Vintage 500 mm mirror lenses

[Lonnie1212]

Greetings!
On eBay there are several brands of old 500 mm mirror lenses. They range from $30.00 to $200.00 in price. There are adapters available for Nikon cameras for $5.00 to $7.00 dollars. Most of the customer reviews are marked with frustration and disappointment. However, there are those who seem to have enjoyed experimenting with these old lenses. Does anyone have any experience with such lens? Good or bad is okay.

Thank you,

Lonnie

 

[Jeff15]

Many years ago I had one and you could put me down in the frustration and disappointment group, good luck.......

 

[snowbear]

I don't think you can change the aperture, so there's that. I guess at $35, it might be worth playing with it.

 

[Lonnie1212]

I don't think you can change the aperture, so there's that. I guess at $35, it might be worth playing with it.

You are right about the aperture. It cannot be changed from F8.

 

[snowbear]

So it a slow lens. Like I said, if $35 is relatively cheap for you (dinner for one at a decent restaurant) and you want to play, go for it.

 

[Soocom1]

I have the 500mm Macro Russian version.
The apertures were in fact set to F8.
They are a fun item, but unless you are willing to deal with the poor functionality they have a tendency to be as pointed out. frustrating.

Any catatrophic lens design will have some neat functionality and WAY COOL 1980's super duper spy-man looks (dont forget the Gargoyles).

I have shot mine on my Fuji X-M1 and it works fine, but to be honest its not the top end performer some wish they were.
Lots of CA in certain settings and focus is impossible unless its on a tripod.

 

[dxqcanada]

The image quality is not bad on many mirror lenses. It's not bad on a budget or if you need a physically small long focal length lens. The biggest issue that many photographers have is the bokeh (donuts).

These are great for astro purposes (where it originated from).

As I am a Minolta/Sony A-mount user ... the Minolta AF 500mm mirror is pretty good: Minolta Maxxum AF 500mm Reflex

 

[dxqcanada]

Nikkor Reflex Nikkor Lenses - Index Page

 

[480sparky]

You're gonna learn to like doughnuts...........

 

[Lonnie1212]

Nikkor Reflex Nikkor Lenses - Index Page

Thank you for sending the link. The lens has interesting history .

 

[Lonnie1212]

You're gonna learn to like doughnuts...........

That is what I hear. Sounds like a tricky lens.

 

[Derrel]

I have a Nikkor 500mm f/8 mirror from 1973: sharp, light, solid build. Hard to focus on D610 or D800. Bought in 2017 for $135.

I have a 300mm/5.6 Celestron mirror lens, bought in 1985...67mm filter, small, built okay. Reasonably sharp. About the size of an 85mm f1.4 lens of today. $89 new in 1985.

Vivitar Series 1 600mm "solid cat", f8...sharp, but hard to focus....highly collectible "cult classic"..

Shot in DX mode on the D610 on my very first day with the 500 mm Nikon mirror lens. This was from about 15 feet away. I thought I was in full frame mode but for some reason I was in DX mode with the Nikon D610. This explains the strange cropping.

 

[Derrel]

I found the 500mm Nikkor mirror lens very hard to focus on anything moving, even moving slowly. It also has a bit of light fall off on full frame, but I was able to create a custom Vignette removal preset in Lightroom, and with just one click I could remove all traces of the sight light fall off.

The lens was quite okay for static subjects, but one day I took it to Cannon Beach and shot about 100 frames of people on the beach. Only a handful of them had good enough focus to be usable. I would not consider this lens for any type of sports or nature work, but it is good for slow speed static subjects.

 

[dxqcanada]

That solid cat is more lens than mirror ... explains the sharpness.

 

[Lonnie1212]

I have a Nikkor 500mm f/8 mirror from 1973: sharp, light, solid build. Hard to focus on D610 or D800. Bought in 2017 for $135.

I have a 300mm/5.6 Celestron mirror lens, bought in 1985...67mm filter, small, built okay. Reasonably sharp. About the size of an 85mm f1.4 lens of today. $89 new in 1985.

Vivitar Series 1 600mm "solid cat", f8...sharp, but hard to focus....highly collectible "cult classic"..

View attachment 191846

Shot in DX mode on the D610 on my very first day with the 500 mm Nikon mirror lens. This was from about 15 feet away. I thought I was in full frame mode but for some reason I was in DX mode with the Nikon D610. This explains the strange cropping.

That is an awesome picture for 15 feet away. It does appear to have a small focusing area.