ProOptic 500mm f/8 H.D. Mirror, Manual Focus Lens , T-Mount Mirror, Manual Focus Lens

2011-09-09T21:00:00

Got this for fun past 300mm in kit already. Great if you have adequate light and can keep light behind you, I may build a hood. Friends buying T adapters for their Nikon and Canon to borrow this after I showed how to avoid the haze. You must take tripod to get consistant crisp results. Has Manual focus and I am still slow at this.

STEVEN R.

2011-06-18T21:00:00

If you have the money to spend on a pro lens, do so. If you're like me, this is a good way to go. Just remember that you'll likely want to stay in burst mode or have a tripod along, especially if you have shaky hands. Macro focusing can be tricky if you have, say, a group of flowers of different heights, but again, a tripod should solve most of this. The lens is very lightweight, and the filters are nice to have even if you don't use them much. Also, I found no difficulty fitting this to a t-mount adapter, so do not let this dissuade you.

Mike H.

2011-06-17T21:00:00

Price is really the key. If you don't have thousands to drop on a lens, this will do fine, but be aware that if you have shaky hands, you will need a tripod or at the very least burst mode. Focusing on a close group of subjects-say a bunch of flowers of different heights is a bit tricky no matter what, but the effects produced are at least interesting.

Dread B.

2011-03-22T21:00:00

It's great to work with this at distances. It gives you a great shallow depth of field.

yakumo

2010-05-14T21:00:00

This lens is essentially a small reflector telescope.that's why I got it, and in that capacity, it's great. it's much easier to deal with than trying to mount the camera to a similar sized telescope, it's much more compact, and the focusing, while tricky, is a lot easier than trying to focus a telescope with a camera body attached.so: it's a telescope, but it's almost as easy to use, and almost the same size as, the kit lens. Actually, it is almost the same size/weight as my canon 55-250 ef zoom lens. to compare it to that lens, in this intended application: it has twice the focal length (500 vs 250), its aperture is about 70mm vs about 45mm for the canon (meaning it gathers twice the light, in a telescope sense).downsides: no autofocus, no image stabilization (which would be nice for this lens), the focal plane is razor thin, making focusing on anything moving a tricky thing, and in fact: the photographer breathing can tend to drift things in and out of focus, even at fairly long distances.my impressions of it are: that it is really high quality for the price. that, for what it intends to do, it performs amazingly well. and that it does something that really can't be done by anything but a multi-thousand dollar lens in terms of its focal length and light gathering. and comparing it physically to those long canons and sigmas and such: this one is small enough that you can actually keep it with you.really really happy with this. thinking about trying one of the larger similar lenses.I have a set of images up at flickr, [@]

dave

2010-04-11T21:00:00

Still getting used to the lens, but think it will be a real asset as I learn what it can do.

SAMUEL S.

2010-02-05T19:00:00

If you can put a 500mm lens in your bag that's no bigger than a can of soup (Progresso-not Campbell's) for [$], why not? More people ask to borrow this lens than any other in my bag, and because of the price-I let them.This is not a lens to take photos that will be critically judged, but if you're out hiking and you see Bigfoot 200 yards away, you'll be glad you have it. And if you practice a bit, you can hand-hold it.It's manual focus...So was every lens I owned prior to 1996. My best glass still is.The Bokkeh is bad. NO, there's a mirror in the center of the front element, so the bokkeh looks like little donuts everywhere there's a light spot that's not in focus, but you can sit in the center field bleachers and get a full frame shot of your kid at bat and see the expression on his face...for [$]. Take pics of the other kids and email them to their parents, who will love them! Will it be as good as a shot taken with a $6000 500mm f4? No. Will anyone care? No. Will most of us ever own one of these lenses? Probably not. Even if I did, I'd still own one of these.

Travis B.

2010-02-05T19:00:00

These lenses are light, affordable, free of chromatic aberration and enable photographs that would otherwise be impossible. It is always adviseable to use a tripod with such a long lens, but I have been very successful handheld at 1/1000s and less. With in body stabilization this might come down much further. Well worth trying.

Pat D.

2010-02-01T19:00:00

This is a very good buy if you are a student. I have pretty much the exact same lens that I payed about 2 1/2 times the price a few years ago. My students love it. It has been used on six different Canon bodies with great results. Of course you are going back to old slr technique, but the b+w film results are worth it alone. Great lens for teaching and experimenting with.

THOMAS W.

2009-11-28T19:00:00

Ok guys, I know the cheap price looks really, really tempting. CONTROL YOURSELF. What might be good for a astronomer is NOT good for you. These things are horrible. Aside from having a fixed f-stop, the bokeh (that's the creamy blurry background behind your subject that makes all the difference) is really, really horrible on these things. REALLY bad. If you have money to burn and are looking to play with really interesting lenses, then sure, go for it. otherwise, i HIGHLY reccomend that you bite the bullet and go with a high quality, traditional telephoto.

Stereotypical P.