Mirror lenses!

I finally cleaned my MD 500/8; it was dusty (spots everywhere!) and the rear mirror had haze on it. Disassembly was fairly straightforward, though the screws had lock/sealant which made them hard to turn. Seems okay though.

Christo the Red-Tailed Hawk

MD 500/8 nex5n 1/1000 iso3200 monopod

pegelli wrote: Tokina just announced a new 500/8 mirror lens: PetaPixel Article Official launch date is februari 18.

Saw that, thanks. Looks sharp in pictures - I'm particularly impressed with the flower close-up. The Tamron 500mm adaptall also focuses down to ~1.7m ('Macro' ) but it loses some sharpness doing it (see pic below). Pity it's T-mount. I'd really like to see one designed for mirrorless as they end up being rather long and front-heavy with an E-mount adapter..

The problem with many modern mirror lenses is that when they say 'f8' they actually mean it; but with the hole in the centre the exposure will be ~ T10. The best film-era mirror lenses (certainly the Tamron adaptall and Minolta reflex) were actually T8, which put them at around f6.5-7 or so. This is why the Reflex works with AF, plus the fact that the centre AF point doesn't look at the centre of the image anyway.
So, yes, modern mirrors like the Tokina 500 and Kenko 400mm are much smaller and lighter than a film-era would be, but there's a cost. Of course with digital cameras the cost is much more bearable than in the film era.
The smallest mirror lens I have that's any good is the Super Paragon 300mm f5.6, which without an adapter is the same size and weight as the Minolta 50mm f2.8 macro and focuses down to 2.5m. It's quite a neat lens for ring bokeh. I'll try to look out some pics with it.

Meanwhile, here's a 'macro' picture with the Tamron adaptall: A58, 1/400 sec at 400 ISO.


I only had an APS-C camera at that time but the image I took is cropped only a little down the rhs. I will have to try it again on the A7Rii. Oh, I have a second one now. The original one has a lot of freckles on the mirror.


Edited by Miranda F - 24 January 2022 at 08:22

darosa wrote: And 2 with a cheap Tokina 500: 1 Millet ears

I love that. great composition!

Penarth, South Wales. A7Rii + Minolta 500mm Reflex + LA-EA4, 1/200th at 200 ISO.


I forgot to change to a sensible shutter speed and P mode chose 1/200/sec, which is lower than I'd like, but the IBIS worked well enough to hide it.

Tokina just announced a new 500/8 mirror lens: PetaPixel Article

Official launch date is februari 18.

And 2 with a cheap Tokina 500:

1 Millet ears


2 The blue planet


both with a7iii + RMC Tokina 500mm 1:8 (1980; FD-mount)

Glad to hear I'm not the only 'old man' here. I have had many failures due to inappropriate camera settings. Just too focused on the image in the viewfinder and ignoring all the camera settings in the display, so many things to consider with these modern cameras.