eBay - onlinedigitalshop (ods) - Anyone delt with them ?

[mickyj]

I have just come accross eBay - onlinedigitalshop. They seem to be selling some very cheap lenses on eBay. I doubt their image quality however, I am intrigued.

500 mm Zoom for $199AU ?, 650mm- 1300mm at $399AU ? 500 mm reflective Mirror lenses from $259AU ?

Hmmm, anyone seen any of these ?

The shop is on the Gold Coast.

[I @ M]

Be intrigued no longer, better still, send me $199.00 and I will make you a 500mm zoom from a couple of coca cola bottle bottoms and some recycled cardboard tubes that will be guaranteed to work better than the one they sell.

[mickyj]

Yeh, poking about, it looks like ods has glued macro extension tubes, an extender and a small prime lens with F/8 together. I was just curious if anyone has tried these. The sample images don't look too bad.

[jibbonpoint]

The fisheye is a Samyang. The 85mm 1.4 portrait's brand is not shown but if that's a Samyang, it was getting rave reviews in one of the Manual Focus forums.

It caused a great deal of angst to eminate from the Leica members when it was given a most favourable comparison. I came very very close to buying one.

I heard that they were going to bring out an 8mm to compete with the Penang.

The opinion was that they were going to try & compete with current quality but I believe that so far they are all manual focus.

[RaoulIsidro]

They do not reveal to you that they also throw in for FREE, one years supply of Panadol®:lol2: for purchases over $200....

[mickyj]

They all look like Samyang's

http://www.syopt.co.kr/eng/product/manual_zoom.asp

[jibbonpoint]

The Fisheye -

http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/526-samyang8f35eos?start=1

The 85mm 1.4 portrait

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/483-samyang_85_14_5d

I'm waiting for a 300mm 2.8

[mickyj]

Here's what they say about these lenses

"These lenses are manufactured in the same factory in Japan and Korea as brands such as Phoenix, Kenko, Rokinon, Tokina, etc. They are the same specifications and quality but without the markup for a brand name. We purchase these direct from the factory and are their ONLY Authorised Distributors in Australia.
You get the same quality with local service and warranty."

[mickyj]

Ok, someone in another forum dared me to look into these and as I had a amount of cash from online surveys etc .. I bought one.
I got sick of reading negative and yet also great things about these, thoughts that seem to conflict so I got a really cheap 800 mm one.
I also got the 2x converter.

It arrived today. It is an ODS 800 mm mirror lens f/8.

First impressions, the bag it is in is a really bad example of pleather. The stitching does not even line up. Oh well, hope the lens is better.
As mentioned before, my conclusion that these were really Korean Samyang's, was correct.

The plactic lens rear covers poorly fit, the converter is more like an extension tube. A pvc pipe might do a better job.

The T adaptor screws on tightly and fits the Canon camera nicely. the lens feels weighty but nowhere as heavy as my Tamron 200-500 or Canon USM L 70-200.
You have to make sure the T adaptor is screwed on tight else when you focus it, it starts coming unscrewed.

The focus action feels quite smooth. The lens seems to give a nice image through the view finder.
It does not feel too bad to hold. It gives the illusion of high quality. It seems to be well weighted.

Unfortunately, it is now night and it will be raining here tomorrow. I will need some good light to take some shots. I doubt fast moving shots will be clear. The Dof is likely very shallow and this may work out best for long range scenic shots.

For the benifit of others, I will post some examples soon. I hope that the images come out better than shooting through a coke bottle
(As has been suggested as a comparrison by some).

This might help end the mystery about these cheap lenses on eBay.

[johnno02]

Thanks for that write up,I am looking forward to your review of this lens,when you get some nice days.

I have the 500mm in my watch list,but too wary,at the moment to press the "Buy it Now" button.

I did email some of the previous buyers of his Mirror Lenses,to get some feedback on them, but no reply so far.

