My newest acquisition: Tamron 500mm mirror lens

gk fotografie · Nov 9, 2017

Visited the oldest camerashop of The Hague NL and saw this compact Tamron 500mm mirror lens in the window. It's in absolute mint condition, no fungus, no scratches, I payed 45 euro ($52) for it.
The mirror lens has a (Tamron adaptall) Olympus OM mount and fits my OM10 35mm filmcamera, perfectly. But, with the OM-Fuji X adapter I can also use this lens on my XE-1 and because of the 1.5 crop I'll get a 750mm f/8 lens.

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Because I've never been a big fan of (super) telephoto lenses, this mirror lens is a complete, new adventure for me. Who has never heard of mirror lenses, look at this YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/GS2F--dJFWw

benhasajeep · Nov 9, 2017

I had an inexpensive mirror lens years ago. I think it was a Promaster. It was like $100 or $129 back around 1991 or so. I used it maybe 3-4 times and gave up on it. Really a poor example of a lens. Ended up trading it for some darkroom gear.

astroNikon · Nov 9, 2017

I've had the Nikon mirror lenses in the past. They're nice and light, though you have to work on steadiness.

Of course, my telescopes are mirror lenses too.

fmw · Nov 9, 2017

I had a Nikkor 500 cat lens. Didn't use it much. F8 is pretty limiting, requiring a tripod for nearly everything. Images made with them are easy to spot because the out of focus highlights are in the shape of donuts.

astroNikon · Nov 9, 2017

fmw said:
I had a Nikkor 500 cat lens. Didn't use it much. F8 is pretty limiting, requiring a tripod for nearly everything. Images made with them are easy to spot because the out of focus highlights are in the shape of donuts.

the preferred lens of police departments around the world !!
LOL

clarification .... police like donuts .. thus a lens that makes donut OOF balls is preferred by them. LOL

Derrel · Nov 9, 2017

I did this Japanese-inspired, watercolor-look photo within the first 20 minutes with the 500mm mirror lens. From my open car window, car running, by a roadside wetland area near Ranier,Oregon. This is probably a 75 percent crop from a D610 frame. It is not obvious that a mirror lens was used.

Jamesaz · Nov 9, 2017

I was recently gifted the tamron 500. Found an m42 mount on eBay and tried it out with a mamiya 1000 and expired Polaroid color negative film. The results were interesting. The macro feature is fun too. I'd post them but truthfully I don't know how. Did yours come with the back filters?

benhasajeep · Nov 10, 2017

In the past I wanted to try a Nikon 500 mirror. There has been some faster 500's in f/5.6. Thought of those a couple times. But that old Promaster keeps popping up in my mind.

I would not turn down a Nikon 1000 or 2000mm mirror though. :allteeth:

astroNikon · Nov 10, 2017

benhasajeep said:
In the past I wanted to try a Nikon 500 mirror. There has been some faster 500's in f/5.6. Thought of those a couple times. But that old Promaster keeps popping up in my mind.

I would not turn down a Nikon 1000 or 2000mm mirror though.

A long time ago I read somewhere that the Nikon reflex components were made by Meade.

480sparky · Nov 10, 2017

Back in my film days, I had a Celestron 300/5.6 and a Tokina 500/8 mirrors. They were bears in terms of getting good focus. But when you nailed it, the results were fairly good. I currently have a Siggy 600/8 mirror but don't use it any more since I got the Nikkor 200-500 with a 1.4 TC.

davidharmier60 · Nov 10, 2017

I have a Phoenix/Samyang 500mm I bought years ago for AE-1. Yes kind of a b*tch to focus but if the light was right it did a nice job. Made in Korea.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

ac12 · Dec 5, 2017

I have and use a Nikkor 500mm f/8 mirror.
DoF is shallow, so follow focusing a fast moving tennis player is HARD.
But it is a LOT easier to pack and carry than the 'stovepipe' my brother has.

I use a gimbal for shooting sports, and that is a LOT easier than a pan or ball head for tracking moving subjects.

Mirror lenses are a fascinating item to me.
Next is a 1000mm mirror.