The Mirror Lens Club!

**Weevil** · 02-09-2016, 08:34 AM

Originally posted by cozzykim

Looks like a Samyang to me

Yeah, to me too, when I compare the photos on the Internet, but there is no Inscription of the maker anywhere, and it was sold as a Pentax Lens... is it possible that it's a Samyang rebadged as a Pentax ?

Last edited by Weevil; 02-10-2016 at 09:22 AM.

cozzykim · 02-09-2016, 08:52 AM

Wow! you got it for a good price too.

So, is it native Pentax K fit, or an adapter?

**Weevil** · 02-09-2016, 10:30 AM

Originally posted by cozzykim

Wow! you got it for a good price too.

So, is it native Pentax K fit, or an adapter?

It's a t-mount and k-mount adapter...

cooltouch · 03-18-2016, 06:40 PM - **3 Likes**

I was browsing through some scans of some old slides yesterday and ran across several where I used my old Sigma 600mm mirror. Back in the 80s, I wrote for Cal Club's monthly magazine, covering the Southern California SCCA racing scene (Cal Club is the name of the Southern California branch of the Sports Car Club of America). When I wasn't covering races, I was out there with my cameras, shooting photos of the racers, and often making some change selling 8x10 glossies of my shots to the racers themselves. It wasn't a living, but it helped pay for my gear, at least.

Following is a small collection of photos of SCCA racers at Willow Springs International Raceway. All were taken with the Sigma mirror. In case you're wondering how I managed to get shots of race cars in focus with that big mirror, it was easy. I prefocused on a certain spot of the track and then took the shot as soon as the race car entered that narrow field of acceptable sharpness.

Formula Atlantics:

Sports 2000s:

A Mini Cooper!

Mixed Racers:

**goatsNdonkey** · 03-27-2016, 03:22 PM

Originally posted by ivoire

Thats the most common complaint with mirror lenses... donut bokeh. But 3 minutes in photoshop can easily correct it by selecting the donut area and adjust with a surface blur set to radius 6, threshold 255. A smart sharpen of 2pixels at 20% as the finishing touch helps also hope i'm not out of bounds here Georg

I've never thought mirror lens bokeh looks like doughnuts -- the center holes are much too big, compared to any doughnuts I ever saw.

SpaghettiOs --that's what it looks like!

In some pictures it can add something dramatic, just as star-screens and diffraction gratings and lens flare can be used intentionally for special effects. If the actual appearance of the Os is subtly shown here or there, I don't really find it distracting, certainly not if the main subject is striking enough. Also, keep in mind that sometimes these lenses are used to get images that might be unobtainable otherwise.

cooltouch · 03-30-2016, 02:30 AM

I don't mind the donut bokeh that mirror lenses create. Often they are quite minimal in size anyway, as my above photos show.

**goatsNdonkey** · 03-31-2016, 03:04 PM

I've been reading this lens club thread a few pages at a time for a few days and am now about halfway through. I got interested because I had just ordered my first mirror lens, one of the ugly stepchildren of the family, the Spiratone F8 500mm Ultratel Mirror. It's about 9 inches long, and while it is heavy, it is probably a bit lighter than a standard (non-mirror) F8 400mm lens I used to own. I was actually searching to find out if there were any Spiratone wide-angles available on the auction site, and ran across this telephoto in my search results. I didn't want a longer lens than I had, but nobody was bidding on it.

It arrived today, cleaner than I thought it would be, but the t-mount on it didn't turn out to be a K-mount as it looked like it might be in one of the pix. I did manage to make a temporary adapter by nesting that one inside of a slim k-mount tube extender, using some black photog tape to make the fit snug and light-tight. Some handheld tests with the lens mated to my K110D looked promising. I won't be able to do some serious tripod or monopod tests until I have a proper/solid adapter on the lens. In the interim, perhaps some others who own this lens might tell about and post examples from theirs. While its not one of the highly acclaimed mirror telephotos, posts I have seen about it elsewhere on the web, suggest that it's not a bad lens, despite its bulk.

cooltouch · 04-01-2016, 03:51 AM

The lenses Spiratone sold were generally quite good, so I wouldn't be surprised if your mirror performs well. I'm confused, though -- doesn't that lens just take a standard T-mount adapter? Seems to me all you should have to do is unscrew the adapter on the lens and screw on a K-type T-mount adapter.

**goatsNdonkey** · 04-01-2016, 10:27 AM

cooltouch --

I love those race car pictures. How nice that they painted several in primary colors!

Yes, the Spiratone Ultratel 500mm is a T-mount lens; however, the adapter ring that came on it wasn't a Pentax K-mount version, as I thought it might be from the picture in the ad. The flange design is similar, but actually smaller and narrower in diameter -- once I removed it I could see the KE label, standing for the Kine Exakta mount. I've ordered a PK ring.