Regards.
John

[mickyj]

Before I get a good day to play with this, I must note, it is a fully manual lens (But we all knew that). You must take the camera out of auto mode and live in Tv mode to get any sort of results. There is no AF detect (even if you manually focus) as there are no electronics. The front lens cover has sharp peices of plastic hanging off the sides where the manufacturer loosely broke it free from the injection mold. Now I just need a nice day for some photos :)

[mickyj]

If this thread is of interest, also check out

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=61726
Why so cheap?

[mickyj]

Hmm, it is going to be wet here for a few days and I want to play. Here are some further observations.
It is cold here and picking up the lens, I now know the rubber focus ring seperates the metal part of the lens and the rest is plastic (The metal part is cold and I can leave a fingernail impression on the "fake" metal parts, which are warm). Looking at the mirror, it is not clean and I can't open the lens to clean it. It has dust and some fluff on it. Their quality control is a little doubtful. under a good light I can now observe the front mirror is roughly glued in. I can see where the glue has not been applied evenly. Looking down the barrel from the cameras mount, is a little unusual. You can see the obvious Doughnut shape caused by the front mirror and then an awful sight. My face peering back at me from the front mirror.

There is a metal plate stuck on the side of the lens proudly saying "Samyang" but it is covered in scratches (Yes, this came out of a new box .. I unboxed it).

Taking a few shots inside, I imeadiatly noticed the doughnut bokeh. Lights turn into little rings of light. It is quite funky. If you are too close, the weird mirror reflections are not alighned and makes for some nice impressionistic images. Taking a 800 mm shot out a side window of the house, showed me how paperthin the Dof is. I added the extender to take it to 1600 mm and it really zooms up nice through the view finder. I have no idea about the photos as it is overcast here and really poor light.

As an item to play with, if you have the money to throw away, this is actualy quite a cool lens. Don't expect miracles from it but it is fun and it forces you to think about your photo compossition and Tv values. To be honest, I am actually having some fun and with such a crude lens with obvious flaws, i am enjoying playing with it.

[mickyj]

ok, forget speed. We all know that this lens needs lots of light or a slow shutter speed, now ... there's the human factor. Trying to catch any moving item is a challenge. Trying to juggle shutter speed, checking the LCD playback to see if the image appears over or under exposed and then refocusing, all takes way to long with this lens. This and the constant fight with the focus ring, as you turn it, the lens becomes unscrewed from the t Mount adaptor. Constantly trying to tighten this and also focus ... might as well be trying to take photos with a brick.

So we now know, moving objects, items that need good Dof, low lighting or a still and steady hand (without tripod) are not going to come from this lens.

If you use the extender to make these lens 2x (in my case 1600mm) be super still with a long shutter speed. More than you would with a normal lens doubler.

[mickyj]

Ok, the rain has let up a little.

I have tried to use this lens to take some shots. I am doing it without a tripod and still learning how this lens works but here are a few tests shots in a Flickr Set

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickyj_photos/sets/72157624728604836/with/4893224075/

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4893224075_918e7b12ea_z_d.jpg

[johnno02]

Shame the build quality is not great,but for what it is some of your pics look pretty decent.

would be interested to know what distance those shots were taken.
Cheers.
John

[mickyj]

As long as you focus on the object and can blur the background (And don't get any weird doughnuts or weird image effects) they come out ok. The yellow flowers were at about 4 meters (Not happy with this photo). The clock (in and out of focus) at about 4 meters. The bird and chair was about 30 - 40 meters. The peacock tree was about 15 meters as was the lemon. The Blossom was about 6 meters.

The longest shot was the tree branches. I have no idea how far away that was. It was further than the chair and flying bird.

The chair was an easy shot as I held the camera steady against a tree. The bird, I took over 10 shots. Becuase I had to be quick and manually focus, only this one came out.

[mickyj]

Here's one with a tripod, remote shutter release, shutter lockup, 2x doubler to 1600mm

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4896914075_48eca8e669_b_d.jpg

[mickyj]

Another one from the set

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/4893284043_5ee9e9cd4b_z_d.jpg

[mickyj]

Here's one at 1600 mm (using a doubler with the Reflex mirror)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/4959452367_69ab3e4894_b_d.jpg