Overview of the Tair 3FS F4.5 300 mm lens

Lens Tair 3, which is described in this review, was taken from a photo gun, it contains identification data:  Tair-3-Phs 4.5 / 300 N3783 Lens made in USSR. As soon as the lens fell into my hands, once again I felt all the “power” of Soviet optics, because the lens weighs more than a kilogram.

Review Tair-3 300mm F4.5

Review Tair-3 300mm F4.5

The first thing that catches your eye is the tremendous front lens with a diameter of 72 mm, and indeed - the general view of the lens - it is all painted with white paint, instead of the usual black. Tair-3 is made in the style of those times - no plastic (except for the front and back cover), only metal and glass.

TTH:
Focal length: 300 mm
Resolution according to technical specifications (center / region): 36/30 lines / mm
Diaphragm: F4.5 to F22, 16 petals
The weight: 1400gram
Year: exact information is not available, but from about 1950 to 2005
Front Lens Diameter: 72mm
Landing thread: interchangeable shanks, usually a tail with M42 thread

History: In 1958, at the Brussels World Exhibition, the lens received the Grand Prix award. It was produced in different versions, with a different design of the case and with different enlightenment. Additionally you can see review and video review MC TAIR-3S 4,5 / 300 in a black frame и TAIR-3-FS 4,5 / 300 in a black frame. Also, the lens has a medium format brother Tair-33 4.5/300.

Features of my model - since the lens was removed from a photographic gun, the design of its controls is quite interesting. Firstly, the diaphragm is set using a cocking mechanism - this means that the diaphragm is fully opened (by maximizing the ring with a red arrow), the desired value is set, and then it is lowered to the desired value using the 'trigger' installed from below lens. There is a feeling of a real camera gun. Trigger trigger it works very easily, just press the mechanism a little, after which the aperture closes to the desired value, this is done in order to focus on the fully open aperture, and take a picture at the desired value to ensure the desired depth of field and correct exposure.

I worked with several Tair-3 lenses, and all of them did not have an instantaneous aperture release, but smooth, which took about one second, which is not good. Perhaps the mechanism has simply worn out during operation.

Aperture lens Tair 3

Aperture lens Tair 3

Secondly, it is focus method. It is different from all the lenses I've worked with. At the end of the tube along which the lens unit with front lenses travels, below is a metal focus control flywheel. The disk rotates 270 degrees in the plane perpendicular to the hyperfocal plane of the lens. On the focusing disk there are designations for the limits of focusing from 3 meters to 80 meters and infinity.

Focus Flywheel Tair 3

Focus Flywheel Tair 3

How did I use it with a modern digital SLR camera?

The lens can use interchangeable shanks, although there is no 'A' in its name. On Nikon cameras I used MC TAIR-3S 4,5 / 300 with interchangeable shank KP-A / Nor using the adapter ring M42-Nikon (with loss of focus to infinity).

You can find out how to use the Tair-3 lens on Canon in my article Old Canon Lenses. When used with other systems, corresponding adapters are also available.

It should also be borne in mind that the lens is quite heavy and, if handled carelessly, it may well tear out the camera mount. On my Nikon D90 the lens and the camera feel fine, I even held the camera itself, while not holding the lens with my left hand, but I repeat - this is at your own peril and risk.

Very use of a tripod is advisable - firstly, to install a lens on it, and secondly, hand shake at 300mm can blur the picture.

An example of focusing and using Tair 3 FS

An example of focusing and using Tair 3 FS

Features worth paying attention to:

