For the provided Tair-11A 2,8 / 135 lens, many thanks to Igor Tihan.
Tair-11 A Is a fast prime telephoto lens with a focal length of 135mm and a maximum aperture of F2.8. Is considered one of the best Soviet portrait lenses. Nowadays, the cost of this lens just rolls over. In 2013, used the lens is offered at 200 cu
Overview of the Tair-11A lens
Tair-11A is very much appreciated by Western amateur and professional photographers. In my vote on best soviet portrait lens, Tair-11A takes only fifth place. The fifth position is most likely associated with the inaccessibility of the lens. 135mm focal length and aperture F / 2.8 allow very good control depth of field and easy to take pictures with a blurry background. Blurred background often very important in portrait photography, with blur Tair-11A copes with a bang.
An example of a photograph on Tair-11A. Bokeh taira
As a solid Soviet lens relies, the Tair-11A is made of metal and glass - nothing more, but this adds a huge weight of 600 grams to the lens. In 1958, at an exhibition in Brussels, Tair-11 was awarded the highest award - "Grand Prix". The lens was produced in different versions, there is old "white taira", new “black” with slightly different frame rims. My Tair-11A black color, made at the Krasnogorsk factory.
Tair-11A on the Nikon camera
Features and their application to obtain maximum image quality using Tair-11A:
- Aperture F / 2.8 and 135mm focal length - the strength of Tair-11A. For example, the whale lens that came with Nikon D80 - Nikon 18-135mm f / 3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor had a 5.6mm F135, "Darker" Tair-11A at 2 steps (4 times). That is, for portraiture, this relative aperture is 4 times better. This is due to the fact that with a large aperture it is possible to select only a small area of a sharply depicted space. For a portrait, this feature is indispensable, as it allows you to select a person in the photo and remove the background and foreground, focusing on the person.
- The large focal length of the lens allows you to use Tair-11 as a telephoto and telephoto opens up completely different horizons of photography, than standard lenses. The peculiarity of Tair-11A is that when focusing within 1.5-1.2 meters, it greatly brings the image closer, thereby increasing the focal length. Read more about this effect. here.
Enlightenment of the front lens and the appearance of the aperture blades of the Tair-11A lens
- Round aperture - the number of aperture blades is 20 (twenty) pieces, which is a very good indicator for shooting with the correct circles in the blur zone. What diaphragm you can’t install - you get an even, round bokeh without any deviations. In general, there are quite a few lenses with a normal number of aperture blades, so often bokeh is obtained in the form of “nuts, bagels or Dali’s works”. The diaphragm is truly round, and the bokeh is creamy. A large number of aperture blades can also be found in Jupiter-37A, Helios-40-2, Helios-44, etc.
Photo at Tair-11A
- The quality of the pictures is just excellent, the lens is quite sharp, but at the same time it is soft for portraits, therefore it has the glory of a “female portrait”, for example, Jupiter-37A has the glory of a “male portrait”, since it is sharper. The lens bokeh is often compared to the most glorious lenses. Blur is rather unusual, soft, plastic - but as they say, the taste and color - all the markers are different. The lens is chromate, but this is nit-picking for experts, it is difficult for an average person to explain even what it is.
Dimensions at different focusing distances of the Tair-11A lens
- Weight - the weight is large and plays the role of a stabilizer of jitter. With such a large focal length excerpt must be at least 1 \ 135 seconds. Weight allows you to slightly reduce the "shake" due to its massiveness and inertia. How to photograph without grease and movement, you can read in the article how take off.
Tair-11-A sample photo
- Built-in hood - a huge advantage, considering that Tahir is afraid of backlight, although the hood does not really save, but it improves the final result in the picture. The elongated hood blends easily and retracts.
View of the Tair-11A lens
- Sizes - the lens is quite large if you unscrew the focus ring by 1.2 meters (and at the same time the lens itself lengthens - protrudes the trunk), then it does not fit in my wardrobe trunk.
Tair-11-A sample photo
- The advantage of the interchangeable shank is simply irreplaceable, which allows you to easily use the lens with different systems (mounts).
