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Forum: Lens Clubs
03-04-2014, 07:51 PM
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Even when I nail focus perfectly, my 55-300 kit lens is sharper and has more detail when blown up to the same size as the image made from my 500mm f/8 Tokina.
Hell, I picked up a 400mm f/5.6 Sigma AF lens. The first generation. Purple fringing is absolutely terrible.... but it's still a sharper lens than my 500mm mirror, and takes way, way less work in photoshop to get an acceptable image. I really don't see a use for my 500 mirror lens.
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-14-2013, 07:38 AM
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Jean, what did you think about the Tokina? I'm not impressed with my copy. It's very soft :/
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-12-2012, 09:17 AM
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I've found exactly the opposite with my teleconverter. It makes my 500mm mirror look even more like ass.
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-10-2012, 10:36 PM
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I understand how stacking works for celestial objects... but the moon is big and bright. Why stack for that?
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-10-2012, 10:44 AM
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Stacking? What does that do exactly?
Charle.s
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-22-2012, 10:09 PM
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I just picked up a K-01, and suddenly my neglected Tokina 500mm mirror lens has a whole new life. The focus peaking really makes focusing a breeze. No longer do I have to zoom way, way in and take forever to make sure it's focused, just to find out later it was off just a little bit. Focus peaking allows me to see when the exact area I want is in focus. Because the DOF is so narrow with the mirror lens, it's a piece of cake to make sure my target is right in the center of the focus peaking effect.
Here are a few shots (resized for the web)
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
07-19-2012, 12:35 PM
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Depends. 55B is probably the best image quality, followed by the tokina. Tokina will focus much, much closer though. (4 feet minimum focus distance). Tokina comes with a very nice hood, not sure about the 55B.
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-11-2011, 10:53 PM
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It looks like it may have a bit more contrast with the filter. Could just be a trick of exposure, but if it consistently has more contrast, that's reason enough to stick with the filter in there.
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-07-2011, 09:44 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-06-2011, 09:10 PM
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Actually, *I* was indoors there. I took that from my second-story bathroom window down at my backyard. taking from a shady area to a sunny one is much, much easier than trying to focus with bright sunlight bearing down on me. It might be easier in bright sun if i had an eye cup or something.
Also, this lens is a LOT easier to focus on a full-frame film camera. LOTS. The viewfinder is just so much bigger and brighter on a full frame.
Oh here's the last indoor shot I took. This is of my Pioneer QX4000 Quadraphonic receiver, taken on a tripod at near the minimum focus distance (approx 6 feet).
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-06-2011, 09:05 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-02-2011, 10:27 PM
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My tokina mirror is better indoors and on a tripod. Mostly because... well, you need bright sunlight to use the mirror lens. But the brighter the sunlight, conversely it's actually harder to focus. It's hard to see through the viewfinder in really bright overhead afternoon sun, and the screen is useless and washed out as well. So i get better shots indoors. I also need to pile on the exposure compensation, this lens likes to blow highlights like mad. But I like it overall. Mostly :)
Here's the latest shot I've taken:
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
06-14-2011, 06:58 AM
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Shot of my beagle from across the yard. Tokina 500mm f8 (originally Contax mount, modified with a Pentax bayonet from a set of cheap extension tubes). Contrast, saturation, and sharpening adjusted slightly, (macro I use for all mirror shots) plus a minor color balance correction.
I don't have the ring bokeh as much as I expected to with this lens. This shot in particular has a lovely bokeh IMO. The DOF is razor thin, I really nailed it on this shot. His nose and the back of his ears are out of focus but his eyes and front of his ears are nice and sharp. :)
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
06-05-2011, 04:15 AM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
05-31-2011, 11:38 AM
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I couldn't decide whether to post this in latest acquisition or mirror lens club... but I figure you mirror guys will get more out of it.
I just purchased a Tokina 500mm f/8 mirror lens for the Contax/Yashica mount. For $40. It doesn't look like it's ever been used, the filters are still in the plastic and the cleaning cloth hasn't even been opened yet.
I removed the mount to modify it to fit on a pentax... but that's when I noticed that the k-mount ring from a cheap set of eBay extension tubes was a 100% perfect match for the C/Y mount that I removed. Once the C/Y mount was removed, the extension tube mount fit over the tokina lens with a very tight, almost interference fit. I was able to walk around and use the lens without any adhesive or screws, it was that tight.
I of course removed the mount (pried it off with a screwdriver) drilled some holes, and put in two screws to keep it in place, just in case.
$40 plus $10 for the extension tubes. Not bad at all!
Pics of the lens:
Here are the pics from the lens. Note that these are straight from the camera, with no post processing, no contrast adjustment, nothing except resizing or cropping:
100% crop: 
100% crop: 
100% crop: 
100% crop: 
100% crop: 
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-08-2011, 09:49 PM
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i don't want the best mirror lens, i want the best cheap one that is currently available on eBay for a pittance. That excludes the tamron entirely.
Charles.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-08-2011, 11:17 AM
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So... looking at the current offerings on eBay there appear to be the following variations:
Opteka/Rokinon/Samyang 500mm f8. These are black and all look identical.
Vivitar 500mm f8. This is also black, and has a different focusing ring and the shape looks to be slightly different. It also appears to come with a hood.
Pro Optic/Rokinon (white)/Rokinon (black)/Samyang 500mm f6.3. These are white and look identical.
Vivitar 500m f6.3. This is black, and has a different focusing ring and a red band around the front.
As far as sharpness and contrast are concerned, which is the lens to get?
Thanks.
Charles.
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