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"(PeteCresswell)" <> wrote in message
news:...
> This is from somebody who knows nothing and will probably never, ever
> purchase a
> mirror lens.
>
> Having said that...
>
> What is the role of mirror lenses in amateur photography?
>
> Seems like they have the advantage of light weight and a sort of
> compactness
> (i.e. they aren't real long in the extreme magnifications).
>
>
> I've got a hidden agenda here. In my car I carry a set of
> image-stabilized 10x
> bin ox that I use to read rather small (2-4" high) numbers on sails from
> the
> beach.
>
> In another post, it seemed like if I put the right lens on my D70, I could
> dispense with the bin ox by just shooting a few frames of the sail and
> zooming
> the pix. Might even not need a tripod if there was en ought light...
>
> But I'm guessing that then I'd be into a fairly long lens.
>
> Then I thought about mirror lenses.....
Unless you 're willing to spend some big bux, you're not likely to get very
good resolution.

In article <>,
(PeteCresswell) <> wrote:
>This is from somebody who knows nothing and will probably never, ever purchase a
>mirror lens.
>
>Having said that...
>
>What is the role of mirror lenses in amateur photography?

IME they exist to teach you a valuable lesson about false economy.

>But I'm guessing that then I'd be into a fairly long lens.
>
>Then I thought about mirror lenses.....

To elaborate - I breifly owned one (Sigma 60mm job) which I used on a D30,
and then on a 10D. It was such utter crap optically that it didn't give me
any extra detail on the 10D. Furthermore, it's the only lens I've ever used
which, with TTL viewing, I needed to focus bracket.

Before I got it, I read lots of reports from people which pretty much all
said, "don't buy a mirror lens", but I ignored them, reasoning that they
couldn't really be all that bad, and perhaps the people saying this were
just being fussy.

Now I'll add my voice to them - don't buy a mirror lens. I sold mine at a
loss and ended up doing what I should have done in the first place - buying
a secondhand Canon 300mm f/4 IS L USM with a 1.4x teleconvertor.

In case you missed the subliminal message above, your instincts about
probably never, ever owning a mirror lens, are sound and well founded. Avoid.

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
> This is from somebody who knows nothing and will probably never, ever
> purchase a mirror lens.
>
> Having said that...
>
> What is the role of mirror lenses in amateur photography?
>
> Seems like they have the advantage of light weight and a sort of
> compactness (i.e. they aren't real long in the extreme
> magnifications).
>
>
> I've got a hidden agenda here. In my car I carry a set of
> image-stabilized 10x bin ox that I use to read rather small (2-4"
> high) numbers on sails from the beach.
>
> In another post, it seemed like if I put the right lens on my D70, I
> could dispense with the bin ox by just shooting a few frames of the
> sail and zooming the pix. Might even not need a tripod if there was
> en ought light...
>
> But I'm guessing that then I'd be into a fairly long lens.
>
> Then I thought about mirror lenses.....

The advantage of a mirror lens is they can be made very short and
compact. Sorry to say most are also made very cheap and they all suffer
from some very unusual out of focus effects. The really good ones (like
Hubble) are rather expensive.

As for your idea, I would suggest that you are not going to be satisfied
with the results. The image quality as you see it displayed is not likely
to be good enough for your needs.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

This is from somebody who knows nothing and will probably never, ever purchase a
mirror lens.

Having said that...

What is the role of mirror lenses in amateur photography?

Seems like they have the advantage of light weight and a sort of compactness
(i.e. they aren't real long in the extreme magnifications).


I've got a hidden agenda here. In my car I carry a set of image-stabilized 10x
bin ox that I use to read rather small (2-4" high) numbers on sails from the
beach.

In another post, it seemed like if I put the right lens on my D70, I could
dispense with the bin ox by just shooting a few frames of the sail and zooming
the pix. Might even not need a tripod if there was en ought light...

But I'm guessing that then I'd be into a fairly long lens.

Then I thought about mirror lenses.....
--
PeteCresswell

"(PeteCresswell)" <> wrote in message
news:...
> This is from somebody who knows nothing and will probably never, ever
purchase a
> mirror lens.
>
> Having said that...
>
> What is the role of mirror lenses in amateur photography?
They are ideal for people who like donut shaped out of focus hightlights,
who like lenses that are hard to focus accurately, and who like lenses that
have only one aperature. However, the 500 mm mirror lenses are quite a bit
cheaper than the conventional telephoto lenses.
Jim

In article <Yw5Le.580$>, Jim
<> wrote:

> They are ideal for people who like donut shaped out of focus hightlights,
> who like lenses that are hard to focus accurately, and who like lenses that
> have only one aperature. However, the 500 mm mirror lenses are quite a bit
> cheaper than the conventional telephoto lenses.
> Jim

I've owned a few over the years, including the late, lamented Vivitar
600mm Solid Cat. While that was generally considered one of the best
mirror lenses made, I never found it to be worth the trouble - for all
the above reasons.

"Jim" <> wrote in message
news:Yw5Le.580$...

> have only one aperature

Lenses don't have aperatures.

"Chris Brown" <_uce_please.com> wrote in message
news:dmkus2-...
> To elaborate - I breifly owned one (Sigma 60mm job) which I used on a D30,

A 60mm mirror. Now there's a novel lens.

Per Chris Brown:
>Now I'll add my voice to them - don't buy a mirror lens. I sold mine at a
>loss and ended up doing what I should have done in the first place - buying
>a secondhand Canon 300mm f/4 IS L USM with a 1.4x teleconvertor.
>
>In case you missed the subliminal message above, your instincts about
>probably never, ever owning a mirror lens, are sound and well founded. Avoid.

Case closed.

Thanks for putting that one to rest for me.
--
PeteCresswell

In article <>,
Gormless <> wrote:
>
>"Chris Brown" <_uce_please.com> wrote in message
>news:dmkus2-...
>> To elaborate - I breifly owned one (Sigma 60mm job) which I used on a D30,
>
>A 60mm mirror. Now there's a novel lens.

Sorry, typo for 600mm.