Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've noticed a wide variation in ratings for this lens, so I decided to write a review in the hopes it might aid someone interested in buying one or help them use it better if they already have it. I have a Canon 60D, a decent tripod and a view, so I have been giving this Opteka Telephoto Lens a workout for the last month to see its flaws and to learn how to use it. There is a learning curve - you could write a book on telephoto lenses. If you read a review from someone who sent the lens back the same day he received it, you should probably read that review with caution. First, this is not a Canon 800L mm prime lens, which weighs ten pounds, has 18 elements and costs$13,000 or Canon's 1200mm lens which weighs 36 pounds (80 pounds with the case) and sells for $120,000. These are telephoto lenses, not zoom lenses, so they cannot cover the entire range between them like a zoom lens can. The Opteka lens has a 3.7 inch objective lens, so it can't collect as much light as the Canon 800mm lens, but the Canon won't zoom to 1300 mm either. The Opteka also weighs less than half as much as the Canon and costs $210 with a "2xMultiplier". Tele extenders for new Canon lenses cost more than twice as much as the entire Opteka lens and extender, so if you place the lens in the proper perspective, it is an astounding value . The snap judgment from a lot of negative reviewers on other sites who have not used the product is "This lens must be junk at that price". One nice thing about Amazon is that you get to read reviews from people who have actually bought the item. You can Google wonderful pictures made by the Opteka 650-1300mm lens, to see examples of what it can do. With a little knowledge, you can take pictures you could not possibly obtain with any other lens in your collection (including the two Canon lenses above). Without a little information, you might end up blaming the equipment for a poor picture, instead of the operator. Here are some tips which should have been included with the lens: 1. If you are taking pictures of something far away (more than a mile), try to do so early in the morning after it has rained the night before, so the air will be clear and no heat waves will be rising to distort the air. Air is not really clear, so don't blame the lens if the air is to blame on a long shot for a "soft" focus. There is no autofocus, of course. 2. Always use a tripod and a wireless remote to trigger the release ($10-$20). The touch of your finger can cause a vibration on the tripod/camera system which can last ten seconds. Think of your camera as being on the end of a very long lever. A tiny shake on the camera end will cause blur and reduce sharpness. There is no image stabilization, of course. 3. Try to keep your shutter speed equal or greater than the lens in mm, i.e. 650mm should be roughly 1/640 of a second at least. On an overcast day at noon, this may equal an ISO of 340. 4. Use live view with the magnification setting to focus the lens. Your depth of field in a super telephoto is very shallow and the focus ring is very sensitive. I took a picture of a bird on a branch more than 100 feet away and the branches which were a foot or two away from the bird were beginning to get out of focus. This can make for a quite dramatic picture if used properly. 5. Use the manual setting and set the shutter speed you want. You will have no control over the aperture because this is preset by the amount of zoom in the lens. Set your ISO to auto and the camera will adjust the exposure for you. You can always manually tweak the ISO to adjust the exposure instead of adjusting the aperture. 6. Get a 95mm lens filter to protect the objective (front) lens from scratches. Opteka makes an UV haze filter which sells on Amazon for around twenty dollars. 7. There is sometimes Chromatic Aberration in pictures, which can be seen as a blue fringe on the edge of some colors, depending on the lighting, etc. and I have seen people in forums for other lenses scratching their heads trying to get rid of it in programs like Photoshop. Photoimpact Pro13 ($80 from the manufacturer) has a nice little fix for it if you go to Photo - Color - Correct Chromatic Aberration. Under "Pick Color From Template", go 4 clicks to the leaf with blue on it and click the box. Presto - Changeo! No more CA. 8. Photoimpact Pro 13 also has a "Focus" feature which can sharpen pictures, but introduces a little noise. If you want a laugh, go to "PhotoImpact Pro 13 is better than Photoshop#1" on Youtube for a guy doing a funny tutorial on what else the program can do. 9.You can get dramatic pictures and videos of the moon (you can see it moving in video), but you might try adjusting the ISO down a bit, because the moon has less contrast and is flat when it is too bright. 10. I took a quick picture of a distant, tiny light and blowing it up, found no evidence of lens flaws. I use a 43" 4K TV as a computer monitor, which really helps in adjusting pictures. I have not used the "2x multiplier" much because I am trying to get the best quality pictures possible and extenders put more glass in the way, which might not always be of the best quality. Extenders also require a substantial increase in ISO which is not good. Let's face it, 650-1300 mm is pretty amazing by itself without going to 2600mm. Summarizing, the Opteka 650-1300mm lens has been a lot of fun so far. In an era where most photographers just frame, point and click, it forces you to go back to controlling everything in a picture by yourself. If it's not a $13,000 Canon, you can use your knowledge, skill and a computer to go a long way toward reducing the distance between the two lenses in terms of quality, for a price which is nearly free in comparison. You will also have learned how to use more features in your camera and will understand how to take better pictures. I give it 5 stars because of the value/cost ratio. It arrived on time and in new condition. Apologies for been so verbose, but I hope this will help some of you.