Is this a classic case of "you get what you pay for?"

[Michael79]

I was curious if any Nikon or Canon users have bought the Rokinon 650-1300mm lens? I know I probably shouldn't expect much out of a lens with that much zoom for under $250. Regardless do any of you fine people own one or used one? If so what are your thoughts on this lens?

If I were to buy it, it would mostly be used for wildlife and moon shots.

Thanks for your input.

Heres a link to the lens
Rokinon 650-1300mm f/8.0-16.0 Zoom Lens, White 650Z

 

[tirediron]

It is indeed! Save your money! This is a big, VERY slow (f8 max aperture) fully manual lens that will probably suffer from VERY soft corners, flare and CA. I've not owned this one, but when I was much younger, I owned one of it's older brothers. At f11 on a bright, sunny day, with the sun behind you, it will produce an okay image and that's about it.

 

[Derrel]

I would go with their fixed focal length, 500mm f/8 long focus lens. I own one like this. These 500mm f/8 pre-set diaphragm long focus lenses have been made for decades. T-mount means it can be adapted to any brand of camera. $99. The optics are not that bad, and the lens is a real 500mm lens. No mirror lens "doughnut bokeh". Many of these are sold with a 2x converter, but that's kind of iffy.

Rokinon 500mm f/8.0 Telephoto T-Mount Lens 500P

I would SKIP the slow zoom

 

[Overread]

The Zoom is likely just a built in teleconverter (half of those type of listed lenses also list as "zoom" but actually mean that they just sell a teleconverter attachment in the box).
I agree with the others though that its best avoided in general - lots of focal length, but poor optics will make for a low contrast and soft shot. The f8 aperture limit a very big limitation since it means a darker viewfinder image to work with which will make focusing all the harder. Note also that whilst f8 is a popular aperture used for wildlife and bird photography (those long ranges result in very small depths of field - and many also using higher end zooms will stop down to around f8 for sharpness) it is limiting in the need for good light and also good usable ISO ranges. On a lens like that you're already taking a big image quality hit.

If you do want cheap and light a 500mm mirror lens can be suitable and I know a couple of photographers who use them for general wildlife. They are a bit fiddly to use and are not always the best (though there are some gems in the market here and there) but they can work well when on a very limited budget.


Also Derrel what do you mean by "No mirror lens "doughnut bokeh"" ??? It's my understanding that this is a property and defining characteristic of all mirror lenses.

 

[Derrel]

Also Derrel what do you mean by "No mirror lens "doughnut bokeh"" ??? It's my understanding that this is a property and defining characteristic of all mirror lenses.

The URL to the lens I referred him to is not a mirror lens. It is a conventional, long focus, 500mm f/8 lens. It also has an iris diaphragm, from f/8 to f/32. It is 4 optical elements in 4 groups, in a long, simple aluminum barrel.

 

[tecboy]

Buy this lens and tell everyone you spent $7,000! Nobody has to know!

 

[Michael79]

Thanks for you responses folks.