Tamron 500mm f/8 Mirror Lens - Help a noobie

[marz2292]

Hi all,

What are people's views about mirror lenses? I have a Canon 450D/Digital Rebel XSi and I am looking at the Tamron pictured. I can get it for £50(~$80) and I am very tempted.

Can anyone offer their experiences?

Thanks

 

[shufti]

Some are ok . Some aren't. The donut boke can be avoided sometimes if you choose your compositions carefully. I had a Centaur 500 F8 which was poor quality. I had a 300 F5.6 Makinon which was almost as good as a 1970's prime, e.g like Soligor grade lens. The Tamron is supposed to be ok. The appeal of cat lenses is they're light and easy to use and carry. A 300 on a mirrorless camera can be shot handheld and fits in a coat pocket. They can be difficult to focus. You need a decent liveview LCD with x7 or x14 mag to get them focussed. A little viewfinder won't be fun to use.

Edit: They aren't easy to use - i meant easy to hold

 

[marz2292]

This is the lens sorry.

 

[marz2292]

Thanks for your reply ^^

I am only really an amateur and so I thought from reading a lot of reviews that this would be OK for what I need it for.

 

[shufti]

I'll see if i can dig out some shots. It will be interesting and novel to use for a while but i bet you in a years time you will have sold it on.

 

[marz2292]

Yeah it's only really to get me by while I acquire funds. People seem to be on both sides of the fence with mirror lenses, but the Tamron has pretty much only positive reviews. For £50 it's not a bad investment, thanks for your help.

 

[shufti]

People slag them off (often with good reason) Half of them probably never owned one, that's the thing.

Edit: no..i've had a look and my mirror-lens photos were so amazingly good..i've deleted them all.

 

[shufti]

Yeah it's only really to get me by while I acquire funds. People seem to be on both sides of the fence with mirror lenses, but the Tamron has pretty much only positive reviews. For £50 it's not a bad investment, thanks for your help.

I'd get an EOS-M42 adaptor £15, a Zeiss Jena 200 F2.8 Sonnar £200 and a Tamron '2x P-CS' 2xTC (multi-coated, M42) £10 ...i've got one you can have for free if you ever wanted it. For about £200 quid you got much better 400mm set-up than a 500mm cat.

 

[Docphil]

Hi, for £50.00 you will not be disappointed but you will not be over excited either . I had one years ago and sold it on eventually. It has an aperture of f8 so you need good light or wind up the iso. It may be light but you still need a tripod or some form of steadying. I also found it had internal vibrations too when used for long exposures, the inner mirror seemed to vibrate easily.
What do you intend to use it for? Wildlife? Sports? You might struggle for both because it is manual focus. The small aperture makes for a dim screen.
At that price, you will not lose too much when you sell it on in a few months after you have experimented.

 

[marz2292]

Well I shoot urban photos of buildings and the like, so the manual focus is not a problem at all. Thanks for your advice about the price, money is as tight as it can be for a student with no job ^^

 

[shufti]

There's a lot of charity shops down my way. If I spot a cheap M42 200,350,400 I'll let you know.

 

[Derrel]

If you want a good cat, you need to buy a quality-made one, like a Vivitar Series 1 model, or the Nikkor 500mm f/8. Mirror lenses usually will work just fine adapted from Nikon F-mount to Canon EF mount with an affordable lens adapter. These are lenses that cost $500 twenty-five to thirty years ago, and are very sharp, and well-made. The 50 Pounds Sterling or 50-60 Euro used stuff from Tamron, Soligor,brand X,etc. is decidedly several notches lower in quality. Honestly, I think you'd be better off buying an equally slow (f/8) long-focus all-glass lens--you know, the kind built in a long,slender traditional lens barrel, and priced around one hundred dollars new. You'd get better optics that way.

 

[KmH]

For what they cost they are great.

They have some rather severe technical limitations, but if those limitations prove to troublesome for you, someone will surely buy it off you.

 

[marz2292]

I will most likely sell it off in a few months time when I have enough to buy a better lens, thanks for the advice!

 

[cam neale]

thought id add to the mirror lens debate ,just bought a vivitar series 1 500mm f/5.6 lens and am surprised how good it is for 120.00 aus i tryed it at surf photography its difficult to focus for sure but a good learning experience i will attache some shots for you to look at ..i think its well worth it ..i couldnt afford a good nikon zoom ...

how do i add photos from my computer not a url