Recomment long range lens (600-800mm) or so.

NiceDays · Joined: 25 Jun 2021 Posts: 23

I want to buy long range lens that is somewhat equivalent to 50-70x zoom consumer camera.
Very tight budget, so cheaper the better. Any advice?

i really hate to have a huge size lens like telescope, but mirror lenses are too soft right?

Please suggest few models.

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7554 Location: Hong Kong

If you use a Canon RF camera, just buy the RF 800mm f/11 IS STM when you have more budget. None of the old mirror can competes with its sharpness.

Otherwise, it is better to look for a good 500mm Mirror from Tamron/Minolta/Canon etc.

RokkorDoctor · Joined: 27 Nov 2021 Posts: 1271 Location: Kent, UK

I don't know your intended use or your sharpness & speed requirements, but might e.g. a 300mm/4.5 + 2x TC also be an option?

E.g. a Minolta MC ROKKOR 300mm/4.5 is affordable and has a very insensitive helicoid speed, so still easy to focus with a 2x TC if you can live with the f/9 speed.

A 500mm~ish mirror lens will give you much less CA though.

If budget is an issue this is likely to be the compromise you will have to make; doughnut-bokeh & light fall-off in the corners of a mirror lens, but with much less CA than a budget 600-800mm regular optic...

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Search ebay for "500mm f/8.0 Preset". Those are actually not bad. Some have matching 2X TC for 1000mm f/16. Beware a fogged rear element impossible to clean in older lenses. Performance to price ratio is quite high imho. Better quality come at many times the cost.

In the US (where are you?):

Click here to see on Ebay

image by seller isellstuff4u

or

(only $29.99 + free shipping)
Click here to see on Ebay

otherwise these are great and inexpensive:

Tamron 55BB 500mm f8 SP Tele Macro BBAR MC ($112.82 + free shipping)
Click here to see on Ebay

Gerald · Joined: 25 Mar 2014 Posts: 1196 Location: Brazil

Recomment long range lens (600-800mm) or so.

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7554 Location: Hong Kong

NiceDays · Joined: 25 Jun 2021 Posts: 23

Forget to mention its mainly for playing around with zoom, i am not planning on shooting anything serious with it, just to practice high zoom.

kypfer · Joined: 27 Sep 2017 Posts: 516 Location: Jersey C.I.

Antoine · Joined: 08 Jan 2016 Posts: 298 Location: London

If you want a zoom and can carry 2 kgs (4.5 lbs), the Minolta mc/md 100-500 mm zoom f8 is good, often reasonnably priced otherwise mirror is more convenient. If you are lucky the APO...

If you are strong and want 800 mm then the Minolta mirror can be found... but for a few hundred £

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

I agree with Kyper. I have some experience with learning how to get sharp photos with a long mirror -- in my case it was a Sigma 600mm that I bought new back in 1984. It was a very sharp lens, but it took me quite a while to realize this. I recall with the first set of slides I got back, I was convinced the lens was junk. But I persevered and, as my technique improved, so did my photos.

There's the old rule of thumb that, with a telephoto, you should shoot at a shutter speed that is the reciprocal of the focal length. So, with a 500mm lens, for example, you should shoot at a minimum 1/500 second. But I found that if I was shooting unsupported, the shutter speed should be at least doubled. So, for shooting with a 500mm unsupported, 1/1000 second would be a minimum. But even so, whenever possible, I have always preferred to use a stout tripod and a camera with mirror lock up with a cable shutter release. I have also used monopods, and they worked well as long as I was able to support them well.

However! The real world does not always cooperate when it comes to maximizing your shutter speed. Often conditions are such that your maximum possible shutter speed is much slower than ideal. This is where a stout tripod becomes critical. And a way of releasing the shutter without touching the camera.

