Sigma 600mm mirror lens

[Tartness909421 2]

I can't afford one of those super AF telephoto lenses that birders often use, so I bought this Sigma 600mm Mirror lens off E-Bay for not a lot of money and tried it out yesterday. I thought I had nailed my focussing but soon found out when loading my photos onto my PC, just how bad they were. Topaz Photo AI came to my rescue and gave me some acceptable photos. I think I need a lot more practise with this lens but it was great fun to use.

 

[RScottie140 55]

Those are great!

I have seen that lens on Ebay and wondered what it could do.

 

[Ozzie_Traveller17]

G'day mate

Having used a similar lens back in film-camera days, I know full well how little DoF you have at "full aperture" and 600mm. It does mean that your focus point needs to be carefully set.
My current camera (Panny FZ-300) runs out to 600mm equiv and for those shots I change focus point to central rather than multiple points - lock focus onto the main subject then move & compose before finishing the shot
Hope this helps, Phil

 

[Tartness909421 2]

G'day mate

Having used a similar lens back in film-camera days, I know full well how little DoF you have at "full aperture" and 600mm. It does mean that your focus point needs to be carefully set.
My current camera (Panny FZ-300) runs out to 600mm equiv and for those shots I change focus point to central rather than multiple points - lock focus onto the main subject then move & compose before finishing the shot
Hope this helps, Phil

Yes the tiny DoF is very tricky. I was using a monopod and I always use the central focus point but I think I need to use a tripod in future. I had the Panny FZ330 for a while, it's a great camera and I have a Fujifilm X-S1 which has a 24-624mm lens on it.

 

[petrochemist143 167]

I have quite a number of mirror lenses, they can give extreme reach with minimal cost & weight, but they're not really a replacement for traditional super telephotos. I wouldn't want to rely on one for shooting a typical airshow (having tried once using an auto focusing Techart Pro adapter)

I did recently have some success with mirror lenses, when I spotted a helicopter fighting a wild fire:

This was using my Russian MTO 1000 on a tripod with a Full spectrum converted Sony A7ii camera with the helicopter about 1km away..

I also got some moderately reasonable images using a lighter weight handheld 500mm f/8 with an infra red filter. None of the helicopter totally nailed focus, but this closer subject (probably 200m) turned out OK

FWIW my 600mm mirror lens is the Ricoh model, but I didn't take that to spain. I thought a 500mm & a 1000mm would cover things well enough for the eclipse, only to find clouds covered things more completely!

 

[benhasajeep72 70]

I had a Promaster $99 500 f/8 in school. It was a low contrast eating monster. Now you can boost the shots digitally but in film days you had to be choosey in the film shots you took with it. I always wondered how much better the Sigma and Tokina versions were. I think I have a Nikon 500 f/8 now, but been a long time since I went through some of the lenses upstairs.