RichKenn Loc: Merritt Island, FL

I live in an eighth story apartment near Cape Canaveral and like to take telephoto shots of missile launches, airplanes at the nearby airport and the moon all from my balcony. I have a Nikon D-7200. My main problem is budgetary. I have a Sigma 100-400 mm lens that is so-so and I would like a little more reach. I purchased a used Reflex Nikkor-C, 500 mm, f/8 sort of on the assumption that “Nikon don’t make no junk.” At $207 it was within my budget. It is a bit of a pain to focus but I can live with that if the pictures are good enough. So, what's your opinion about that? I cropped it down to 1200x1800 pixels so it will print on 4x6 stock at 300 ppi. Fire away! I have a couple of days to return it if I want.

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imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Personally, I would forget the 500 use the 100-400 and optimize the native IQ and CROP - and use well applied pixel enlargement software if needed. I would also do a focus cal of the 100-400 at 400 and at a long distance as part of the optimization. This way, you spend nothing.
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SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

Mirror lenses are mostly known for their funny doughnut shaped bokeh. Picture quality can be mediocre to good depending on the particular lens. One other way to get more magnification would be a teleconverter but a 1.4 Nikon teleconverter will run you about $500 and my not even work with the mirror lens, or, trade in you current Sigma for a 100-600 Sigma.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'd return it. If you really want one, you can find them used for well under $100. They are compact and offer 500 mm, but the image quality isn't there. The Tamron 18-400 mm is more than twice the price, but I suspect the quality would be better, and it covers a wide spread.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Mirror lenses came to market during the film era, when DSLR cameras had focusing aids like split prism and/or microprism to show accurate focus. Or they were rangefinder cameras which used a rangefinder to focus. Trying to focus an F8 lens using current plain ground glass equipped cameras is, as you aptly described it - a real pain.

I have not used the Sigma 100-400 but it does seem reasonable enough. At F8 and 400mm it should equal or exceed to image quality of the 500 reflex. But since you have the lenses in front of you, you would be in a better position to compare.

You are not going to see much of a difference between 400 and 500 as far as the field of view is concerned. If you want to see a noticeable difference, the 150-600-class lenses is what you'd want. Skip any plans of using your slower zoom with a TC - aside from negative impacts on image quality and focusing performance, hand holding an effective 840mm lens is not going to be easy, and I would seriously advise against using that lens with an extender on a tripod for fear that you'd rip the lens mount right off the camera.

I am not sure why you crop your image down for printing - just crop it for composition and print it at full resolution - the print driver will make the necessary scaling adjustments.

As far as resampling an image to increase the megapixels in the image - all you will end up with is a cleaner image with more pixels and maybe a little more sharpness because the software will simply add more pixels to show you the exact same image that you captured - it definitely will not add any detail that wasn't in the original capture. It is useful when you are making big prints from a small image from a small sensor. A bigger print, say 4ft x 6 ft would be viewed at a greater distance anyway, precluding the seeing of any fine detail. The up-sized image will certainly have a cleaner appearance and less pixelation and no loss in detail, but it would have more detail like you would get with a longer focal length provided the lens has enough resolution and contrast. At best resizing to upsample is a very subtle effect, which you will only really appreciate if you are pixel peeping up close.

Here is a review of a very popular software package - On1 Perfect Resize - which is a rebranding of Genuine Fractals. You can see the results for yourself.

http://blog.kenkaminesky.com/onone-perfect-resize-software-review/

Here is a review of the Tamron 18-400 -

https://dustinabbott.net/2017/07/tamron-18-400mm-f3-5-6-3-vc-hld-review/

I don't know of any cheaper way to get what you are looking for other than getting a 150-600 -

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Reflex lenses work best in high contrast lighting and as mentioned have their short coming. However with a little post processing they can provide decent results.

I took the liberty of processing your image to provide an idea of what is possible. Had I started with a raw file the results would have been better. BTW I'll delete the images after posting.
Don't judge the lens too harshly.

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Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

Well, you have made the discovery that the 500mm f8 reflex lens will need some coaxing to get the best out of it.
Yes, it is difficult to focus - as someone pointed out it is easier with a high contrast, well lit subject. The DOF is razor thin, and it is shaken VERY easily. This lens MUST be placed on a VERY stable tripod or beanbag.
Based upon what you posted, it is not the lens to use. Hold onto it - when you get a truly good shot, it will "Knock your socks off". BTW, use a remote (mechanical or electronic) to push the shutter.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Try your Nikon's in camera crop, it might be helpful - Something else you can try out with your Nikon (versus a teleconverter or added lens expenditure) is to change the Image Area in the Shooting Menu from DX to the 1.3 crop. This allows you to fill the frame and still have a 15+ mega pixel capture, with no light loss. Since you are already doing a fairly heavy crop, you may find better resolution (and I like it because there is no light loss, or F-stop change like with converters, no added glass).