  1. Focal length in 300mm. It's real fixed telephoto, which is rarely seen in our time. Usually now they make zoom televisions like 55-300, 70-300, 80-400 and the like. On the cropped matrix of mine Nikon D90 (Yes, and any cropped camera) we get the same viewing angle as 450mm for a full-frame sensor (i.e. 35mm film). And 450mm at aperture ratio in F4.5 is already the dream of many amateur photographers.
  2. Aperture F4.5 - an excellent indicator. Current televisions mainly use F5.6. The most interesting thing is that the lens is “working” already with a maximum aperture.
  3. Weight - The lens, as already mentioned, is quite heavy. This is a kind of 'Soviet image stabilizer'. The heavy weight helps to increase the inertia of the lens and reduce shake of hands or camera on a tripod. But, also, after working with such a technique, hands fall off within an hour (verified by personal experience).
  4. Scheme - 3 lenses in 3 groups. In fact, you are very pleased when shooting with this kind of lens. Our scientists have shown themselves here to the maximum and created a lens of only 3 lenses (Ray is happy) During the transition of light at the intervals between glass-air and air-glass, a part of the flow is lost and different distortions are added, so the less of them, the better.
  5. The number of aperture blades 16 pieces. The diaphragm is perfectly round. Ideal for portraiture - no “nuts”. Anyway - such a large number of petals is very rare. The photographs show how much a round hole is obtained. True, the aperture blades are not blackened, this adds distortion in counter and side light.
  6. Possibility of installation on a full-frame camera. It is a pity there is no way to test on Nikon Full Frame DLSR APS cameras.
  7. Excellent picture quality.
General appearance of my tair 3 fs in my hand

General appearance of my tair 3 fs in my hand

About quality Images:

A completely open aperture produces a sharp picture. That is, the lens is quite high quality. With the naked eye, quite strong HA on the open diaphragm. I do not observe distortion. The color rendition is littered in the direction of green colors, it is treated by setting the correct BB... The picture is very flexible, the bokeh is excellent (as on me, everyone has different tastes). The transition from the zone of sharpness to the zone of unsharpness is very smooth, and not abrupt, as is usual with high-aperture lenses. Vignetting, in principle, should not be on the crop matrix. Also, the lens is very afraid of backlight and side light (in the examples there is one photo in backlight - the photo is covered with a kind of veil). Also, the picture has green outlines (aberrations) out of focus and purple outlines in front of the image.

Personal impressions:

there is no need to fear the weight of the Tair-3 lens, half an hour can be removed without a tripod, there are no problems with a tripod. My girlfriend shot Tair without any problems holding him in her arms, strong guys will be able to hold him all the more. Regarding the shooting - I really liked its sharpness, plasticity and its 300mm, the girl fell in love with this lens so much that it is possible to photograph distant objects without attracting attention. Below, actually the photo.

Refined Use of Tahir 3

Refined Use of Tahir 3

Ниже приведены sample photosmade on this lens and camera Nikon D90. The photographs are imprinted shooting options with EXIF module.


Catalog modern brand lenses 'Zenitar' и 'Helios' can look at this link.


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Conclusions:

Tair-3-Phs 4.5 / 300 - big, heavy, interesting.

Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram

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Comments: 211, on the topic: Overview of the Tair 3FS F4.5 300 mm lens

  • Vladimir Y.

    My lens has a connecting cord with a plug at the screwed side, which just hangs down when working with Nikon-D5100. It could be cut off, but I hope sometime to "harness" my Tair-3S into a photosniper with a standard Zenith-12S. What do you advise?

    • Ivan

      I disassembled the tair from FS 12, including the tail - this wiring leads to a resistance block in the form of a ring, the value of which is selected by a pin connected to the diaphragm ring, as an option - disassemble the tail, remove the resistance ring and carefully unsolder the connector, as an option - the resistance ring also do not install in place, because there simply will not be any sense from it without a connector, do not lose the pin in contact with the resistances

  • Vladimir

    Good day. I would like to put the lens on a tripod. but there’s a hole half a time bigger than mine on a tripod. how can this be done?

    • Ivan

      three options
      -turn out the adapter “female 1/4” - “male 3/8” on the lathe yourself
      - ask to grind the adapter “female 1/4” - “male 3/8” on a lathe of a familiar turner
      - buy an adapter “female 1/4” - “male 3/8” in a physical store or order it online)
      find / redo the site for your tripod under 3/8, all the best

      • Sergey Barnaul.

