marosari00 Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 A few days ago the topic of mirror lenses came up. I found this article by Herb Keppler, for true Pentaxians, no introduction needed. Here is the link to it if you wish to learn a bit more about them. http://www.popphoto.com/cameralenses/687/slr-the-cat-did-it.html Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Hola Manuel! Wow, I remember reading this article many months ago, which got me looking for a mirror lens (which I recently purchased). The thing is, at the time I didn't realise it was written by Herbert Keppler; I'm not sure I even knew who he was back then! Thanks for the link, Manuel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyinca Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 One thing Mr Keppler didn't talk about is the Pentax 400-600mm mirror. This Pentax mirror also does zoom, small/lightweight and has good contrast (rare for mirror). I could just see mirror coming back when good ISO6400 is the norm for all DSLR (ie: Nikon's D3). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I think I saw the Pentax 400-600mm on eBay once. Needless to say, it sold for a ridiculous amount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marosari00 Posted March 9, 2008 Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 Hola Miserere! Love your name, Mercy on Me, from Psalm 51. Very original. I had the opportunity to see the SMC 400-600 reflex. Impressive was the least I could say. For those who have not seen one here it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Yeah, my parents had a strange sense of humour ;-) ?De d�nde eres, Manuel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Hi all. I am a newbie with a 500mm mirror that I bought 16 years ago, and then basically didn't touch until last year. I enjoy it now on my K100D, and despite struggling with manual focus and shallow dof, I would not part with it unless I somehow "inherited/acquired" something in the same or longer focal length. This was a shot I took with it yesterday.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Garry, that pic looks plenty focused to me :-) Bear in mind that any other lens you might inherit/acquire in the 500mm range is going to be big and heavy, which is one of the main advantages of mirror lenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Thanks Miserere. It's a sharp enough pic, but I have a folder of blurred shots as well! My eyes are not what they used to be either. Too true about the weight advantage of the mirror lens, and I am sure that only with experience of something big and heavy will I really appreciate it! But I do long for something faster. I am a fairly large guy (6ft 8in, 250lbs) so I like to think the weight wouldn't be too much of an issue. But thinking about coping with the weight when the cost of fast tele glass is beyond me, is like imagining taking the ultimate wildlife shot while dozing in my armchair - something else I too often do! Here is another shot with it, high iso, fast shutter because of the iso/bright sunlight, trying to catch some action, cropped to square.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Oh yes, both shots were handheld, the first with SR on, the second with SR off as I thought I might want to pan etc. So mirror lens certainly proved very functional on both occasions where a tripod wasn't feasible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 The Tug-o-War shot is great, Garry. And everyone has a folder full of blurred shots; mine is called "Recycle Bin"! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marosari00 Posted March 10, 2008 Author Share Posted March 10, 2008 Hooray for recycle bin! As for the photo of the tug-o-war, I second Miserere. As for being an fairly large person myself with presbyopia, a large lens will take it's toll by weight. I have a 300 and 500mm (both mirrors) and use them interchangeably with "analog" photography. Just started to play with a K10D. Miserere, as for de donde soy...soy de Puerto Rico. Happy clicking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I just got my 400mm f/5.6! Only been able to shoot some pics through the office windows, but I'm happy so far. Definitely tricky to focus, but it's sharper and has more contrast than I expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 A friend at work with Photoshop processed some of my test shots. Here are some leaves outside my office (hey, what did you expect?). It's the original file, I didn't want to downsize it so you could decide whether the sharpness, etc. is good enough. Oh, I was about 3.5m away, and took the photo through a dirty window, hand-held on my K10D.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Hi Mis. I like the contrast, and the sharpness in the focussed area, but doesn't that shallow dof just bite you? Enjoy shooting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Garry, actually, I took some comparison shots with my Sigma 70-300mm at 300mm f/8 where more of these leaves were in focus, and I like this shot better. Of course, if I wanted to take this shot properly I would use a shorter lens, but it's what was outside my window and the Sun just popped out for about 3 mins in between rain storms and the water drops caught my eye. I took some other shots of people playing tennis from about 75m away and the DoF was fine. For the leaves I calculated the DoF was 1.5cm. For the tennis shots it was about 8m, which is a lot more manageable. I will definitely enjoy it, Garry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Some tennis! Hand-held @ 1/320s ISO200. Clearly, shutter speed was not fast enough.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Great action shot Miserere! You can see that the point of focus was slightly beyond the player, but still a nice shot. It might be an idea to start a W/nW with shots from manual mirror lenses sometime! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Yes, the focus was a bit off, which is a shame as I liked the player's "pose" :-) Still learning the ropes here... I don't know how many people have mirror lenses around here, but it would be nice to have a thread. Maybe we can use this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Hi Miserere. Yeah, I'm not sure if a lot of folks here have mirror lenses. Here's another shot with my 500mm. Hand held, with a fortuitously dark background.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Garry, if the background is dark and monochrome, there will be no donuts for people to complain about. I think that posting pics where it's not obvious that you used a mirror lens is a bit like cheating :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Well Miserere, I am not sure if you are still checking this thread, but here is another pic, taken a few months ago with the 500mm mirror. This is also a chance for me to test my html.<P> <center> <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2390/2340090143_cb18f80741_b.jpg"> </center> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Me?, checking? Oh no, no...I just happened to be passing through... Nice one, Garry. Although again, hardly any donuts for people to complain about. It also looks quite sharp and contrasty, which everyone knows mirror lenses are not ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Well Miserere, I think I actually cropped some of the more noticeable donuts out ;-) - and that is why it is in a horizontally long crop. Ha ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Miserere, if you want donuts, try this one!<P> <center> <img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/7030235-lg.jpg"> </center> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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