Here are some pics of the lens:

Sideview with ruler for scale

Rearview, with lens cap on T-mount

Front view, with the original "Spiralite" (Spiratone's filter brand?) 77mm 1A filter removed

The front glass, forward of the central rear-facing mirror, is actually recessed about 1/2 inch, meaning there is a bit of built-in hood. So, in a sense the lens isn't really a whole nine inches long. On the other hand, the 9 inches is when focused on infinity. It's longer when focused closer. Ha, ha.

cooltouch · 04-07-2016, 06:00 AM

Ah, that front photo indicates your 500mm was made by Sigma. Sigma's early mirrors were quite good. Let us know how it works out once you get your T-mount adapter for it.

**goatsNdonkey** · 04-07-2016, 09:09 AM

cooltouch, a poster in this discussion thread over at photo.net, confirms that a large Sigma 500mm mirror was sold in the US by Spiratone, under their label, around 1970 -- how interesting:

Sigma mirror lens - Photo.net Accessories - Filters, Bags, Tripods Forum

The original poster, mentioned a similar Sigma lens. The most obvious difference I noticed was that it has a built-in sliding hood, not on my Spiratone, which makes the overall length a bit longer.

I hope it's okay to link to another photo forum. I expect I'm not the only member here who belongs to or sometimes consults more than one photography forum website.

**goatsNdonkey** · 04-07-2016, 03:04 PM

The T-mount adapter came in the mail, and despite the crappy weather I decided to try some shots with the Spiratone f8 500mm on my K110D, using a tripod. It was very gusty, and mostly cloudy, but with a hole showing blue sky now and then, and less frequently sunshine popping through briefly. The clouds led to gray backgrounds in images, and the windblown clouds caused changing light levels giving me some problem with exposure levels. Also, I'm a newbie at using this long of a lens. I set the ISO for 800, and shutter speeds ranged between 1/500-1/3000 sec. These are just a few of my test shots.

Powerline pole with transformer:

Goats having a relaxing cud-chew, somewhat backlit:

These are not great shots of a song sparrow, except that I could not see him at all from my location 60 feet away. I could only hear that he was somewhere in a tangle of branches. I found him with the lens:

**goatsNdonkey** · 04-08-2016, 08:14 AM

Spiratone f8 500mm as Close-focusing Lens

Another cloudy day, not ideal for the outdoor shots I really want to try with this lens, so why not see what it can do indoors with flash at it's closest focus distance of around 15 feet? My house has little rooms, so it's a bit hard to get 15 feet away from anything, but I persisted, setting up a little still-life up on top of a stereo speaker.

Specs for the shot:
ISO 200, 1/125 sec., handheld with Vivitar 2500 auto thyrister on manual
Pentax K110D, 1.5MP JPEG

Interestingly, if this image were recorded on a 36mm wide full-frame, it would equate to a reproduction ratio of approx. 1:4.7, certainly within the realm of what a lot of loose-lipped lens promoters have called "macro." Considering that it was a bit hard to focus in the dim room light, and that I was focusing only by moving the camera, it looks pretty sharp to me. With apologies to all of the exceptionally artistic examples posted in this thread, and to their makers, these recent posts of mine are merely my first explorations of the potential of this lens.

tim60 · 04-08-2016, 10:46 AM

There are a few long mirrors which are labeled macro, or makpo in Cyrillic script. I have not worked out the magnification of a 1000 with 4m MFD.

Racer X 69 · 04-08-2016, 01:22 PM

Originally posted by cooltouch

I was browsing through some scans of some old slides yesterday and ran across several where I used my old Sigma 600mm mirror. Back in the 80s, I wrote for Cal Club's monthly magazine, covering the Southern California SCCA racing scene (Cal Club is the name of the Southern California branch of the Sports Car Club of America). When I wasn't covering races, I was out there with my cameras, shooting photos of the racers, and often making some change selling 8x10 glossies of my shots to the racers themselves. It wasn't a living, but it helped pay for my gear, at least.

Following is a small collection of photos of SCCA racers at Willow Springs International Raceway. All were taken with the Sigma mirror. In case you're wondering how I managed to get shots of race cars in focus with that big mirror, it was easy. I prefocused on a certain spot of the track and then took the shot as soon as the race car entered that narrow field of acceptable sharpness.

Formula Atlantics:

Sports 2000s:

A Mini Cooper!

Mixed Racers:

Nice shots Mike.

The club racing scene is always a fun subject.