        Next to this hole there are two more. For stoppers. In it, drill a hole into five. Cut the thread into six and you're done. The shoe on the lens is cast. And these places are the most thick.

        • BB

          No need to give WRONG tips!

          The tripod thread, as already mentioned above, is NOT METRIC, but inch.
          Diameter - 1/4 inch, pitch - 20 threads per inch (or 1,27mm). This is not an M6 ...

      • Maxim, Yaroslavl

        An adapter for an ordinary tripod can be purchased here: http://www.foto.ru/raylab_perekhodnik_1_4_mama_-_3_8_papa_rac-4f8m.html
        Name: RAYLAB RAC-4F8M

  • Alex

    Tell me the cost of the Tair-3s lens. I was offered a photo gun with such a lens for $ 125. The photo gun is in good condition, manufactured in 1986. Is it a real value or is it cheaper to find?

    • Ivan

      if one dollar is 30 rubles, then it comes to about 3,75-4k, in principle, if the kit is more or less complete (a suitcase, pistol grip, butt, tair, helios 44m-4), then this money costs, again, plus- minus and depending on the condition, there are friends who successfully sold tair3s (without other photo sniper buns and even covers) for 3,2-3,5k, mine (mentioned earlier) left for 2,8 kilo rubles (about 90ue), I took my kit for 4k (the list mentioned earlier + a set of colored glasses), until he regretted, in general, somehow

  • Ilya

    It’s also normal to shoot video from him
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27E7n-RATlw

    • Nicholas

      Tell us how they make video with Nikon D 3300 and tell me where to look. I want to use for hunting video with a dog.

  • gene

    When adjusting the aperture, something inside cracked, looked from the side of the input lens, and there one of the petals arched up with a grouse, and now the diaphragm is neither here nor there. Is it possible to repair such a malfunction myself?

  • gene

    Hurrah! Happened! I opened the ring on the input lens (three small cogs), it seems to be infinity adjusting to the focal plane. Then, the input lens, then two more apertures are removed (also after opening), and then the diaphragm block itself. I got between two adjacent petals, apparently from condensation, a banal rust formed. My petals sintered. After washing in white spirit and drying everything jumps like new! And you just need a thin screwdriver and a little patience. Ah, yes! To turn the fixing nuts of the diaphragms, he took a compass-gauge neighbor from the cooking room. He flipped the needles flush, and stubbed the protruding screws with a file on the sides so that they crawled into the slots of the twist ring. And adieu!

  • gene

    I bought a 6mm eyepiece on the network, connected it to the TAIR through an intermediate ring (from Soviet times), it turned out to be a good pipe. And Jupiter is clearly visible, and the mountains are on the moon.

  • максим

    Hello and excuse me for the child's question ... I have such an objective and nikon d3000, which adapter should I buy and will one adapter be enough?

    • Ivan

      As far as I know, a lensless adapter and a small screwdriver are enough for normal operation with a lens, I myself am a gunner, but the lens fell into my hands with a knocked-down infinity, fortunately, on the network, unfortunately, I forgot the author, came across a simple and effective way to deepen the lens unit - from a ring, which three screws are unscrewed near the front lens, then by rotating the ring itself relative to the lens unit (by hand) we catch infinity, after which we fix the ring with unscrewed screws and enjoy life, good shots

    • Ivan

      well, or the option is easier - get the tail of the KP-A / N and replace it with the native KP-A / M42

