Opteka 650-1300mm (with 2X- 1300-2600mm) Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon EF-Mount EOS 90D, 80D, 77D, 70D, 60D, 50D, 7D, 6D, 5D, 5DS, 1DS, T8, T8i, T7i, T7s, T7, T6s, T6i, T6, T5, SL3, SL2 DSLR Cameras

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 themorning after it has rained the night before, so the air will be clear and no heat waves will berising to distort the air. Air is not really clear, so don't blame the lens if the air is to blame on along 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 yourfinger can cause a vibration on the tripod/camera system which can last ten seconds. Think ofyour camera as being on the end of a very long lever. A tiny shake on the camera end willcause 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 beroughly 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 supertelephoto is very shallow and the focus ring is very sensitive. I took a picture of a bird on abranch more than 100 feet away and the branches which were a foot or two away from the birdwere beginning to get out of focus. This can make for a quite dramatic picture if usedproperly.5. Use the manual setting and set the shutter speed you want. You will have no control over theaperture because this is preset by the amount of zoom in the lens. Set your ISO to auto and thecamera will adjust the exposure for you. You can always manually tweak the ISO to adjust theexposure instead of adjusting the aperture.6. Get a 95mm lens filter to protect the objective (front) lens from scratches. Opteka makes anUV 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 fringeon the edge of some colors, depending on the lighting, etc. and I have seen people in forumsfor 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 theleaf 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 alittle noise. If you want a laugh, go to "PhotoImpact Pro 13 is better than Photoshop#1" onYoutube 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), butyou might try adjusting the ISO down a bit, because the moon has less contrast and is flatwhen it is too bright.10. I took a quick picture of a distant, tiny light and blowing it up, found no evidence of lensflaws. 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.

I got this lens 18 months ago and have enjoyed it. I took photos of the tops of nearby mountains, and I climbed the mountains to take a photo of my backyard. I've explored some astrophotography. I can now see the difference between this and a real telescope, but for the price, for some people, this will be an amazing lens.Pros:Reach. 1300mm is amazing, and the optics quality is better than I expected. This costs a few percent of what a "real" telephoto lens with similar reach would cost. If you're patient enough and not super wealthy, you can use this to take photos you couldn't get other ways.Cons:You will need patience to work with this. Here is what I had to do:-I had to get a big sturdy astronomy tripod because my normal tripod couldn't hold this steady. This won't be necessary if you use it during the day, but I wanted this to be my astronomy telescope too.-I had to mount the lens on an astronomy dovetail bar using third-party mounting rings, just to keep it from bending in the middle. That's right, when zoomed to 1300mm, its own weight bends it in the middle.-I had to tape the lens caps (front and back) to the lens using painters' tape, because the caps won't stay on at all.-Soon I will need to repair the camera-body adapter since it broke yesterday. Now it is still sturdily attached to the lens, but it spins freely. My camera will now spin freely too if I try to use this lens.-The optics are almost as good as a photography telephoto lens. Almost is the key word. Get ready to use software like GIMP to remove chromatic aberration and increase contrast. My Saturn picure below is black and white for that reason.With all those cons in mind, I'd still buy it again. This brings me to another Pro: This lens is a great learning experience for someone who is getting into photography and astronomy. I learned a LOT as I slowly improved this lens. Now I'm ready to move up to a real telescope, but I will keep this lens for daytime photography. Maybe planes taking off. Maybe the moon rise over faraway mountains. Maybe bats flying in front of an enormous moon. All of this is possible to someone with this lens, persistence, and patience.