04-07-2016, 03:04 PM	#822
goatsNdonkey Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Fulton County, Illinois Posts: 3,730	The T-mount adapter came in the mail, and despite the crappy weather I decided to try some shots with the Spiratone f8 500mm on my K110D, using a tripod. It was very gusty, and mostly cloudy, but with a hole showing blue sky now and then, and less frequently sunshine popping through briefly. The clouds led to gray backgrounds in images, and the windblown clouds caused changing light levels giving me some problem with exposure levels. Also, I'm a newbie at using this long of a lens. I set the ISO for 800, and shutter speeds ranged between 1/500-1/3000 sec. These are just a few of my test shots. Powerline pole with transformer: Goats having a relaxing cud-chew, somewhat backlit: These are not great shots of a song sparrow, except that I could not see him at all from my location 60 feet away. I could only hear that he was somewhere in a tangle of branches. I found him with the lens: Last edited by goatsNdonkey; 04-08-2016 at 12:04 PM.

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02-09-2016, 08:34 AM	#811
Weevil Site Supporter Join Date: May 2012 Location: Near Montréal, Québec Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,445	Originally posted by cozzykim Looks like a Samyang to me Yeah, to me too, when I compare the photos on the Internet, but there is no Inscription of the maker anywhere, and it was sold as a Pentax Lens... is it possible that it's a Samyang rebadged as a Pentax ? Last edited by Weevil; 02-10-2016 at 09:22 AM.

02-09-2016, 08:52 AM	#812
cozzykim Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 48	Wow! you got it for a good price too. So, is it native Pentax K fit, or an adapter?

02-09-2016, 10:30 AM	#813
Weevil Site Supporter Join Date: May 2012 Location: Near Montréal, Québec Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,445	Originally posted by cozzykim Wow! you got it for a good price too. So, is it native Pentax K fit, or an adapter? It's a t-mount and k-mount adapter...

03-18-2016, 06:40 PM - 3 Likes	#814
cooltouch Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Houston, Texas Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 982	I was browsing through some scans of some old slides yesterday and ran across several where I used my old Sigma 600mm mirror. Back in the 80s, I wrote for Cal Club's monthly magazine, covering the Southern California SCCA racing scene (Cal Club is the name of the Southern California branch of the Sports Car Club of America). When I wasn't covering races, I was out there with my cameras, shooting photos of the racers, and often making some change selling 8x10 glossies of my shots to the racers themselves. It wasn't a living, but it helped pay for my gear, at least. Following is a small collection of photos of SCCA racers at Willow Springs International Raceway. All were taken with the Sigma mirror. In case you're wondering how I managed to get shots of race cars in focus with that big mirror, it was easy. I prefocused on a certain spot of the track and then took the shot as soon as the race car entered that narrow field of acceptable sharpness. Formula Atlantics: Sports 2000s: A Mini Cooper! Mixed Racers:

03-27-2016, 03:22 PM	#815
goatsNdonkey Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Fulton County, Illinois Posts: 3,730	Originally posted by ivoire Thats the most common complaint with mirror lenses... donut bokeh. But 3 minutes in photoshop can easily correct it by selecting the donut area and adjust with a surface blur set to radius 6, threshold 255. A smart sharpen of 2pixels at 20% as the finishing touch helps also hope i'm not out of bounds here Georg I've never thought mirror lens bokeh looks like doughnuts -- the center holes are much too big, compared to any doughnuts I ever saw. SpaghettiOs --that's what it looks like! In some pictures it can add something dramatic, just as star-screens and diffraction gratings and lens flare can be used intentionally for special effects. If the actual appearance of the Os is subtly shown here or there, I don't really find it distracting, certainly not if the main subject is striking enough. Also, keep in mind that sometimes these lenses are used to get images that might be unobtainable otherwise.

03-30-2016, 02:30 AM	#816
cooltouch Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Houston, Texas Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 982	I don't mind the donut bokeh that mirror lenses create. Often they are quite minimal in size anyway, as my above photos show.

03-31-2016, 03:04 PM	#817
goatsNdonkey Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Fulton County, Illinois Posts: 3,730	I've been reading this lens club thread a few pages at a time for a few days and am now about halfway through. I got interested because I had just ordered my first mirror lens, one of the ugly stepchildren of the family, the Spiratone F8 500mm Ultratel Mirror. It's about 9 inches long, and while it is heavy, it is probably a bit lighter than a standard (non-mirror) F8 400mm lens I used to own. I was actually searching to find out if there were any Spiratone wide-angles available on the auction site, and ran across this telephoto in my search results. I didn't want a longer lens than I had, but nobody was bidding on it. It arrived today, cleaner than I thought it would be, but the t-mount on it didn't turn out to be a K-mount as it looked like it might be in one of the pix. I did manage to make a temporary adapter by nesting that one inside of a slim k-mount tube extender, using some black photog tape to make the fit snug and light-tight. Some handheld tests with the lens mated to my K110D looked promising. I won't be able to do some serious tripod or monopod tests until I have a proper/solid adapter on the lens. In the interim, perhaps some others who own this lens might tell about and post examples from theirs. While its not one of the highly acclaimed mirror telephotos, posts I have seen about it elsewhere on the web, suggest that it's not a bad lens, despite its bulk.

