Adorama's ProOptic 500mm f/6.3

jeffmeyers

Popular Photography has an interesting article this month on this lens.

Does anyone have an experience with this particular mirror lens?

Andy

Adding the link so people can know what you are talking about

http://www.popphoto.com/cameralenses/5725/prooptic-500mm-f63-mirror-lens-review.html

jeffmeyers

Andy wrote:

Adding the link so people can know what you are talking about

http://www.popphoto.com/cameralenses/5725/prooptic-500mm-f63-mirror-lens-review.html

Whoops. I thought I linked it. Sorry. Thanks!

ziggy53

I don't have that particular lens but their review is surprisingly similar to my experience with my Vivitar 500mm, f8 Cat.

All of these lenses will have low contrast and so they are best used when the light is very contrasty. All of these lenses also share a "donut" shaped bokeh because of the large secondary mirror which interrupts the light path.

Focus is tricky and DOF is unusually shallow for the effective aperture.

I would bet that the ProOptic is actually closer to an effective f8, again because of the secondary mirror reducing the actual efficiency of the lens.

If you want improved image quality in a compact long telephoto you are better off getting a "solid cat", which is likewise much more expensive.

As long as you shoot simple subjects under strong light, and as long as you don't expect miracles, you can produce not so bad results with these lenses (but I don't have anything to show.) Best results will show from a full-frame camera body as the crop bodies only exaggerate the deficiencies.

jeffmeyers

Thanks, Ziggy. I found out most of this doing a little searching on the web. I was wondering how this particular lens performed, if anyone had any real time experience with it.

theNOIZ

jeffmeyers wrote:

Popular Photography has an interesting article this month on this lens.

Does anyone have an experience with this particular mirror lens?

I bought one from Adorama last Thursday and had it shipped overnight for some weekend shots. I'm using it with a Canon 40D. I should have some test shots to post later. It's a very difficult lens to focus and a tripod is a must because of camera shake. Before buying a mirror lens, I did some research because I didn't know anything about them. Sony/Minolta makes one that is actually AF. With this lens you completely rely on TTL to judge all of your settings. This is entirely new to me. You can't go wrong with the price. And it's always fun to experiment with new gear. If anything, I may use it for moon shots. Again, I'll post some shots soon.

jeffmeyers

theNOIZ wrote:

I bought one from Adorama last Thursday and had it shipped overnight for some weekend shots. I'm using it with a Canon 40D. I should have some test shots to post later. It's a very difficult lens to focus and a tripod is a must because of camera shake. Before buying a mirror lens, I did some research because I didn't know anything about them. Sony/Minolta makes one that is actually AF. With this lens you completely rely on TTL to judge all of your settings. This is entirely new to me. You can't go wrong with the price. And it's always fun to experiment with new gear. If anything, I may use it for moon shots. Again, I'll post some shots soon.

Cool. This is just what I was looking for. Shaun. When you post some test shots up on your Smugmug site, please post the link here, so I can see them.

Thanks!

theNOIZ

Some ProOptic 500mm f/6.3 Test Shots with Canon 40D
1. Taken in the afternoon. Has some grain.


2. Taken at sunset. Focused on some dirty snow. Has the donut-like bokeh the article mentions.


3. Taken at sunset. More snow with the donut-shaped bokeh.


4. Taken at sunset. Hand held shot.


5. Another taken at sunset. Hand held shot.

jeffmeyers

Thanks for posting these Shaun. Very interesting! Nice shots, too!