Tair-11A and native wardrobe trunk
- The lens is suitable for full-frame cameras. There will be a time when all photographers will switch to full-frame digital SLRs and there Tair-11 will be able to prove itself to its full potential. This allows you to use the lens without restrictions on full-frame cameras.
Dimensions of two lenses. Tair-11A and Jupiter-37A
- The lens focus ring rotates to 360 degrees, which makes focusing very soft and smooth.
Tair-11A 2.8 135 on the Nikon D700 camera
- The lens has a ring. aperture presets. The aperture has no fixed values and may be set to any intermediate value.
Photo at Tair-11A
I share my personal experience using:
If you can screw this lens onto a digital SLR camera, then most likely because crop factor matrices of budget and average camera prices, you will get another effective focal length. For Nikon it will be 135 * 1.5 = 202.5mm, for other systems this figure does not have a large deviation, but the essence remains the same. That is, cropping will occur as if you are using a 200mm telephoto on a 35mm film. And this, in turn, requires a lot of space in order to enter the desired into the frame. So for a portrait, you have to move a sufficient distance, and this will make you run a lot.
Example photo at Tahir 11 A
It so happened that I tested my newly made Tahir-11 when shooting a wedding, do not worry, no one was hurt, but the second photographer still asked: "And this is your one lens on the camera." Indeed, the lens on the camera looks strange, this is due to its pile of rings - for the diaphragm, for fixing the diaphragm, for focusing, the lens hood and the screwed interchangeable shank make the lens multisectional and strange. It seems that this is a designer that an experienced photographer must assemble in 45 seconds.
Photo at Tair-11A
Old age is not a joy, but nevertheless the lens (my copy) is in excellent condition and will remain so for many years to come, since the quality hangs under the sign of 'Made in USSR'. Two Tair-11A lenses passed through my hands, one of the 88th, and the second of the 90th release. The latter did not bear the inscription 'Made in USSR'.
Example photo at Tair-11 A
How to use with modern cameras?
'A' lenses with an interchangeable shank, such as the one in this review, are very easy to use on almost any modern digital camera (both DSLR and mirrorless), just select correct adapter. The replacement 'A' shank usually has an external M42 thread and an 'H' mount (similar to Nikon F). For use on modern cameras, the easiest way is to add the required adapter from M42 to the desired system or from Nikon F to the desired system to this shank.
Sample photo on Tair-11 A
If you are interested in this lens, or any other Soviet optics, you can purchase it by contacting the contacts from the manual optics section.
Sample Photos Tair-11A
All photos in the gallery below are shot on Nikon D700without processing. Reduced size to 3 MP and imprinted data from EXIF
Catalog modern brand lenses 'Zenitar' и 'Helios' can look at this link.
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Conclusion:
Tair-11A excellent portrait lens. Very interesting for its image, 20-blade aperture and a combination of aperture and focal length. You can still look at white version of Tair-11.
Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram
Cool review !!! I especially like the worldview or just vision ...
:)
2.8mm aperture F135 is quite a strong point of Tahir. For example, the whale lens that went to the Nikon d80, 18-135mm, had a F5.6 by 135mm,
In general, it is very incorrect to compare the fixes and zoom holes, especially of a very universal zoom. No brainer that the zoom is darker.
We are not talking about comparison, the review clearly says “for example”. There is a comparison of the usual concept of the difference in aperture between F2.8 and F5.6 - this is clear to you, many need to show an example, for clarity, why 135mm Tair is better than 135mm zoom.
Hello!
A question about the first version of Tair with M39 thread: are there any nuances of using this lens through an adapter “bayonet - M42” because of the slightly different focal distance of the M39 and M42 lenses?
Thank you in advance!
good day! There are nuances. need re-alignment. here's the link: http://www.zenitcamera.com/mans/instr-M39-M42/instr-M39-M42.html
I was pleased with the lens, aperture, blurs beautifully, portraits are excellent, similar to 55-200 Nikonovsky, but of course wins in terms of optics)
Great lens and gorgeous portrait! I myself have one, I use the canon 40D and am delighted! :) And there are also many Soviet optics I use, but my native optics do not pull in quality and the zooms just tear my soul!