  • Wlad

    wot photo s tairom 3

  • anonym

    /Users/katja-wlad/Desktop/Unbenannt-1.jpg

  • anonym

    http://500px.com/photo/37375238

  • Wlad

    Anonymous eto bil ja

  • mrFirst

    I will describe my impressions. I bought a Tair3S for 550 UAH - black, in very good condition (the owner is a fine fellow), with a shank on M42. In the same place (on aukro) I took KP-A / N. I changed it - it was excellent, though after the shank was revised: the groove for the retainer was shifted by a fraction of a mm. I started to shoot, the impressions are twofold: uncomfortable, hard, but not a single thought gets angry at the lens, only respect and reverence for such optics. Sharpness pleased at f8. It is pointless to shoot on an open hole at infinity and near it. Contrasting details should be avoided, as green and purple halos are immediately noticeable. From 2-3 meters away, shooting flowers in the grass, you get such depth of field that only one or two blades of grass are in focus! While I was shooting everything handheld, that is, on a tripod it will be even easier to achieve sharpness and “fatness” of the picture, but for now, due to high ISO there is grain and smears from hand tremors in time to the pulse, well, it is exciting to somehow shoot with this “monster”)

    • anonym

      carcass Nikon D3100

  • Yuriy khripoon

    4 months ago I bought a set of photo guns in excellent condition. It is very easy to remake under Nikon with a lensless adapter and preserving infinity. There is a snap ring on the inner tube, at the end near the hood, which rests on the outer tube when focusing on infinity and prevents further movement inward so that the lens block approaches the nikon matrix to achieve infinity. There are recessed tiny fixing screws on this ring. Unscrew these screws, screw the ring (it is on the thread), try Yes, the tube will go deeper, so that infinity appears, tighten the locking screws and use it with pleasure. If you also have a teleconverter, I advise you to screw the ring further so that you get a little overrun. When using the converter, it will come in handy. I will be glad if this method is useful to anyone.

  • Nick

    is it possible to shoot stars with such a thing

  • Do_Oraemon

    The lucky ones are those who have the Tair 3A option. Nikon is no problem. Tailings are still being made at the Arsenal plant. The issue price is 70 UAH without a dandelion and 370 with a dandelion. Here is the price list: http://arsenal.co.ua/?page_id=1046 There is still a whole bunch of different nishtyakov.

    • Do_Oraemon

      Oh yes, I completely forgot. Tair 3A also has two tripod sockets on the tripod ring: standard and large. In short, this is the most successful model, plus nothing sticks out of it, unlike the FS model. And another thing: on such lenses, your own fixed removable lens hood is just heaven. And the quality of the picture, they say, is more interesting than on the new ones from the photo sniper. I have nothing to compare with, so I take my word for it :) In general, I had to sort out after the purchase: the helicoid went so tight that it was incredibly annoying. Chromatitis, of course, seriously on an open hole, but this is if you take contrasting photos. Personally, I need him mainly for full-length portraits. The birds, stars and balconies of the neighbors do not bother me much. And then - I am ready to put up with such a frantic weight and lack of amenities in the form of autofocus and stub precisely for blurring the background when photographing growth portraits.

  • Sergei

    I will sell tair 3 fs 300 4.5 I will give for 10 tr there is still a photo gun to him mail boss.wret@mail.ru Voronezh write or call 9003023540

  • Alexander

    Tair 3FS is a very good lens for my money, I use it for photography at a distance of up to 100 meters in conjunction with Nikon D90. Good picture detail and good aperture.

  • Vladimir

    so I became the proud owner of this miracle, I got the FS kit almost not used, not a scratch on the case and lenses, I tried on my twenty through an adapter with a dandelion, it’s a very clear thing, it's really heavy, and the size is not small)) you need it already in spring when test the sun .. but I think I will not be disappointed)

