Nikon_Bill Loc: South Florida

What happened to all those 500mm to 1000mm+ mirror lenses?
They left donut shaped rings of light in their bokeh. They were light and compact. Are they still being used for anything?

jgitomer Loc: Skippack Pennsylvania

People like me who want to play around with a long telephoto but don't want to spend the money to buy the real thing buy them.

Of course these days it is relatively easy to get rid of the doughnuts in PP so that makes them more useful than they used to be.

Hmmm, maybe I should be looking for a 1000mm to go along with my 500mm ;)

Jerry

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

You mean these?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/telephoto/Ntt/500mm+800mm+mirror+lens/N/0/c/buy/#inpage:In+Stock

Nikon_Bill Loc: South Florida

Does anyone use them for astro or wildlife shots anymore?

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Notice how similar, dare I say... identical, some of the different brands are to others.

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

If you're thinking about using them for 'astro', you're better off buying a real telescope, with a computerized tracker and an adapter for your camera.

And as far as wildlife, I wouldn't want to try finding and tracking anything in motion with my Nikkor 500MM f8.
It's REAL heavy.
Maybe with a gimbal mount?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?ci=140&N=4289936050+4289945434

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Bill, I think they went the way of the dinosaur. Not because they aren't usefull, but because nobody uses them.
In the old days, most of us(I know not all), used consumer glass and it was pretty good. Only real pros used real glass, like L lenses. I didn't even know anybody that owned an L lens.
Now, even a beginning shooter, starts buying L glass right away.
So all those old mirror style lenses just went by the wayside. Not because it's not perfectly good glass, but because they don't want to be caught dead using one. So there's no demand.
So if you have one, use the heck out of it, just don't get caught using it.
Imaging being lined up at Yosemite shooting the firefall, a couple rows deep with big white lenses, an occasional black lens, and you with your Spiratone(whatever brand), they might just chase you back into the woods!!
Long live mirror lenses!
SS

LGilbert Loc: Earth

The advantage of the mirror lens is compactness as the 800mm length is folded into thirds as the image bounces off the back mirror to the front mirror (black blob in center of lens) and then back to the final element. However, most have fixed F-stops of either F/8 or F/6.3. The older mirror lenses from the sixties had a rotating aperture plate with F/8,11 and 16 choices. The newer lenses have significantly better resolution, flair control, and aberration compensation. There is no room in the construction for automatic anything or vibration compensation.

Most of the current lenses are of Samyang origin, thus the similarity between Bower, Samyang, Rokonon, Vivitar and others, the only difference being the barrel aesthetics. There are a couple of other manufacturers, but the products are similar.

Of course, if you really want long distance resolution, you can connect your camera to a telescope quality mirror lens. When Mt. St. Helens was about to erupt I was on a hill ten miles south of the mountain in Cougar, Washington (which, as it turned out, was not far enough...) with a group of astronomers viewing the pending eruption and we could clearly discern a mountain goat grazing from that distance.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

I know of no one who used a Reflex lens for star photography. I still use my Nikkor 500-mm Reflex for stationary bird photography.
Note the subtle 'doughnut- shaped', out-of-focus, point light reflections in water.

Black-Crowned Night-Heron


Great Egret, Preening


Snowy Egret Contemplating His Own Refection


Northern Pintail Drake

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I was hoping you would post these examples of a good mirror lens used well!

MtnMan Loc: ID

Fabulous shots! No better ad for them!

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

I almost forgot these two, shot two-years ago. Monarch butterflies over-winter about 50-feet up in Eucalyptus trees along the coast of California. They can only be viewed & photographed from quite a distance.

Nikon_Bill Loc: South Florida

The latest greatest mirror lens in history is in use today. Nothing matches the Hubble Telescope. If that's what a mirror can do, I wonder why they stopped using them for cameras like they use to.

I have a 500mm mirror lens. I also have a telescope that's reflective rather than refractive. They are able to gather more light for low light images. No glass lens in the way to cause abrasion or flair. The question still needs a definitive answer. Why not photography on the ground and in the mainstream?

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Just like optical lenses, not all reflex lenses are created equal. Even though the technology is 40-years old, the IQ of my Nikkor 500-mm reflex compares quite favorably to most other brands.

Reflex lenses are fixed aperture and manual focus. Mine is f/8, so exposure is determined by combination of ISO choice & shutter duration.

CHOLLY Loc: THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE!

Wellllll....

The Sony SAL 500F80 is a FULL autofocus lens... on Sony DSLRs and SLTs that is.

I think it just MIGHT be the only autofocus Reflex lens available these days.... ;)