Canon 5D Mark II and Samyang 500/6.3 Mirror @ Dragon Boat Competition 龍舟比賽

In the era of single-lens reflex film cameras, Tamron's reflex lens 500mm f8 was sufficient to rival the quality of original manufacturer lenses, becoming the preferred choice among third-party lenses. In the digital single-lens reflex era, the three major third-party lens manufacturers no longer produce such lenses. The more common option on the market should be Samyang Optical's reflex lens (as well as other rebranded versions such as Vivitar, Rokinon, etc.). The reflex lens I have on hand has a specification of 500mm f6.3, with an aperture half a stop wider than f8. This means that under the same lighting conditions, the shutter speed can be increased by half a stop, for example, changing from 1/90 second to 1/125 second. Another advantage is that when manually focusing with a single-lens reflex camera, the optical viewfinder will also be half a stop brighter, making focusing a bit easier.

在單眼底片相機時代，騰龍(TAMRON)的反射式鏡頭500mm f8已足以媲美原廠鏡頭的成相品質成為副廠鏡頭中的首選。在數位單眼時代，三大鏡頭副廠都不再推出此類鏡頭，市面上較普遍的應該算是Samyang光學的反射鏡了(還有其他貼牌如Vivitar, Rokinon等)。手邊的這顆反射鏡規格是500mm f6.3，光圈較f8大上半格，也就是相同光線條件下，快門速度可快上半格，例如1/90秒變成1/125秒，另一個好處是使用單眼相機手動對焦時光學觀景窗也會明亮半格，讓對焦容易一些。


Reflex lens Samyang 500/6.3, 反射鏡頭 Samyang 500/6.3

The first outdoor shooting test happened to be on the Sunday before the Dragon Boat Festival. The dragon boat heats were in full swing at the Dajia Riverside Park in Taipei. I was sitting on the grandstand near the finish line, holding a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the Samyang 500mm f6.3, which was a relatively lightweight combination for a super telephoto lens. Since it can only be manually focused, when shooting moving objects, I had to first decide on the focusing point and then make minor adjustments when the object approached. Fortunately, there were many dragon boats, which made manual focusing manageable. Perhaps because the heats were conserving their strength or aiming for participation rather than victory, there weren't many actively competitive teams. After watching for about an hour, I finished testing the lens and went back home.

首次外拍測試剛好是端午節前一個週日，台北大佳河濱公園的龍舟預賽正在如火如荼的進行中，我坐在終點站附近的看台上手持著Canon EOS 5D Mark II Ma 和 Samyang 500mm f6.3 還算是個超望遠鏡頭輕便組合，因為只能手動對焦，拍攝移動中的物體時須先決定好對焦點，等物體接近時再微調拍攝，還好龍舟比起汽車相對滿很多，手動對焦還能應付。也許是預賽保留實力或是志在參加不在得名，積極衝刺的隊伍不多，約莫看了1個多小時，測試完鏡頭後就打道回府了。


This team was very diligent; they were still putting in a lot of effort when returning to the starting point. They should have a chance to make it to the finals. 這隊伍很盡責，返回起點時還是很賣力，應該有機會入決賽


The dragon boat in the background faintly reveals the famous "donut" bokeh of the reflex lens.
背景的龍舟隱約出現反射鏡有名的甜甜圈

For exciting photos, please refer to the dragon boat competition album.

精彩相片請參閱龍舟比賽相簿。