ialvarez50

I did not like the one I use to have and my idea for posting this was to find out if they improve these lenses or still crappy. I don't even want to rent one if they are no good.
For all my photography I use prime Canon lenses but, as one gets older you want to decrease the weight, right?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Well, after all the discussion, I finally looked through my images and found this one photographed with the Nikkor 500mm f/8 lens. The distance to the subjects was about 100 yards (91 meters). This was a Red Bull event in Tempe, Az.
--Bob

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Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

That's the thing.
They weren't known to be "A+" quality in their day.
They were better than not having anything. They were there, like my women- short, light and cheap.
A "normal" 500mm of that time was better- but waay lot more of money, length and weight.
I have one. It was maybe "B+" quality new. It hasn't gotten better with age.
Accept the one you have for what it is. Test it, play with it. Still fits in the goodie bag.
It's still a fixed f/8- I think they all were. Lots of daylight and low ISO might help.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

I have 1000mm, 500mm and 300mm Rubinar reflex lenses as well as a Sigma 600mm (Rev.2), a Sirius 500mm and an autofocus Minolta 500mm. The Sigma is a great lens WRT image quality. The autofocus Minolta is definitely my favorite for ease of use.

The Rubinars are all built like a tank but hard to get into good focus. The Sigma has a nice smooth focus ring.

Of course all reflex lenses have circular bokeh which bothers some people.

They're all fun to play with but I wouldn't consider them professional gear! They all work nicely with digital bodies.

bwa

Carusoswi

I have the Minolta AF 500 and use it on my two Sonys, an A700 and A900. Works well on both. If I pay some attention to the background and its distance to my subject, I find that I can avoid most of the doughnuts. Of course, there are situations where the doughnuts are there. If you need the shot, you do not have too much choice.

I have captured shots that I prize taken with this lens. I also have a Tamron 200-500 which works well for me, also, and, of course, gives me choice of aperture and nice blurred backgrounds. It is much more conspicuous than the mirror lens, so each has its place in my bag.

I have no quibbles with sharpness of the mirror.

Caruso

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Most mirror lenses are okay. Not really a great value. I bought one for a recent solar eclipse. I needed to buy a special filter and adaptor as well. Had the shutter on long and the f/stop wide open. Out of 50 shots I got 3 that had merit. When photographing in daylight, there is a lot of backround noise and the background gets fuzzy. Would I recommend buying one? If you have a limited budget and can't afford a 600mm long zoom lens, probably not worth buying a cheaper mirror lens. It's okay but remember you get what you paid for. I might use it to capture a pimple on a fly's belly or a plane taking off at Teterboro from Hackensack but not for those lifetime photos while on safari.

Leitz Loc: Solms

Okay, that explains it. As those who understand their use have stated, they're as fine now as ever.

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

it all depends on the quality of the glass. I have a cheap poenix 500mm f8 that produces some decent images with careful focusing.
my pride and joy is a Minolta 500mm f8 auto focus. mostly sharp images but some soft ones. every image doesn't have to be tack sharp, in many instances soft gets the best results. as for contrast, between the settings in the camera and in most post processing programs, the images come out just fine.
given the "newer" tecnoligy i'm surprised no one has come out with a new and better one in f8 or f6.3 auto focus.
p.s. when the 500mm is pared with the 1.4x tc on the sony a-850 the auto focus still works.

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

Deleted.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

A 500 mirror can take great shots but is exceedingly difficult to achieve them.

The DOF is razor thin, VF is very dark, any movement is amplified and they are useless for moving objects.

On a sturdy tripod for landscapes they can work well ... but as suggested earlier I use a 300 or 400 and crop down some.

depscribe

I have and use a 500mm f8 Mirror Reflex Nikkor, a 1000mm f11 Celestron mirror lens (small telescope set up by the manufacturer with a T mount for use as a telephoto) and a 1250mm f11 Meade (small telescope set up by me for use as a telephoto). All work just fine, though all require some skill, which makes them unpopular with latter day photographers.

depscribe

If you were using a mirror lens, wide open was the only possibility.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

SKILL ... what is this madness of which you speak?

depscribe

Here's one made 35 years ago, Nikon F3, 500mm f8Mirror Reflex Nikkor, Fujichrome of one flavor or another, handheld, Sanibel Island. No trouble selling this one.

Costello

I found a used 500mm Reflex Nikkor in its case a few years ago. I used with a D700. The camera has given way to a D810, then a D850. The lens has worked with all of them.
* As with a film image, the mirror lens has fantastic effects for out of focus elements in the frame.
* You will notice the same light fall-off toward the edges of the frame.
* It is better to use a tripod with that much magnification. Other support, such as a bean bag, are not much of an improvement over hand held shooting
* I have had reasonably sharp images shooting hand held at 1/2000 shutter speed or higher.
* The lens is ill-suited for fast action such as air shows or auto racing - I find it difficult to focus precisely in that environment, and the shallow depth of field leaves no margin for error.
* The exposure is correct for the fixed f/8 aperture.
* You may be able to find archived articles by Herbert Keppler (who published in the old "Modern Photography" magazine.). He wrote a few articles about various mirror lenses and shooting techniques for mirror lenses.
* I do plan to try to have special Waterhouse stops machined. Those will give the option of effectively having either an f/11 or an f/16 aperture, thus providing a greater degree of image sharpness and improved contrast in the images.
The lens I found came with the Skylight and Neutral Density 4x filters. I do employ them from time to time.