Bill Emmett Loc: Bow, New Hampshire

I'm thinking of buying one of either a mirror lens, or a long lens 500mm. It seems these lenses are fixed apature, at f8. This is ok since I plan on using it for wildlife, on nice sunny days. My question is about the quality of the photos. I have never used a mirror lens, and don't know what to expect. I know it is much shorter than the 500mm long lens, it may weight about the same as the long lens. I have looked at both on the photo sales sites, but cannot decide which would be the better buy. I don't mind humping the lens into the bayou, but all the support equipment could be a problem. The long lens will probably need a extra tripod, or monpod. I'm not sure the long lens can support the weight of the camera mounted on the end. The mirror lens seems to be 1/2 the lenth, I don't know how much it weighs. Any experience, or suggestions

KG

I have a Rokinon 800mm, and my opinion is mirror lenses don't provide good optical quality. Contrast is bad. Sharpness is bad.

Here is an example:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-6167-1.html

and with post-processing contrast fix:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-6167-1.html#66300

I don't even carry the lens in my bad anymore.
I get better results by using 70-200 at 200mm and cropping.

There might be some high-end mirror lenses, but I'm not aware of any.

glojo Loc: South Devon, England

The lens I always use weighs just a touch under four kgs and that is HEAVY, BUT.... You NEVER, EVER, EVER, pick up the actual camera. You ALWAYS pick up the lens, carry the lens, and take pictures with the lens being supported. I have never used a tripod so all my shots are hand held but I would certainly not recommend anyone humping this thing around all day. having said that the lens you are considering is featherweight compared to this so everything will be so much easier. (just under a quarter of the weight) Is the quality as good? Of course not but is it good enough for you and the use you want to put it to.. That is something only you can decide :) but you will see huge telescopes that have fittings for a dslr, we just would NEVER dream of trying to lift the telescope via the camera :)

mawyatt Loc: Clearwater, Florida

Bill,

Please look at the Sigma 150-500 OS and 50-500 OS. Many discussions and images on here about these Sigma lenses, they are quite good IQ wise and very good value.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

Jst my two cents. I saved my money for years, got the good glass I wanted (Nikon 200-400 f4 vr) and got a full sized tripod with gimbel head. Camera and lens weigh 10 pounds. I'm 67 and I backpack with this rig and tripod. I love my results---I very good friend and excellent semi-pro shoot had a sigma lens ( when I upgraded to the Nikon 500 f4 the difference in his photos was striking.

Only you can decide what is good enough for you. I suggest you rent the lens and try it out before making a big buck purchase. Then decide for yourself.

In my case, even my wife noticed a (as she put it) dramatic improvement in my photos once I got the new quality glass.

Good luck.

Larry

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

I have owned a Nikkor 500-mm f/8 Reflex (mirror) lens since the early 1970s. I now use it on my light weight D5000 or D90.

Note that point-light reflections appear as doughnut-shaped circles.

Here are typical results:

A Snowy Egret Contemplating His Own Reflection via Nikkor 500-mm Reflex lens through a chain-link fence


Black-Crowned Night-Heron via Nikkor 500-mm f/8 Reflex lens. Note circular light reflections.


Snowy Egret Preening via Nikkor 500-mm f/8 Reflex lens.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

You can find Nikkor 500-mm Reflex lenses on eBay at quite affordable prices.

Tina

I checked out both websites your pictures are awesome.

glojo Loc: South Devon, England

I would suggest your images show folks the capabilities of that lens and posting these type of pictures is far, far better than a thousand words :thumbup:

dimondon Loc: Georgia

Bill I have a Soligor 500mm f 8. mirror lens and a long Bower 500 mm with a 2x converter. I like them both but I find that shots under 20 feet are fuzzy and that I must have a tripod with both of them for any acceptable results. This photo was taken with my Bower lens at about 200 feet. It was tripod mounted and I think I need a remote shutter switch.

Telephoto lens at about 200 feet

glojo Loc: South Devon, England

Does the original look any better as that image does not compare to that posted by Nikionian?

I find that sometimes a thumbnail is totally deceiving

Bill gomberg

Rent both . Try them on a STURDY tripod w/cable release and gimbal mount . . Then you'll be able to make an informed decision . Most of what you wrote is wrong inforrmation . Beyond question , for superior image quality , a prime ( non - zoom} telephoto is far superior than a mirror lens but the cost difference is enormous . True too of the weight difference .

Audwulf Loc: Golden State

I have an Optica 500mm f:8.0, an Quantaray 500mm mirror f:8.0,and a Sigma 150-500mm f:5-6.3. I am happy with all three.
the Optica, and Quantaray are manual, and take a little getting used to. They also mess with the photo info. The Sigma, I fell in love with it the first time I used it. I have now delegated my 18-200mm to second chair. These were Hand held with IS on. If you use a tripod, use a cable release with a 2 second timer shutter.

Quantaray


Optica


Sigma @ 500mm

RobertW Loc: Breezy Point, New York

In the 70's, I lived in Qatar in the Middle East for 8-1/2 years. Two tasks related to my assignment there were to learn to communicate in Arabic, and to record all aspects of my work there (Architecture) As part of the learn to communicate in Arabic, I almost weekly went with my jeep into the deep desert ("Rhub-al-Khali", or "The Empty Quarter" of Saudi Arabia) to the Bedouin encampemnts to immerse myself into the learning process where I had no choice to communicate in other than rudimentary, but slowly improving Arabic. At the same time, I always had my Nikon with a 55mm Noct-Nikkor lens, several others, but my absolute favorite was a Nikkor 500mm f.8 mirror lens---It was the only mirror lens I ever used, but now that I have had to downsize my gear and am using an OLY Pen EP3 and a new OLY EM5, I am investigating another long mirros lens in keeping with my desire to be fully, but lightweight equipped.
I would recommend a mirror lens, but only high quality glass.....The Nikkor 500mm performed extremely well, and I was unhappy to part with it when I had to downsize...
RobertW

Audwulf Loc: Golden State

Reminds me of a man who said "My wife told me to sell my cameras, or she was leaving" He said he was sure going to miss her.