Everything is very detailed and well-painted, I’ll only add that this lens is familiar and appreciated in foreign forums, for example, Pentax, so it’s definitely worth having for all lovers of Soviet optics digital.
Good evening, for a beginner on the Nikon d5100 (before that I was photographing only with a whale lens) is it better to take Tair 11A or Jupiter-21? Or would you recommend a different version of the portrait lens?
Sorry for the trouble and thanks in advance =))
Actually, comments were created for questions. I would advise you to start Yupira-37A. For a beginner, it will be difficult to cope with the minority depth of field of Tair and the long focal length of Jupiter-21. But if you choose between these two, I would take Tair-11A.
I have a Nikon 3100 with a lens in the kit, but I want to put on it a TAIR-11A lens that has remained from its zenith, I ask for advice on whether this can be done and how. I live in Volgograd.
Yes it is possible. To do this, you need to install a replaceable shank KP-A \ N on Tair-11A. Look at what’s written on the back of the lens, most likely KP-A \ 42. You can read more about the use of Soviet optics on Nikon in the article Soviet Optics.
Tell me please. I want to buy Tair-11a or Kaleinar-5n. Nikon d80 camera. Focus on portrait photo. Which lens do you recommend staying on?
I recommend Kaleinar-5N. 135mm is rather long for a crop. 105 is still fine. If Kaleinar-5n is too sharp for a portrait, it can always be corrected with a bluer.
Good day! Very good review. Thanks. I got Tair 11a a couple of days ago. I bought an EMF ring for canon eos (I have 550d). Question: Why program the focal length in this ring? There is absolutely no understanding of the need for this procedure. Can someone tell me? Thanks.
For convenience. For example, when I bring the photo to mind, and there are thousands of them, I immediately see at which focal and at what aperture a particular shot was taken. Also, in order for automation to more correctly calculate the parameters. More details in the article Canon Old Lenses
> F2.8 aperture at 135mm is Tair's strong point. For example, the kit lens that went to the Nikon d80, 18-135mm had F5.6 at 135mm, which means that it is 3 stops darker than Tair, which is about 8 times darker than the whale.
Not 3, but 2 steps. 4 times.
5.6 / 2.8 = 2 - half the diameter. Because the area depends on the square of the diameter, we find that the light passes through 5.6 times less.
Yes, 4 times.
How, can I buy a Tair 11A 135mm photo lens ??? I am grateful to you for the earlier, Valery.
You can try manual optics in the section.
I got a good impression. Maybe you just don't have a particularly colorful background in the gallery, but I liked the bokeh. It is really soft and has some kind of "pencil", but not very obtrusive originality .. But I will not put it on the crop .. If "draw", then "draw" in full .. On a full-frame matrix or film
The other day I bought a Tair 11A and tested a little. The lens is extremely moody, it behaves very unpredictably depending on the light. It’s easy to kill contrast, not only in the sun, but also in the shade. I noticed that he requires a lot of diffused light, but so far I have not fully understood all the tricks of his behavior. Of course, they can shoot shots amazing in brightness, saturation and contrast, but with jupiter 37a it’s easier to do this, I would take jupiter for a responsible event, it has a more predictable result :-) As for the softness, though, tair paints really softly, many acne on the face levels, unlike jupiter, which removes extremely hard and makes every small pimple bright and clear, but unlike taira, it almost always gives the same bright, contrasting and saturated colors))) Who cares, look at my album http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/amitoria/album/246151/ All pictures in this album were shot on Jupiter 37a
Thank you for sharing the information.
Always welcome)) I like Soviet lenses and experiments)))
It seems to me that the loss of contrast from the fact that a little direct light still falls into the lens. I made a homemade hood, tomorrow I will evaluate everything and write about the results.
PS: On jupiter, I already had a self-made hood, which is probably why the contrast and brightness on it always turned out to be much higher than on taira, all other things being equal.
