Vivitar Series 1 600mm f8 solid catadioptric telephoto lens

How do you guy shoot the mirror?

I was shooting a tennis match this past week, and my tripod's pan head just was not loose and smooth enough to be able to track the players. Quite frustrating.
I just ordered a Neewer gimbal from Amazon, to try out.

BTW, I was shooting at a court, 6 courts away from me, so I needed the reach of the 500 mirror. The 300 was a bit too short for that distance. I was pleased with the reach.

 

Well the Neewer gimbal arrived, and it was a disappointment.
The mfg used a grease that was sooooo thick and sticky that the gimbal was HARD to move. Quite the opposite of what it should do.
I am in the process of cleaning and regreasing the gimbal. Just stuck now with needing the correct size hex key/allen wrench.

 

JDM have you ever considered the MTO 1100mm f/10? It's a monster by the way.

 

JDM
Well you did it, didn't you.
I now have a 600mm Vivitar solid cat on the way to me, to join my Nikon 500mm/f8 mirror.
Why do I have 2 mirror lenses?
Maybe should have shopped for the 800mm mirror instead.

 

Sorry,i had missed these later posts. I'll be back, though.

 

Of course I have, but I am just getting the slightest, most tiniest, notion that more than a dozen catadioptric lenses may be enough, at long last.

 

Two is not enough to be a true "kook"

For me it all started with the unsatisfactory Quantaray. I got another mirror lens, and another, and so on, until I am in the condition I'm in.

 

#3, the 800mm/f11 solid cat is on it's way also.
Although it is a bit close to the 600, only 33% longer.

Next one to look for is the 1000mm
Or maybe I will get the 200-500 zoom instead.

 

I don't know, but I've been told that the Reflex-Nikkor f/5 is optically not up to the later f/8 versions.

Nowadays, with insanely high ISOs (and some noise tolerance) compromises to grab an extra photon or two are not so well-motivated as formerly.

 

The Vivitar 600mm solid cat arrived
Man is it a short lens.
The lens hood that I will have to make will be longer than the lens.

 

One lens that seems to have been a little overlooked in this thread is the little Tamron Adaptall II SP 500mm Catadioptic (Model 55b). Using Mangin mirrors in it's construction, at 87mm in length it's only 3 mm longer than the Vivitar and, weighing in at 575g, it's considerably lighter than the Vivitar at 1360g. As it focuses down to a handy 1.7m I use it extensively on my Sony A7-series full-frame digital cameras for botanical photography; I increase the ISO until I can hand-hold the rig at 1/1000th and the results can be quite striking. I'll post an image I took this afternoon of the Everlasting Sweetpea (Lathyrus Latifolius) in bloom. But first, a diagram of the construction, courtesy Adaptall-2.com

Construction



Lathyrus Latifolius

 

I also have the Tamron 500 f8 Adaptall II. I find it to be a sharp, compact and useful mirror optic.

 

Not overlooked, just not on the topic of the Vivitar solid cat.
As for me personally, I'm still thinking that over a dozen catadioptric lenses may be enough for one person.

 

JDM
Maybe we need a thread on mirror lenses in general.
I think we only have 2; the Vivitar solid cat and the Sigma mirror threads.
Now that I've started my collection (of 3), I'm getting into the subject of mirror lenses.

Maybe I should get a Nikon mount for my wife's 5 inch reflector telescope

 

Is there one?

 

I just searched the forums here and I wasn't able to find any threads that were dedicated to the general topic "mirror lenses." So, I thought I'd start one. Go here:

Cool Mirror Lenses You've Known and Loved -- or at least Liked

 

Any luck with the lens cap? I have the plastic 106mm on mine, but the old thing is broken down into bits.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J8WRZBC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I got this lens cap to fit the 600mm f8 solid cat by wrapping a few layers of tape to the lens.