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I currently make occasional stabs at bird photography using my manual focus Tokina 80-200 f/4.5-5.6. I know it's not a great lens, but I got it for $15. It's not the worst, but I'm sure I could do much better. I'm looking for a sub-$300 lens for bird and wildlife photography, somewhere in the 300mm to 500mm range. Options I am currently considering are:
Vivitar Series 1 500mm f/6.3 mirror lens
PRO:
Reach
Price (130 USD)
CON:
IQ?
Said to be hard to focus
Aperture not variable
Pentax DA 55-300
PRO:
IQ
AF
Handling
Usable at shorter lengths for portraits etc.
CON:
Would need to be cropped more heavily than with the 500mm
Does anyone with experience with one / both of these lenses have anything to add? I know that reach doesn't always mean better IQ at a given magnification; e.g. the DA 55-300 is known for giving better IQ when cropped than when using a teleconverter. Obviously, I do know that the 55-300 will handle a lot better (AF, zoom, faster aperture, auto aperture, etc.). The question I'm interested in is whether the difference in IQ between the 55-300 and the mirror lens might be large enough that the 300 might give better images when cropped to the equivalent of 500mm.
Thanks for any input you can provide!