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Cheap mirror 500mm
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 8:49 pm    Post subject: Cheap mirror 500mm Reply with quote
Most of these, apart from #3, have been sharpened a lot. Hand held is always a problem with late afternoon light and fixed f8.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5


PostPosted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Which mirror is that? I had similar results from a Japanese no-name lens (Hanimex? Focal? don't remember), and much worse from the Korean mirror, Samyang 500/8 (also sold as Vivitar, Opteka etc.) Russian mirrors are typically better.


PostPosted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Worst mirror lens I ever used was an Opteka 500mm F/8 but the 500mm f/6.3 and 800mm f/8 from the same maker are quite reasonable.

That Opteka was really terrible, one of the only lenses I ever used that didn't even look sharp in the viewfinder!


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Pretty good results! Last ones especially cute Smile


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
fatdeeman wrote:
Worst mirror lens I ever used was an Opteka 500mm F/8
...
That Opteka was really terrible, one of the only lenses I ever used that didn't even look sharp in the viewfinder!


Yep, that's the one. Mine was branded Samyang, but honestly the firm should be ashamed to put its brand onto such piece of crap. Sold it as a "soft-focus, special effect" lens. On the other hand, Yashica ML 500/8, Olympus Zuiko 500/8, and Rubinar MC 500/8 are all extremely nice.


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, you guessed it, it's an OPTEKA f8 Smile


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
Pretty good results! Last ones especially cute Smile


Thank you Attila. Getting my daughter to smile naturally when she knows a camera is pointing at her is extremely difficult, so really pleased to have got this one Smile


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:13 am    Post subject: Mirrors rock! Reply with quote
As the cost difference between good and great mirrors is so low, please do yourself a favour!

There are superlative mirrors that I will eventually acquire, once I sell of those lenses I dislike or find inadequate. Zeiss Mirotar sounds good!

The sheer usability of any mirror makes it possible to take photos that are not possible without tripods etc.

Glad to see a portrait with a mirror too! Very rare, but why not? The ultimate stealth lens, although slowish at f8, it does present challenges and opportunities.

More power to all who use them!


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:50 pm    Post subject: Re: Mirrors rock! Reply with quote
pat donnelly wrote:
As the cost difference between good and great mirrors is so low, please do yourself a favour!

There are superlative mirrors that I will eventually acquire, once I sell of those lenses I dislike or find inadequate. Zeiss Mirotar sounds good!


This one only cost £35, so which ones are the "greats"?

pat donnelly wrote:


The sheer usability of any mirror makes it possible to take photos that are not possible without tripods etc.

Glad to see a portrait with a mirror too! Very rare, but why not? The ultimate stealth lens, although slowish at f8, it does present challenges and opportunities.

More power to all who use them!


+1 on that. You have to go for the light mirrors though. I have a couple of the russian ones and they are battleship build. Walkabout? No!


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:09 pm    Post subject: Re: Mirrors rock! Reply with quote
martyn_bannister wrote:
pat donnelly wrote:
As the cost difference between good and great mirrors is so low, please do yourself a favour!

This one only cost £35, so which ones are the "greats"?

A whole 35 quid? You overpaid! My Japanese-made Sakar 500/8 (450g) cost me all of US$13 including shipping. It's worth every pfennig, too! Actually it's pretty decent for what it is, and much easier to haul around than the AF Lil'Bigma 170-500 (1270g, US$1k) or the Rubinar Makpo 1000/10 mirror (1760g, US$225). The Sakar is good for street shooting and stealth portraits on sunny days, although if I was shooting a Mafiya funeral I'd prefer the Rubinar. I tend to use Catch-In-Focus to assist my delaminating eyeballs. It's a great surveillance tool. Every blackmailer should have one.


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:22 pm    Post subject: Re: Mirrors rock! Reply with quote
martyn_bannister wrote:

This one only cost £35, so which ones are the "greats"?


Typically, any lens made by a camera manufacturer is good quality, e.g., Canon FD, Nikon, Minolta MD, Olympus, etc. Those made by the major aftermarket manufacturers are also usually quite good, e.g., Tamron, Tokina, Sigma. The prices they sell for on eBay are usually a pretty good indication as to their quality, I've found.

Back in about 1984, I bought a Sigma 600mm f/8 for my Canon FD system. For the first several weeks that I owned that lens, I was convinced that it was a piece of crap. Then I learned more about how to take pix with a long telephoto, and improved my technique. All of a sudden that lens's quality improved by a huge amount! Cool

Although I have a couple of long refractors that provide very sharp images -- a 500mm f/5.6 and a 650mm f/6.8 -- I still miss that old Sigma. And one of these days I'll get me another.

+1 on the Russian mirrors. Haven't seen a bad one yet.

Taken with the Sigma handheld, circa 1986. Canon F-1, Kodachrome 64. White balance is off in the dupe, but not the original.


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
That's a great shot, I love the sense of scale!


The Tamron adaptall 500mm is always a safe bet and can still be had for between £50 and £100 on ebay.


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've got a cheap 500 F8 Kalimr (Korean made) & the results I get leave a lot to be desired. Maybe my technique needs improvement as well. I rarely shoot with teles & got this for a song on eBay. It is in good shape & came with the case & filters....BTW, does it have to have the clear filter in place for good results?...I thought I read that somewhere before & I haven't shot it with any of the filters.


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 10:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Many long telephotos are designed such that for optmum results they need that clear filter in their light path, so I'd leave it in. Of course, you could do a quick test, with and without, to see how necesary it is.

As for your Kalimar, if you have mirror lock-up or Live View capabilities with your DSLR, mount the lens on a tripod, set the self timer, and take a bunch of test shots. I find that, with my camera's dinky viewfinder, using it to tell best focus is difficult, so I'd recommend you use live view if you have it. I noticed with my old FD gear that my Sigma's performance improved substantially after I bought an eyepiece magnifier for my camera and used it to determine best focus. But the more I used the lens the more comfortable I became with it, to the point that I was using it handheld at air shows and auto races, and getting good results. As long as I was able to keep the shutter speed up around 1/500 (sunny f/16 rule says that at ISO 100, 1/500 is good at f/8 ) I was okay most of the time.

BTW, my experience with Kalimar is restricted to their 28-200mm zoom. I owned one about 20 years ago that I bought and sold as a camera dealer -- but I've always remembered it because it was the only 28-long tele zoom I've seen with a fixed aperture -- f/3.9 in its case. So recently I bought another. It's a well made lens and takes reasonably sharp photos. But I've come to discover that they were lying about it being an f/3.9 constant aperture optic. I can see the viewfinder dim and watch the shutter speed needle drop by a stop when I zoom from 28mm to 200mm. Oh well, it's still a well-made lens and takes good pics. So, anyway, if it's any indication, your Kalimar mirror might be decent too.


PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
martyn_bannister wrote:
Attila wrote:
Pretty good results! Last ones especially cute Smile


Thank you Attila. Getting my daughter to smile naturally when she knows a camera is pointing at her is extremely difficult, so really pleased to have got this one Smile

Laughing Laughing Laughing I know I have two daughters Laughing not easy at all.
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