Bokehlicious

[astroNikon]

Thanks for coments, second picture was taken during the rain
I used Samyang 500mm f6.3, wich focus from 2m to infinity

Nikon used to make mirror / catadioptic lenses. It was rumored that Meade actually made the optics back in the day.

I had a Nikon Reflex 500mm f/8 - manual focus lens that I used for a short time. It was nice for 500mm and night sky photography.

I also have a 1,000mm Meade reflex lens plus my telescope.

Have either of you used a mirror lens wildlife? I always wondered how well it would work.

I tried doing birding with my Nikon Reflex 500 once. I practiced a lot in my back yard too.
But I just could not hand hold it steady enough for anything, but then back then my hand holding technique is not as well as it is today, nor was I thinking of using a much higher shutter.

I also could not focus it fast enough for flying birds. If the bird was on a branch I could quickly try and get the shot, if it moved .. forget it.

I gave up quickly but I didn't get it to do birding. Since it was just like my telescope I used it for "training" per say for astrophotography. It worked really good on a tripod taking pics of the moon and stars though.

I could probably do much better with it now and I hand hold the Tamron 150-600 with VC turned off most of the time.

The Nikon Reflex 500 focusing barrel was quick enough to focus quickly. The Meade 1,000 is smooth but slow moving and thus too slow focusing for anything that is moving.

But remember, it's Manual Focus .. so it's up to your eyes and hands to focus it.

 

[FITBMX]

I tried doing birding with my Nikon Reflex 500 once. I practiced a lot in my back yard too.
But I just could not hand hold it steady enough for anything, but then back then my hand holding technique is not as well as it is today, nor was I thinking of using a much higher shutter.

I also could not focus it fast enough for flying birds. If the bird was on a branch I could quickly try and get the shot, if it moved .. forget it.

I gave up quickly but I didn't get it to do birding. Since it was just like my telescope I used it for "training" per say for astrophotography. It worked really good on a tripod taking pics of the moon and stars though.

I could probably do much better with it now and I hand hold the Tamron 150-600 with VC turned off most of the time.

I wondered if it wouldn't be hard to handle. I also would have a problem in low light, since they are almost all F8.

 

[astroNikon]

I wondered if it wouldn't be hard to handle. I also would have a problem in low light, since they are almost all F8.

It's not too heavy.
It's just short, which means your hands are fairly close together. Stability is easier with the hand further away.

It is wider up front so it captures much more light than you think.
My telescope is f/10 but it has 12 inches of light gathering ability. (Imagine your lens with the outside element 12 inches across ). The aperture is actually just a Tube that maxes the light/image circle to the sensor, you would think it would actually be f/0 if it wasn't that the aperture is calculated.

The mirror lens objective are to gather light. The "aperture" is mostly always fixed, well the entire thing is fixed. (one of Nikon's reflex lens does offer a couple aperture ranges though).

Telescopes / reflex lenses are used for "light gathering power" where it is gathering light from a small source which is giving illuminance on earth . Where as a regular lens is gathering light from an "extended" scene (everything in the image is reflecting light) of an average luminance. ( <-- I chopped out a bunch of stuff and streamlined it so it makes more sense).

But I've never compared the 500 reflex to a 500mm lens in low light especially hand-held (hand held forget it) if that is what you are asking too.

It's all fun .. the technical stuff I'm not 100% sure about. I just know it works.

 

[FITBMX]

I wondered if it wouldn't be hard to handle. I also would have a problem in low light, since they are almost all F8.

It's not too heavy.
It's just short, which means your hands are fairly close together. Stability is easier with the hand further away.

It is wider up front so it captures much more light than you think.
My telescope is f/10 but it has 12 inches of light gathering ability. (Imagine your lens with the outside element 12 inches across ). The aperture is actually just a Tube that maxes the light/image circle to the sensor, you would think it would actually be f/0 if it wasn't that the aperture is calculated.

The mirror lens objective are to gather light. The "aperture" is mostly always fixed, well the entire thing is fixed. (one of Nikon's reflex lens does offer a couple aperture ranges though).

Telescopes / reflex lenses are used for "light gathering power" where it is gathering light from a small source which is giving illuminance on earth . Where as a regular lens is gathering light from an "extended" scene (everything in the image is reflecting light) of an average luminance. ( <-- I chopped out a bunch of stuff and streamlined it so it makes more sense).

But I've never compared the 500 reflex to a 500mm lens in low light especially hand-held (hand held forget it) if that is what you are asking too.

It's all fun .. the technical stuff I'm not 100% sure about. I just know it works.

Thanks! I will have to get one, the next time I see a cheap used one!