  • Ivan Kamchatka

    I bought such a lens yesterday (Tair-3FS). For funny 1250 rubles. In XTS. In black, with a black and white aperture ring. And with the proud inscription "The Sovetskaya Buryatia" floating base on board ...
    First impressions:
    - it is wrong to talk about how he “looks on a modern Central Exhibition Center”. That's right - “what a modern digital camera looks like on this lens”. My Sonya A37 looks very plaintive :).
    - it is definitely necessary to stir up something to carry this device with an attached FA, it is impossible on the hardware belt, the bayonet will vomit out the nafik anyway ... And the neck will fall off.
    - the first tests were done already in the dark, due to which the phot strongly lifts the ISO (up to 3200 at a shutter speed of 1/200) and, accordingly, “makes noise”. Nevertheless, the picture is very pleasing. Range - so generally super. Fotal to test the road with cars (distance - 350 meters). It is clearly visible which car is in the frame (not nameplates, of course, but there is enough detail to determine the make and model of a car). And this at night, with hands.
    - Sonya's auto BB with this glass is lying godlessly. But it makes no difference to me, from the pre-flashed ones, you can completely choose the desired option, well, or put it yourself. By the way, with Helios-44M the same trouble - the autoBB is lying.
    - Bokeh is really very, very cute.
    - Apparently, for shooting our local motocross, the thing is excellent: you can get up on a suitable hillock and without running anywhere get anywhere on the track (it remains to make friends with Tair's wife so that she can do this - I ride myself ...)
    Conclusion: for your "money" - super glass. Of the minuses, only the need for collective farms will adapt for carrying.

    Arkady, a separate THANK YOU for an excellent photo business site. I read constantly, I learned a lot of new, interesting and useful things for myself. I became interested in photography recently. Basically, “technical” shooting is interesting (macro, all kinds of adaptations and effects (using only the capabilities of the PA)).
    What I like about your site is that it is about how to PHOTOGRAPH. Whereas many say “yes, you shouldn't take a steam bath, how do you remove it, then use Photoshop to burn down the masterpiece”. My ideal (what I strive for) is to photograph so that the subsequent processing is reduced to a minimum (resize, etc., the maximum is cropping).
    And here your work is a real example for me.
    Thanks again.

    • Markush Yuri

      Hello, Ivan!
      I also have Sonya a37 and also look closely at this lens (tair-3). Please tell me, do you manage to focus normally on infinity?

    • Igor

      I welcome Ivan! Can you tell me how to install the Tair-3-fs lens on the Sony A58?

    • Dmitriy

      Hello!
      How did you get used to carrying such a kit?
      I buy the same tomorrow)

  • Ivan Kamchatka

    And more about Tair. I would never have thought that shooting skills from an SVD could be useful for photography ... If you hold the lens-carcass bundle like a sniper rifle (the left hand is under the bottom of the lens, the right hand is for the carcass, the belt tension fixes the entire system), breathe correctly, do not breathe and listen to the heart - then it is quite possible to work with this monster from the hands ...

  • Dmitriy

    I will give in good hands such a Tair-3 4,5 / 300-A. 4500 rub

  • Alexey

    I bought this lens along with the FS-12 Photosniper, a completely new one, apparently from the warehouse, the smell is specific. My exemplar of release of 96, came across very successful. Used with Canon 400D, now I use with 5D mark II. The crop is generally super, it turns out 600mm. But the full frame is very good. Here is a picture of its upgrade:
    http://fotkidepo.ru/photo/466993/11545byVNOdKGLX/192105w.jpg

    Comments to it, adjustment to infinity, removed 2 diaphragm springs from three, so that when closing it does not twitch in the hands. He removed the thick grease (tsatim) and replaced it with silicone. He made a descent combined with a trigger from a wired control panel.

    Test shots:

    http://fotkidepo.ru/photo/466993/11545byVNOdKGLX/192044w.jpg meters from 80.

    http://fotkidepo.ru/photo/466993/118829q0m24ODX5/193314w.jpg

    http://fotkidepo.ru/photo/466993/11545byVNOdKGLX/qmNl0DX7jB/976580.jpg

    http://fotkidepo.ru/photo/466993/11545byVNOdKGLX/qmNl0DX7jB/976579.jpg

    What it looks like:

    http://fotkidepo.ru/photo/466993/118829q0m24ODX5/193315w.jpg

    There was an idea to sell, I was looking for flaws, but I found it. Left.

  • Alexander

    Good afternoon! Tell me, just for sure, will the KP-A / N adapter fit the Tair 3FS lens and will there be infinity? I read that it is possible to regulate this glass until reaching infinity, but I think that it would be better according to the principle “do not touch the equipment, do not interfere with its work!”.
    Thanks to all who responded.

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