tube lens made by Nikon, Mitutoyo, Thorlabs, or Olympus--but doing this involves higher cost, especially after you spend additional time and money for parts to integrate the tube lens into your setup. While there are good reasons to do this (it's my own favored approach), there's probably no need for you to go to this expense and work. (Just yet!
)
--Chris
A second option is a zoom lens in the range of 70-200mm or 80-210mm. Many or these work fine as converging lenses, when used at close to 200mm. Your zoom lens, at 18-200mm, is a very different sort of beast from these (going, as it does, into the wide-angle range). It should be noted that while many (most?) zooms in the range recommended above seem to work, unless you choose a model that somebody has tested, you may run some risk that it will vignette. That said, your odds are good.
Alternatively, you could purchase an official tube lens made by Nikon, Mitutoyo, Thorlabs, or Olympus--but doing this involves higher cost, especially after you spend additional time and money for parts to integrate the tube lens into your setup. While there are good reasons to do this (it's my own favored approach), there's probably no need for you to go to this expense and work. (Just yet!
)--Chris
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Greenfields
- Posts: 116
- Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 10:54 am
- Location: Nottinghamshire, England
Go for the Ai-S version.
Although the two versions are reported to be optically identical, the design of their focussing helicoids is different.
Paradoxically, although Ai-S version is easier to turn, it will not creep under its own weight, whilst the Ai-version will creep [I don't know about older versions]. This won't matter if you plan to use the lens horizontally but if you plan to tip it up, down or use it vertically the Ai version will not stay focussed at infinity [where it needs to be].
Henry.
Although the two versions are reported to be optically identical, the design of their focussing helicoids is different.
Paradoxically, although Ai-S version is easier to turn, it will not creep under its own weight, whilst the Ai-version will creep [I don't know about older versions]. This won't matter if you plan to use the lens horizontally but if you plan to tip it up, down or use it vertically the Ai version will not stay focussed at infinity [where it needs to be].
Henry.
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