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Phoenix 100mm f/3.5 Macro lens
by Paul Fisher
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OVERVIEW
High quality macro lenses are not inexpensive. Super performers such as the
Micro-Nikkors can cost several hundreds of dollars or euros. And the offerings from
independent manufacturers such as Tamron and Sigma are somewhat lower priced,
but still not inexpensive.
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Phoenix AF 100mm f/3.5 Macro Telephoto Lens
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So is it possible to design, manufacture and market a budget price macro lens
that compares with the superstars? This review will attempt to answer that
question.
There are on the world market a number of almost identical 100mm f/3.5 macro
lenses, all manufactured by Cosina in Japan. They are branded as Cosina,
Phoenix, Vivitar and Voigtländer. The Pentax 100mm f/3.5 macro lens appears to
be the same lens as well. The subject of this review will be my Phoenix AF
100mm f/3.5 Macro Telephoto.
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS
On receiving the lens, I was first struck by its very light weight, specially
as it is not an especially compact optic. The construction is almost entirely
plastic - not the tough polycarbonate used in Nikkors and Tamrons, but a type
which feels harder and more brittle. I have no doubt this lens would crack open
if dropped. However, the lens mount is not plastic - it is metal.
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The lens barrel is a double-extension type (one extending barrel inside the
other) and the lens is more than twice as long when extended fully. Surprisingly
perhaps, the front element does not rotate during focusing. (It is an
oft-repeated fallacy that front element rotation is a function of internal
focusing - it is not). The inner extending barrel is printed with scales in meters, feet and magnification ratios for both the "bare" lens and the lens with
the 1:1 adapter fitted.
At full extension, there is a slight wobble in the barrel - about the same
amount or a little less than my first Nikkor - the old Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6D AF lens.
Again surprisingly, the aperture scale is engraved (or molded) rather than
just printed onto the plastic.
The filter threads are 49mm, and take a matching 1:1 macro adaptor. Without
the adaptor, the lens can focus to a maximum 1:2 magnification ratio by itself.
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