Tair 11A 135mm F/2.8 Lens {Gear Review} // Part I

January 12, 2014 Chris Harth

Whenever I get stuck inside the house on rainy days i'll tend to test out different setups or gear, in this case a lens I borrowed from a fellow photog for the weekend. I don't do this often but I thought it would be nice to do a quick review. This is not a new lens, but an older Russian Zenit model that I have found to be really impressive! Production of these were between 1958 and 1960. It's all manual focus with focus confirmation, as well as manual aperture control. It has a max aperture stop so you can limit your f-stop. As shown below I always left it at 8, but it would be fine 4 or even 2.8 :) This lens has an attached, built-in lens hood so you never have the trouble of losing or twisting on/off like other hood types. The storage case is a solid tube that holds up to 3 or 4 filters stacked. And to top it off, a nice gun metal finish to let everyone know you're serious. See the lens and various sample images below...

Tair 11A 135mm F/2.8 Lens:

Description:

F-stops:from 2.8 to 22, preset aperture using preset ring. Optical Construction: 4 elements in 3 groups, 20 aperture blades. Minimal focus: 1.2m. Weight: 600g. Size (Length/Width): 110/70mm. Filter Diameter: 55mm. Hood: built-in, sliding. Camera mount: M42 or M39 through interchangeable mount.

Sources:

Sample Shots:

All of these were shot from within the house, either shooting inside or just outside the window. Both of which I could test at different ISO's. The results are shown below. Nothing short of incredible bokeh and sharpness.

Conclusion:

From the few sample shots from the weekend, i'm blown away by the performance and image quality you can get. Amazing bokeh and build. The only cons I would say is it's heavy and has poor contrast. In part II of a review, i'd like to put it through the portrait test. As this is a 135mm, it is a supreme focal length for portraits and mainly headshots at that. Separating the subject from the background is just what this is made to do. Not to mention that it's built like tank, it could certainly take a beating and perform like it's %100 new. Definitely recommended if you're looking for a lens of this type and don't want to spend the cash or mind the manual focusing. All the optics are well built and will carry out with strong results.

Thanks for reading!