PS: A self-made hood on jupiter can be made from a deodorant cover (the diameter of the thread on the jupiter is small), for Tahir you need to donate 2 disposable boxes of pirated DVD discs (wide and thin), their plastic is thin and easily bends at the same time without breaking. You need to cut two pieces of this plastic of the size you need, bend them in the form of a semicircle and wrap first one on top of the built-in hood, and then the other on top of the first. Of course, a lens hood that cannot be removed will come out, the size of the lens will increase significantly, but it will always be in combat condition and will no longer lose contrast. For the sake of quality, you have to sacrifice something))) 135mm is quite a lot, especially on the crop, so you can make the hood big enough to securely cover the lens from direct light))
I have a native hood from Jupiter-37A, very comfortable.
Yes, but the instance that I took was not very successful in terms of the hood, it was stuck tightly with the assembled state in the thread, so I had to saw it with a metal cutter and put the homemade hood in its place) maybe someone has a similar problem, and Jupiters do not always sell with a hood)
Anyway - thanks for the useful information!
Always welcome) If anyone is interested, I will throw off pictures from taira here http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/amitoria/album/248758/
Good afternoon. Tell me, is it possible to use TAIR-11 without the “A” index on D90?
yes maybe.
Arkady, thank you for the answer. And what kind of adapter is needed for this?
Most likely it is Tair-11 with a thread for M39, you need an adapter either M39-Nikon, or M39-M42 + M42-Nikon
Aperture is a characteristic of the optical system (describes the attenuation of light when passing through the optical system), and the aperture value is the ratio of the focal length to the diameter of the aperture. It is completely incorrect to compare the aperture and its fall on different lenses, based on aperture numbers.
I agree, the review indicates a rough approximation.
I still have this lens from the Zenit 11 camera, and now, when I bought the Nikon D5100, I decided to test it on it. The first thing is bad. this weight, even on a tripod wants to roll. But most importantly, it behaves perfectly when shooting macro with zenith extension rings. Very good (large) depth of field. I use a standard Nikon-42M adapter with a lens.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I want to show macro shots, this is not for advertising. You can use them on your website. The message can be removed.
http://www.photoforum.ru/my/edit.php?photo_id=700929&obj=photo&lang=ru
http://www.photoforum.ru/my/edit.php?photo_id=701146&obj=photo&lang=ru
To enter the form, you need to register. It would be nice if you posted the photo on publicly available resources.
Try to look here, but if it doesn’t work, then I’ll post it in another place.
http://rasfokus.ru/photos/photo94309.html
http://rasfokus.ru/photos/photo84380.html
Thank you.
Hello, I recently got hold of the Tair-11a lens, I have a Nikon d5100. Only an adapter for m42 was available. With aiming at the infinity of the problem, this is predictable, but for some reason the size of the picture entering the viewfinder is "cut down", even moving away three meters it is difficult to fit the frame. This is normal? There was no experience with Soviet optics. Does it make sense to bother with the KP-A \ N adapter - will this change the situation?
So it should be, it's a telephoto. There's a meaning.
Those. With the acquisition of infinity, a person in full growth, with a compositional space around, can only be removed from 15 meters? And also called a portrait lens!
Yes exactly. It is more suitable for a full frame or film. On the crop, the shoulder / front portrent of it is not bad.
Suppose if you have Helios-81 on hand, as a lens for a full-length photo and with the surroundings, well, and for all occasions. Is tair11a needed? Can it be fully used as a telephoto, well, let's say for a hike in the mountains? I ask you to voice both statements (Helios for all occasions?)
Fifties used to be, and now they served as standard lenses. Remember cameras Kiev, Zenith, any old film. True, on the crop it is a bit narrow, but it's not enough to use it as a station wagon with grief in half. Tair - they are already telephoto (135mm long garment).
There is also Helios- 44 2 \ 58 under m39. What can be pulled out of it? Or in the presence of Helios-81, he is not quoted?
He, too, is a very good lens.
Thanks for your review. I just remembered that I had such a Tair'chik of '86 lying around and decided to add it to the ranks of my optics. Your review helped a lot (I used my Tair at its zenith 10 years ago). It performed very well on my Canon. Focusing, in principle, and through the viewfinder worked fine, but much better using Live mode (with the mirror open and displaying the image on the display). The photos are sharp, but I would call them “soft sharpness”. Contrast is a bit low, but I wouldn't say very much. I want to share a couple of photos: http://roman-shymko.com/digest/photoshots-made-using-tair-11-a-lens/
Thanks again for the review.