Mirror lenses - Makina

[SteveEllis]

Hi Guys,

What is a mirror lens? Are they any good?
What sort of money is a Makina 500mm Telescopic Lense worth?

Cheers,
Steve,

 

[SteveEllis]

Sorry guys, its Makinon Reflex lens, not Makina

 

[Torus34]

Mirror lenses provide a way to 'fold' a long focal length into a short lens. The converging light rays are reflected from the primary mirror to a secondary mirror and thence to the film. There is the usual give-to-get. You gain in lens length reduction. You lose somewhat in the appearance of out-of-focus [background or foreground] images. Like much in photographic equipment [film vs. digital, 35mm vs. medium format vs. large format, b&w vs. color, Canon vs. Nikon], it's a personal preference thing. Best bet is to see if you can rent the lenses you're interested in. Then A:B them on the same subjects. Then you pays your money and you takes your choice.

 

[SteveEllis]

Ah, right, I understand now, nice one, thanks

How about the make? Is it a good make or a cheap and nasty make?

 

[Torus34]

No data -- no opinion. Sorry.

 

[LWW]

There are a gazillion cheap mirror lenses out there. Benefits IMHO:

1-Cheap.
2-Light.
3-Compact.
4-Decent photo quality.

Downfalls IMHO:

1-Slow.
2-Difficult to impossible to handhold with good results in anything other than bright sunlight.
3-Very difficult to get tack sharp focus quickly.
4-Very dim image in the VF.
5-Won't take much abuse.

Most sell for around $100.00 new and that's about all they are worth IMHO.

LWW

 

[Soocom1]

Most of the various makes out there are like tooth brushed. different names, same plant, same people, same lens. The only really good lens is the Minolta AF 500 Reflex. Obviously it is good for only the KM mount, and is usually selling for around $500 US even on ebay.
I have a manual Russian number, and the biggest problem is the lack of an aperture. thus, everything on the manuals are dependent on the shutter speed and ISO. Best bet is to go with an APO.

 

[Don Simon]

How much are they asking for it? If it's cheap and you want the focal length then you might as well go for it. I was also looking for a 500mm for very little money, and thought a 'proper' 500mm as opposed to a mirror lens would give me better image quality. It didn't quite work out that way - it's still a cheap no-name lens that produces 'ok' rather than especially good images, and with the disadvantage that (unlike a mirror lens) I can't just carry it around along with my other lenses, or in fact shoot at all without a big heavy tripod.

Again if you really need a 500mm lens on a budget then you might as well get the Makinon as anything else. My advice though is to consider whether you actually need that focal length, because although that lens will do the job when used correctly in the right conditions, it will be slow and unwieldy. It might just be easier, where possible, to go closer to the subject. If you do decide you need 500mm then imo the only way to get value is to either spend very little money on a lens that 'does the job', or spend a lot on a good one.