These days, when shooting with a digital camera, there's no mirror lock up -- and if you're shooting mirrorless, well there's really no mirror lock up. There's also usually no facility for using a cable release. So what I do with my Sony mirrorless is I use the camera's 10 second self-timer, which is usually enough time for the image to stabilize. I also use the camera's magnifier feature -- 10x, I think it is. This helps dialing in a sharp focus. My Sony is an older model -- a NEX 7, so it doesn't offer high ISOs the way a lot of the later digital cameras do, and the images become degraded rapidly as I bump up the ISO, so to preserve maximum sharpness, I always shoot at the slowest ISO my Sony has -- ISO 100. So, if I'm shooting a photo of the moon, for example, with a long lens, my fastest shutter speed is 1/125 second. (Correct exposure for the moon is 1/125 sec at f/8 at ISO 100.) Obviously, this is where a stout tripod is critical.

I have used a variety of 500mm lenses with my Sony with tripod, also a 650mm refractor lens, and a Meade 1000mm f/11 SCT mirror. All of these lenses render sharp images, but it takes a bit of skill and practice to get a good image. One technique I always use is I take multiple shots of the same subject, refocusing between each shot. The likelihood of getting a sharp image is increased, I've found, using this technique.

RokkorDoctor · Joined: 27 Nov 2021 Posts: 1271 Location: Kent, UK

RokkorDoctor · Joined: 27 Nov 2021 Posts: 1271 Location: Kent, UK

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7554 Location: Hong Kong

If you use a modern Sony camera like A6300/A6400, you can use a Techart LM-EA7 to drive your mirror lens so you can handheld it and get sharp photos. If it is A6500/A6600, you will get IBIS too. Wink

kypfer · Joined: 27 Sep 2017 Posts: 516 Location: Jersey C.I.

eggplant · Joined: 27 May 2020 Posts: 516

Also, mirror lenses that aren't solid require some time to acclimatise to reach best performance, like 30-45 minutes.

You can now get a 500mm f/6.3 refracting lens for same price as the 500mm f/8 wundertute- branded under Oshiro etc. That atleast gives you more aperture to play with if you're using a teleconverter.

NiceDays · Joined: 25 Jun 2021 Posts: 23

eggplant · Joined: 27 May 2020 Posts: 516

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7554 Location: Hong Kong

eggplant · Joined: 27 May 2020 Posts: 516

I'm sure someone like stevemark / other people who do extensive lens comparisons, could do a good test of this acclimatization. Would have to have atleast one hot day though methinks.

RokkorDoctor · Joined: 27 Nov 2021 Posts: 1271 Location: Kent, UK

marcusBMG · Joined: 07 Dec 2012 Posts: 1305 Location: Conwy N Wales

Let's just clarify a bit. The 50-70x you mention in your OP refers to the ratio of shortest focal length to longest focal length of a superzoom. So the range might be 4.5mm to 400mm = 89x zoom approx. This is not magnification - at least not in the normal sense of relative to normal eye view. The crop factor of the sensor is probably a bit over 5x so 4.5mm focal length would equate to 24-28mm equivalent wide angle and 400mm would be up to 2000mm plus (which is impressive, and roughly 40x magnification relative to 50mm "normal" view).
Superzooms have improved a lot in the last few years, I have to say they are probably one of the most practical ways of getting this sort of ultra-extreme telephoto.
As soon as you are using more conventional sized sensor cameras - apsc or full frame - the practical limitations of optics (the really long focal length lenses are huge - small telescopes - and expensive eg pentax 1000mm, pentax A 1200mm ) mean that above 400mm options are limited. Mirror lenses are often frustrating, especially when the light is less than perfect. Modestly priced lenses like those 500mm f8's are simply not very good (my review here ). Most importantly, I have consistently got better results with the better 400mm options than with those 500mm options.
In the end its about results. That shall be achieved by a balance of lens/lens + tc choice, and cropping. and the more pixels you have, the more cropping you can do.
One other possibility: digiscoping.

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2495

This should do :p
https://aquilaa1.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/maksutov-1000mm/

eggplant · Joined: 27 May 2020 Posts: 516

NiceDays · Joined: 25 Jun 2021 Posts: 23