[wallyb]

Hey! This is the same lens I've been using that I have for sale in the marketplace. It's a pretty good performer, and yes, extremely compact.

I just got this used Vivitar 500mm f/8.0. I don't shoot long focal length but I find the price cheap enough to give it a try. I was hoping that it is a Vivitar from Kiron or Komine. But I see the serial number starting with 6 and it is made in Korea, probably why I get it for cheap.

Anyone seen this before. This is lens is extremely small, it is almost the same size like my Tamron 90mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro (non-Di)

Vivitar 500mm f/8.0 with 1:2.7 close up

next to Tamron 90mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro (non-Di)






A T mount on the back


Close up 1:2.7


Next to a Kiron 70-150mm f/3.8

This mirror lens is amazingly small and light. And I wish it heavier to help stabilize the shot. I only did few test shots, sharpness seems reasonable but I see quite flat color and contrast but I have cloudy day in my city today.

A 28mm view of a Towel & Marriott hotel in a distance
Please excuse the poor view in this shot
the light red tower is to the left of the mini and lamp post far away behind the trees


The Marriott is in a far distance, at least 7 blocks
away from the point of shooting




I did this in a hurry
as the plain turns away from me
user fault in the focusing

Anyone know anything about the manufacturer from Korea for Vivitar with serial number starting 6. The normal place that I visit in Vivitar Lens Manufactuers seems to suggest Olympus

Thanks,
Hin

[Blue]

Here is a site with info on several Mirror lenses.

mirror lenses.co.uk - your complete guide to mirror lens photography - lenses

Hey! This is the same lens I've been using that I have for sale in the marketplace. It's a pretty good performer, and yes, extremely compact.

Most Mirror lenses in the 300 to 600mm lens are quite compact. The exception is the big Zeiss 1000mm Prakticars etc.

[ivoire]

the same lens is available new for $99.79. You could ask them who make it:

Vivitar 500mm f/8 Mirror on Sale at Myrtle Electronics

Hinmans copy looks new also. I could be mistaken, but i believe that the Japanese company, Opteka, produces the vivitar, phoenix and opteka 'branded' 500mm mirror lenses in Korea.

[wallyb]

Most Mirror lenses in the 300 to 600mm lens are quite compact. The exception is the big Zeiss 1000mm Prakticars etc.

But it's even smaller than others I've used of the same length and speed

[Blue]

Apparently, once upon a time Perkin-Elmer made Mirror lenses for Vivitar in
600mm F8 and 800mm f9 as well as a 450mm f4.5 Series 1.

Vivitar Series I by Robert Monaghan | Lenses, Lens, Series, Vivitar, Zoom | Manual Focus Lenses*-*Manual Focus Lenses

Of course Hinman and Wallyb are different.

[Ben_Edict]

Apparently, once upon a time Perkin-Elmer made Mirror lenses for Vivitar in
600mm F8 and 800mm f9 as well as a 450mm f4.5 Series 1.

Vivitar Series I by Robert Monaghan | Lenses, Lens, Series, Vivitar, Zoom | Manual Focus Lenses*-*Manual Focus Lenses

Of course Hinman and Wallyb are different.

The Perkin-Elmer company developed and manufactured the "solid cats" for Vivitar - but only in small numbers, as these were very expensive to make. These solid catadioptrics provide very high image quality and are very sought after, but hardly available second-hand. The most famous is the 450/4.5.
I once read a lengthy article on that by the engineer, who did the original development for PE. Very interesting - a very knowledgeable gu, who produced a really unique lens design.

Ben

[Miserere]

The Vivitar Series 1 mirror lenses are very well considered. They do appear from time to time on eBay, but sell for $400-900.

Hin, your Vivitar lens doesn't have a great reputation. However, I've found out that many fine lenses have a bad reputation because bad photographers are incapable of using them. Sorry if this sounds elitist and offends people out there, but it's the conclusion I've come to after using "bad" lenses to take perfectly good photographs.