I'm inland and a bit north of your position, and this time of year I struggle to get moon shots (and would go to the Indian River to shoot launches), to much atmospheric moisture (bet being up eight stories really helps with that)....I usually don't even try till the dry air hits in fall and winter. I do the same thing with my Sony cameras CIZ (Clear Image Zoom) which does the same thing but takes me all the way to 2X if I need it. I have a couple of converters, but since the Nikon Image Area crop and the Sony CIZ crop found me, I don't use them anymore. Like filling the frame when I shoot and find the results quite acceptable compared to the converters or heavy PP crops. Try it out, it is free!!!! and I repeat, it's free!!
My $.02

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

The NIKKOR 500 mirror is capable of great shots but is a RPITA to use effectively, and especially in the dark or with fast moving objects.

I use an old TOKINA 400 AF 5.6 for such work and have found it simple to use and a great budget prime.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

I really miss the split image. That was foolproof. >Alan

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

[quote=LWW]The NIKKOR 500 mirror is capable of great shots but is a RPITA to use effectively, and especially in the dark or with fast moving objects.

Yes, I AGREE - is why I would forget it .....although the OP is using it for well lit stationary subjects - mostly I think.....so it MIGHT actually work for him ...?? I hate to be a naysayer.
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RichKenn Loc: Merritt Island, FL

Hey! Don't you guys sleep at night? I reported this last night at bedtime. Anyway, thanks for the advice and encouragement. I don't understand the difference between cropping in the camera and in post. I cropped this picture just to get rid of all that blank sky and leave just the Moon. By the way, the sky is blue because I took the picture before sundown.

lsaguy Loc: Udall, KS, USA

I bought a nice Sigma 600mm mirror lens from KEH for less than a hundred bucks. Yes, all the negatives are true but it's the only lens with that kind of reach that I could afford and it's blast to use. Your moon picture is an inspiration. I shall have to try and outdo you tonight if the dang thunderstorms could just stop for one or two nights.
If you can make it work for you, keep it; if not send it back and look for something better.
Good luck with your search.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

You can get a 1.4 refurbished Sigma teleconverter compatible with your lens in a Nikon mount for $189.00 at the Sigma outlet store. You would maintain AF depending on your camera body's limitations. This would give you up to 560mm (840mm FF equivalent) at f/9. I think the D7200 gives AF to f/8. The lens moves to 6.3 at 350mm yielding a 490mm at f/9 so you would not have AF in your desired range. However, that is not as important in your application since you can rely on manual focus given the distances. In fact, given the distance and assuming a small aperture during capture, you could AF while zoomed out then zoom in for the capture. Though I would probably manually focus in live view anyway. A refurbished 2x is $299(or old version for $229) and allow you manual focus in live view at 800mm (1200mm ff equivalent).
https://www.sigmaphoto.com/sigma-outlet/shop-accessories

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

On the "In camera crop": With both my D71 & 7200, and my 800 mirror (and a couple other long lenses, in the standard DX setting I get fair amount of vignetting, corners and edges are a throwaway anyway...so I go to the 1.3X setting and guess what happens, all that is cut out of the shot from the git-go, and I'm in the sweet spot for sharpness, the image is full frame or close to it. I don't lose any light like I would with a converter, and no added glass to go thru. It will work with any lens you have, no cost.

On the Sony cameras it is even better, as I can vary the crop considerably.

You might be surprised by what you get. Without going into all the "crop view - FOV perceived image magnification/enlargement stuff" (No need to start that silly argument stuff again, yes it is a crop), your 500mm - which acts like a 750 on a DX to begin with, now acts like a 975, and you didn't add additional glass or cut the light by any factor, and since filling the frame is easier, comp/focussing and live viewing are easier simply because the target is larger.

I don't have lenses that cost thousands either (on a retired budget too) and this allows me a lot of reach w/o a lot of lenses, I simply hit the button I have assigned to it and rotate the wheel (same one that sets shutter speed) to go from DX to 1.3 and back. And no vignette, no unsharp edges and corners. I'm just suggesting you try it, if you like it great, if not, all I've cost you is a few minutes to try it out. No purchase and try, return if you don't like lens or converter, easy peasy.
At any rate, have fun, you've a great spot for fine captures (eight story tripod)!!!