Vivitar Series 1 600mm f8 solid catadioptric telephoto lens

[JDMvW]

10953864:

I've sent a private message.

[JDMvW]

I would like to try such a lens sometimes.

 

Most, even some of the best of all time, cats are often to be found at places like KEH or on eBay. Almost all are under $200 these days (or were until I started this series ;))

 

Avoid the modern ones, (e.g., from Korea often). they look like the old ones but something is wrong somewhere with all that I have seen.

 

The Vivitar solid is one of the best, but the Sigma 600mm and the Reflex-Nikkor 500mm are also excellent.

[Mike Gammill]

Some of the newer ones that were inexpensive were optically inferior to the earlier Japanese made lenses. Back in the early 90's when my family still had a camera shop a customer brought in his Vivitar 500mm f8 mirror optic for us to test. It was impossible to obtain a sharp focus regardless of distance. I don't know if the mirror had too much uncorrected spherical aberration or if the figure of the meniscus corrector was bad, but no real point of sharpness.

[JDMvW]

elaborate a bit about the differences between the Vivitar and the Sigma

 

The Sigma 600 catadioptric is conventional with lots of air between elements. The Vivitar Solid, is, well, solid. I suspect, but do not know, that this has led to sharper contrast in the latter. Any of them can be devilishly difficult to focus for those who have become used to AF.

 

 

Aside from slightly lower contrast (a common problem with mirror lenses), my copy of the Sigma is quite sharp - one of my favorites.

 

but then "bless em all, the long and the short and the tall " is my theme song.

[glen_h]

I bought a Vivitar 500mm f/8 a few years ago for about USD 50.00.

 

T mount adapters are available through eBay, often from China (sometimes

mailed from China) for low prices.

 

Someone noted above that the optical design includes the thickness of

the filter on the back of the lens. I don't think I have a 30.5mm filter.

[Gary Naka]

I have the Nikon 500/f8 on my D7200 and have no problem focusing by eye.

But then as JDMvW implied, I learned on manual focus gear, and never lost my ability to manually focus lenses.

 

One thing is, even though the lens is short, the magnification is the same as a LONG tele. So the camera+lens need adequate support for a steady image.

An in-body IS sound like a good idea.

 

BTW, thanks for the thread. I got hook on getting the mirror that I could not afford when it was new, way back when. Now I got TWO of them, don't ask.

[glen_h]

One is enough for me.

 

I am about four miles from the Space Needle in Seattle. I have taken pictures of the flag on top, when they put one up.

 

There is a "12" flag before Seahawks games, and they also put up a French flag after a terror attack.

[Glenn McCreery]

There is a Perkins Elmer 680mm solid catadioptric lens, serial number 37, listed on eBay at, Rarest Solid Cat Camera Lens! Perkin Elmer 680mm F/12 catadioptric lens w CASE!! | eBay for a price of $1,749. The description is worth reading, as it explains a lot about it's history as well as the history of the Vivitar Series 1 600mm catadioptric lens. According to the description, the Vivitar Series 1 600mm as well as the 800mm lenses were actually made by Perkin Elmer.

 

There are also two Vivitar Series 1 600mm catadioptric lenses listed on eBay, one for $399 and one for a starting bid of $500.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Glenn McCreery

[JDMvW]

The one item I'd really like to add to my over-enthusiastic collection of catadioptric lenses is one of the Zeiss Jena mirror lenses from the DDR, but they are much sought after and more than I'd like to pay, given too many mirror lenses already. :rolleyes:

 

 

Unfortunately, not ALL of them.:eek:

[chazfenn]

How about an MTO?

[JDMvW]

How about an MTO?

 

That's the one in the wooden box. There's a report on it here (LINK) by me. It is optically decent, but very heavy, and the darkness through the viewfinder makes it a little tricky to focus. It's the Ur-Cat, so to speak.

[Mike Gammill]

I wish I'd bought an MTO (at least the version that Edmund Scientific had in their 1970 catalogue. At the time I was experimenting with my dad's Mamiya Sekor 1000 TL and the longest lens he had was a Vivitar 85-205. Sometimes I held the camera body up to my 700mm refractor to photograph the moon, but no adapter. Edmund sold the MTO for about 100 USD. By the time I got my first SLR (a Minolta SRT 210 in 1978) I'd forgotten all about the MTO and actually got a prime focus adapter for the telescope and a 400mm f6.3 preset.

[Philipp500]

Hi JDM. Thanks for your reply. I'm quite fond of mirror lenses too, and waiting for my latest addition, an Elicar 300/5,6 of which I found almost no info. I believe there are 4 variants of the sigma 600. A grey mat one with 95mm filter thread, black shiny 86mm thread (the most common maybe ?) White with 86mm thread and olive green with 86mm thread which seems to be the latest version.

[Mike Gammill]

This thread reminds me that I wish I still had my 250mm f5.6 Rokkor mirror lens.

[Mike Gammill]

I wonder how the Vivitar would do for piggyback astrophotography. I used to do some with the 250mm f5.6 Rokkor that I had.

[Gary Naka]

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.

[Gary Naka]

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.

[jacques_emanuel]

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

[Gary Naka]

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.

[JDMvW]

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

[JDMvW]

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

 

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. :confused:

[JDMvW]

now have a 600mm Vivitar solid cat on the way to me, to join my Nikon 500mm/f8 mirror.

 

Two is not enough to be a true "kook" :cool:

 

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.

[Sandy Vongries]

Two is not enough

I have the Nikkor F8, what about the F5? Saw one recently for sale - expensive for an old lens.

[Gary Naka]

Two is not enough to be a true "kook" :cool:

 

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.

[JDMvW]

what about the F5

 

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.