Hin, I'm sure you'll get good pics out of this "bad" lens because you'll take the time to figure out how to maximise its strengths and minimise its weaknesses.

My advice: bump up the in-camera contrast and sharpness if you're shooting JPEGs when using this lens.

[713alan]

Old FD mirror lens - new digital life?
A brief comparision of photos from a Sigma 600/f8 mirror lens and cropped photos from Cannon 55-200 and 70-200 lens. The conclusion was that cropping the 200mm photo to get about the same field of view as the 600mm mirror lens gives better results.

[Miserere]

Old FD mirror lens - new digital life?
A brief comparision of photos from a Sigma 600/f8 mirror lens and cropped photos from Cannon 55-200 and 70-200 lens. The conclusion was that cropping the 200mm photo to get about the same field of view as the 600mm mirror lens gives better results.

Read the (not so) fine print: The Sigma lens was used with an FD-to-EOS adapter, which has additional optics to compensate for the different registration lengths. Adding extra optics between a lens and the sensor is always going to degrade the IQ. Using this Sigma lens on a Pentax DSLR requires no adapter.

[Blue]

Read the (not so) fine print: The Sigma lens was used with an FD-to-EOS adapter, which has additional optics to compensate for the different registration lengths. Adding extra optics between a lens and the sensor is always going to degrade the IQ. Using this Sigma lens on a Pentax DSLR requires no adapter.

Not to mention it was on a 20d rather than K20d.

[Blue]

Old FD mirror lens - new digital life?
A brief comparision of photos from a Sigma 600/f8 mirror lens and cropped photos from Cannon 55-200 and 70-200 lens. The conclusion was that cropping the 200mm photo to get about the same field of view as the 600mm mirror lens gives better results.

Bob Atkins seemed to have better luck. Mirror, mirror on the wall... - photo.net

[barondla]

Are the Vivitar solid cats still considered competitive today with current mirrors? Know where theres a 600 f8 that could probably be had. Had chance to buy new one years ago. Store ran out and never got a second shipment.

Always wanted a 450 f4.5. Unfortunately it was such a complicated design they couldn't get it to actually work with any consistancy. That aspheric element would stay act up. Vivitar tried 3 redesigns and it never worked well. They gave up. The lenses that came out right were supposed to be stunning. Keppler did a long story on it once. Wonder if it could be made today? Probably not - we can't get 16-50 2.8 to be consistant.

thanks
barondla

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[georgweb]

Barondla asked:
Are the Vivitar solid cats still considered competitive today with current mirrors?

Thumbs down from Michael Reichmann, Solid Cat

Few pics on the Flickr, search 'solid cat' Flickr: "solidcat"

If anybody has some guidlines how to best use mirror lenses, tell me please! So far I would try:
- Sunny daylight
- Know how to eat those doughnuts :-)
- Tripod with 2s pre-mirror (obsolete with bombproof tripod+head+cablerelease)
- Know the angle when it starts flaring. Be very picky with this or use additional light shield.
- Don't expect wonders on either side of the dynamic range.
- Screw on that back filter for optical reasons or leave it off?
- In-camera tweaking of sharpness/contrast, or do it in PP, and how?
- Get a good lens - so far for me it's the Tokina 500, sorry :-) It dawns on me that this is the same lens as the often referred-to Vivitar?


Tokina 500/8 on K100D, gimp unsharp mask in several steps

Happy new year,
Georg (the other)

[Blue]

. . .
- Get a good lens - so far for me it's the Tokina 500, sorry :-) It dawns on me that this is the same lens as the often referred-to Vivitar?


Tokina 500/8 on K100D, gimp unsharp mask in several steps

Happy new year,
Georg (the other)

Actually, the Tokina should be made by Tokina. As far as the filter goes, try it with it and without.

[Abbazz]

- Screw on that back filter for optical reasons or leave it off?

The rear filter is part of the optical formula of the lens. When a lens is designed to use a rear filter, never use the lens without a filter (a neutral filter should be provided to this effect), because it will affect the sharpness.

Cheers!

Abbazz