04-01-2016, 03:51 AM	#818
cooltouch Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Houston, Texas Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 982	The lenses Spiratone sold were generally quite good, so I wouldn't be surprised if your mirror performs well. I'm confused, though -- doesn't that lens just take a standard T-mount adapter? Seems to me all you should have to do is unscrew the adapter on the lens and screw on a K-type T-mount adapter.

04-01-2016, 10:27 AM	#819
goatsNdonkey Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Fulton County, Illinois Posts: 3,730	cooltouch -- I love those race car pictures. How nice that they painted several in primary colors! Yes, the Spiratone Ultratel 500mm is a T-mount lens; however, the adapter ring that came on it wasn't a Pentax K-mount version, as I thought it might be from the picture in the ad. The flange design is similar, but actually smaller and narrower in diameter -- once I removed it I could see the KE label, standing for the Kine Exakta mount. I've ordered a PK ring. Here are some pics of the lens: Sideview with ruler for scale Rearview, with lens cap on T-mount Front view, with the original "Spiralite" (Spiratone's filter brand?) 77mm 1A filter removed The front glass, forward of the central rear-facing mirror, is actually recessed about 1/2 inch, meaning there is a bit of built-in hood. So, in a sense the lens isn't really a whole nine inches long. On the other hand, the 9 inches is when focused on infinity. It's longer when focused closer. Ha, ha.

04-07-2016, 06:00 AM	#820
cooltouch Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Houston, Texas Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 982	Ah, that front photo indicates your 500mm was made by Sigma. Sigma's early mirrors were quite good. Let us know how it works out once you get your T-mount adapter for it.

04-07-2016, 09:09 AM	#821
goatsNdonkey Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Fulton County, Illinois Posts: 3,730	cooltouch, a poster in this discussion thread over at photo.net, confirms that a large Sigma 500mm mirror was sold in the US by Spiratone, under their label, around 1970 -- how interesting: Sigma mirror lens - Photo.net Accessories - Filters, Bags, Tripods Forum The original poster, mentioned a similar Sigma lens. The most obvious difference I noticed was that it has a built-in sliding hood, not on my Spiratone, which makes the overall length a bit longer. I hope it's okay to link to another photo forum. I expect I'm not the only member here who belongs to or sometimes consults more than one photography forum website.

04-08-2016, 08:14 AM	#823
goatsNdonkey Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Fulton County, Illinois Posts: 3,730	Spiratone f8 500mm as Close-focusing Lens Another cloudy day, not ideal for the outdoor shots I really want to try with this lens, so why not see what it can do indoors with flash at it's closest focus distance of around 15 feet? My house has little rooms, so it's a bit hard to get 15 feet away from anything, but I persisted, setting up a little still-life up on top of a stereo speaker. Specs for the shot: ISO 200, 1/125 sec., handheld with Vivitar 2500 auto thyrister on manual Pentax K110D, 1.5MP JPEG Interestingly, if this image were recorded on a 36mm wide full-frame, it would equate to a reproduction ratio of approx. 1:4.7, certainly within the realm of what a lot of loose-lipped lens promoters have called "macro." Considering that it was a bit hard to focus in the dim room light, and that I was focusing only by moving the camera, it looks pretty sharp to me. With apologies to all of the exceptionally artistic examples posted in this thread, and to their makers, these recent posts of mine are merely my first explorations of the potential of this lens.

04-08-2016, 10:46 AM	#824
tim60 Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2011 Photos: Albums Posts: 8,745	There are a few long mirrors which are labeled macro, or makpo in Cyrillic script. I have not worked out the magnification of a 1000 with 4m MFD.

04-08-2016, 01:22 PM	#825
Racer X 69 Moderator Man With A Camera Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: The Great Pacific Northwet, in the Land Between Canada and Mexico Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,068	Originally posted by cooltouch I was browsing through some scans of some old slides yesterday and ran across several where I used my old Sigma 600mm mirror. Back in the 80s, I wrote for Cal Club's monthly magazine, covering the Southern California SCCA racing scene (Cal Club is the name of the Southern California branch of the Sports Car Club of America). When I wasn't covering races, I was out there with my cameras, shooting photos of the racers, and often making some change selling 8x10 glossies of my shots to the racers themselves. It wasn't a living, but it helped pay for my gear, at least. Following is a small collection of photos of SCCA racers at Willow Springs International Raceway. All were taken with the Sigma mirror. In case you're wondering how I managed to get shots of race cars in focus with that big mirror, it was easy. I prefocused on a certain spot of the track and then took the shot as soon as the race car entered that narrow field of acceptable sharpness. Formula Atlantics: Sports 2000s: A Mini Cooper! Mixed Racers: Nice shots Mike. The club racing scene is always a fun subject.