500mm Mirror Lenses

[Fanner50]

Hey everyone......I was looking on eBay for lenses for my Sony a6000 and saw some mirror lenses for sale.  Now, I know about mirror lenses and their limitations.  I'm just wondering if anyone has ever tried one and what did you think about it?  I think they are around $50/$60 dollars, and I know you don't get much for that, I'm just curious if anyone has tried one.

 

I'm going to show my age and tell that many years ago in the old Popular Photography magazine Hebert Kepler wrote one of his columns on mirror lenses.  As I recall, everything considered, and there is a lot to consider, he was actually fairly impressed with the images from it.  That was years ago, and their quality then was probably a lot better than now.

 

Anyone tried one?  What are your thoughts, taking into consideration their drawbacks and limitations?  Worth a gamble?

[Username]

I have several.

   

Rule No. 1: Size Matters.  

Rule No. 2: Rule No.1 always applies.  

Rule No. 3: Any mirror optic lacking a 

hefty tripod mount fails the size test. 

   

By way of example, I have a 500/8.0 

about the size of a soup can. My other 

500/8.0 is about the size of a 40oz can 

of V8 [or other fruit juice etc]. The mini 

is OK for the most casual snapshots if 

you are handy in PP with contrast and 

sharpening. OTOH the Juice Can is a

real lens ... specialized, but real. I also 

have a 1000/11.0 thaz basically just a 

stripped down version of a Celestron 

astro scope and is about the size of a

gallon paint can. Also real. Somehow 

I snagged a 500/5.6 ! If you can find a 

subject that renders well at Zero DOF, 

it's quite lens :-) 

[nomad]

My Minolta 500 f8 is a fine lens, but only really useable for very long distances up to the moon.

 

OTOH, my 250 f5.6 is a very handy lens, not much bigger than an ordinary 50mm, but I hardly get my hands on it any more since my wife loves it's very special bokeh so much. Well, she's a graphics designer…

[Username]

............

 

OTOH, my 250 f5.6 is a very handy lens, not much bigger than an

ordinary 50mm, but I hardly get my hands on it any more since my

wife loves it's very special bokeh so much. Well, she's a graphics

designer…

    

OKAAAYYY, I'm with your wife ... just "bokeh-wise acoarst !    

  

She loves it, I loves it. If I encounter someone who's neutral 

about it, prolly they're OK, too. But whenever I hear anyone 

spouting the negative "party line" about cat lens's rendering 

I'm very dismissive of that "individual"s "personal" opinion. 

   

Awkward as it looks on the page, I put "individual" and also 

"personal" in quotes ... cuz I'm dismissing their opinions as 

being externally imposed by marketing forces. IOW, I don't

credit the sheep with having actual personal opinions.