Mirror Lenses

Thanks all.

I bought the Tokina and it came in today. Its a rainy day so I dont have great samples to share, but it sure is a fun lens.

I am having trouble though with getting the AF confirm chip to work though, and my f stop is reading 1.4 (I know its not a 1.4 lens)

I know these are not great examples, but just snaps after the first 5 minutes of owning it.
Ill have more son hopefully.

On my 50D, I shoot in Av mode with my mirror lens. The aperture indicator says "00".

I think you'll have fun with your mirror lens. You can see that it's light and very small for the reach. If used properly to isolate subjects, the bokeh issue is controllable.

Want to have some fun with your new toy? Take some shots of Christmas lights at night. The bokeh donuts are amazing, and adds a surreal effect to night shots! I've taken some purposely slightly out of focus to force the donuts with holiday lights. Really interesting effect!

Wow, this is super interesting. I am really appreciating this thread in opening my eyes to these types of lenses.

Fligi7 wrote in post #11486280
Wow, this is super interesting. I am really appreciating this thread in opening my eyes to these types of lenses.

There are MANY tools out there! Sure, a mirror isn't a "L", but at 5% of the weight of a 500L, and for a couple hundred bucks instead of 10 GRAND, they are fun to use!

have a nice time with the Tokina ...

You have to program the AF chip (usually we set length and aperture) don't put aperture over 5.6 otherwise you won't get af confirmation bip and light any more.

I put usually speed faster that 1/800 .. and I get sharpest picture @ 1/1000 or quicker...
You have to learn how to control the background to get get the most suitable bokeh for the time of picture (it can be from flat to really buzzy) ..

richardfox wrote in post #11486296
There are MANY tools out there! Sure, a mirror isn't a "L", but at 5% of the weight of a 500L, and for a couple hundred bucks instead of 10 GRAND, they are fun to use!

And manual focus of course, but to me its worth it so far. Its a fun toy. If I was shooting pro football, I dont think this would be my go to lens. But for something smaller, lighter, and much cheaper than even my 24-70mm, for sure its worth it. (again, so far)

Red Tie Photography wrote in post #11486337
And manual focus of course, but to me its worth it so far. Its a fun toy. If I was shooting pro football, I dont think this would be my go to lens. But for something smaller, lighter, and much cheaper than even my 24-70mm, for sure its worth it. (again, so far)

You should see the Sony/Minolta 500mm f/8 version which AF's and has IS through the body, unfortunately you'll need to swap camera bodies.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/​lenses/sony500.shtml

lannes wrote in post #11486900
You should see the Sony/Minolta 500mm f/8 version which AF's and has IS through the body, unfortunately you'll need to swap camera bodies.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/​lenses/sony500.shtml

Ehh, looks good and all but Id really rather not switch bodies, especially for one lens.

Here is another shot with the lens. I just LOVE the bokeh!

This my bokeh shot.

lannes wrote in post #11518753
This my bokeh shot.

I love it, I saw it somewhere else on the forum. I would have probably brought the black levels and contrast up a tad to completely black her out.

Hello all,

I have a Tamron SP 500 mirror (the 2nd gen one 55BB) and I was very happy with it on my old Pentax ME super, I bought one of the adaptors from Hong Kong of e-bay and whilst it is superbly made and fits like a glove, silly me didn't read up on them first and it does not have the AF chips on it. This means I have to focus manually and it's not too easy for me through the view finder, I know I'd have to do that anyway, but there is no audible beep to take at least some of the guess work away. Hence I'd like to put one of these chips into the lens mount so I know I've got it focused correctly.

Now, I have a couple of questions if I may.

1. The chips without the adaptor are available on e-bay. Has anyone done a self conversion on these? I'm presuming it's a case of glue it on in the right place.

2. If I buy a wholly new adpadtor, which isn't a great expense, do I need to go for a EXIF preset chip, or a programmable one?

3. How accurate is the focusing chip to the image? I would have presumed it was pretty good, but it's worth asking.

Cheers all,

Noel.

Noel Johnson wrote in post #11526598
Hello all,

3. How accurate is the focusing chip to the image? I would have presumed it was pretty good, but it's worth asking.

My AF confirm converter was not very accurate, when I tried to MA the converter the AF chip failed and no longer works.

For more static objects you could try, magnified live view and manual focusing.

In my case 4th and 5th gen of AF confirm chip are really accurate, even in the dark ..
I wouldn't use a 500mm reflex without it. In one sens, I wouldn't use it with a tripod. I would say, that the mirror lens is interesting as a walkaround lens as a part of my combo 24L,85L,500/8 .. otherwise I would take my 300L2.8 + TC1.4X.
I glued one AF chip on my Samyang 14F2.8. It's quite tricky and dangerous for the body connector. I won't it do again as I broke one pin and had to bring my 5DMKII to canon for changing the connector.
You have to progam you chip to set it to 500mm .. but you must leave aperture to 5.6 otherwise it won't confirm AF on 5DMKII and APSC

AF is comformtable and I just put some samples of flying birds or candids ..

It's not really what I prefer, but I could do some tests with the birds
http://photos.corbi.eu …D=14226328&Albu​mKey=Hf4JA

And many walking candids when AF is really comfortable.
http://photos.corbi.eu …D=14086789&Albu​mKey=JdWUP

..I would recommand the AF chip if you plan to use it as a walkaround lens with a minimum speed of 1/1000 ..

I have also played with reflex lenses. My first was a Sigma 400mm 5.6 ( originally FD mount) which was converted to EF mount - no auto confirm. I have yet to get a decent, in focus picture with it. Further investigation confirmed that it is not a sharp focus lens. But I haven't given up with it yet!
I eventually bought and converted to EF with focus confirm a 500mm F8 Makinon (originally Minolta mount and about the size of a 28-135 lens at 28mm setting - my walk about 500mm) and a 600mm Sigma (originally Olympus mount). Both of these have proven to be quite good in daylight and on moon shots. I also bought a Russian 1000mm F10 that I mainly use for images of the sun with a solar filter. A tripod is a must for all the lenses.
The mounts are M42 to EF adapters that have been machined and drilled to allow them to be screwed onto the rear of the lenses - replacing the old mount..
Yes, I do find focussing a lot harder but since I am not a professional with big money, I just take three or 4 images - in the region where the focus is confirmed. I.e. as focus is first confirmed, during and just before I loose confirmation. I usually have one image that stands out over the rest in terms of sharpness and being in focus. I bought a Katz Eye focus screen for my camera - make a difference.
At 1/60th to 1/80th the price of a comparable L lens, I am more than willing to live with about 95% of the image quality (not sure how one would measure this)!
For those with older confirmation chips, it is easy to remove and repalce them. Most are glued on to the mount. It is also an easy way to add a programmable chip to your lens.