[shuttertalk]

I've been reading up on mirror lenses, thanks to peted, who sparked my curiosity. Apparently, these cheaper cousins use mirrors instead of glass elements to magnify the image.

Advantages:
- Smaller, lighter
- Cheaper

Disadvantages:
- Fixed aperture (yes folks, only one aperture) usually f/5.6 or f/8. You need to adjust shutter speed and ISO to get a workable exposure
- Out of focus areas exhibit a funny circular effect, which can be distracting
- Contrast is lower
- Some may have vignetting
- Most are manual focus, although I believe there are some AF ones (minolta and sigma)

The lenses are cheap, but you trade that off with image quality. There are a few comparison articles on the net as well, such as this one. To give you an idea - you can get a Vivitar 500mm f/8 mirror lens at B&H for $109 US, while a non-mirror equivalent will cost maybe 10, 20 or 30 times as much.

Imagine if you put a 2x teleconverter on - you would get a 1000mm f/11 lens for a fraction of the price!

More background reading.

I couldn't find anyone selling mirror lenses in Australia though, even ebay... anyone know of any places that sell them?

[Rufus]

NN has a 500mm mirror.

OY! WOMAN!!

WHERE ARE YOU?????

[adam]

Here's the one I saw a while ago
http://shop.centre.net.au/index.html?cat...rid=000Y8B

interesting!

[noisynoodle]

Taken with Tamron SP500mm Mirror...I have a few others if interested



--NN

[shuttertalk]

Wow, that's not a bad shot! Any others NN?

[noisynoodle]

OK...You asked for it! Here's a few more:










--NN

[shuttertalk]

Hey cool NN. I don't see any of the characteristic ring blur on the photos? These are actually quite good!

[noisynoodle]

Thanks ST. The "doughnut" effect doesn't always occur...It depends a lot on the direction of light and the position of highlights in the out of focus area of the pic. You can see a couple on the one of the flying swan. There's one in the top right corner, but when they're at a very low level like this they're easily ignored or can be cloned out. (Not that I've done that with any of these!).

--NN

[Peted]

Geez, I will have to go buy one now. The Tamron looks pretty good and the Vivitar might be just good enough for a bit of playing around.

[Peted]

Just read some reviews and the Vivitar is a waste of money at any price.

Bugga.

[Peted]

Here's the one I saw a while ago
http://shop.centre.net.au/index.html?cat...rid=000Y8B

interesting!

At that price though you may be better off with somethig like the Sigma 135-400mm or even the 170-500mm is close to that price.

[noisynoodle]

I did a lot of research before buying one and the Tamron SP came out pretty much best of the bunch. Got mine for about £40 on eay...there are quite often mirrors on there at reasonable prices, though most besides the Tamron and the Sigma 600 should be avoided!

--NN

[mic]

Some advice for the Aussies here.


The distributors of Tokina and Vivitar in Australia do not sell Mirror lens. (To the best of my knowledge)

If you did purchase one in Australia from the www. and it was faulty, you'd have to return it to the place of purchase for replace/repair/refund.

[Peted]

40 quid, more than that now, what camera does yours fit?

Looks like any to fit the Pentax is a lot more than that now. List price was around AU$700 for the Tamron and more for the Sigma..

[noisynoodle]

It's Pentax K-mount, manual everything, but in very gd condition....as I said, though, it came from ebay.....bargain!

--NN

[Peted]

With the *ist D and Ds on the market I think there is a high demand for them and the price has gone up. :-(