Beginner Telephoto lens

Adhd.Artwork

Adhd.Artwork

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Shaun
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So I’m new to photography and I’ve been shooting with zoom and prime lenses however yesterday I found a great deal in Cex for a Sony SAL-500F80 (500mm F8 Reflex S.Tele).

I can’t wait for it to arrive but does anyone have any recommendations around this lens and how to get the most out of it

Cheers
Shaun
 
Adhd.Artwork said:
So I’m new to photography and I’ve been shooting with zoom and prime lenses however yesterday I found a great deal in Cex for a Sony SAL-500F80 (500mm F8 Reflex S.Tele).

I can’t wait for it to arrive but does anyone have any recommendations around this lens and how to get the most out of it

Cheers
Shaun
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Just to mention that the SAL 500 f/8 is an A-Mount lens - so designed for older Sony Cameras, and will require an adaptor to use on the newer E-Mount cameras (You've not said which camera you have).
As Steven says, you need to use some care with it in terms of background - otherwise you will get 'dunuts' in the bokeh.
It is, however, extremely small and light for 500mm (and one of very few of that type of lens which allows autofocus).
 
While I have no experience of that Sony lens I do have a Tamron SP 500mm f8, which is similar in design. DOF is extremely shallow, my lens is manual focus, but you will need to choose your Autofocus points very carefully. If you can use a tripod, and an ISO that allows 1/1000 or faster if possible.

Ian
 
I have a collection of mirror lenses ranging from 300mm upto 1000mm, they are generally compact & lightweight as well as being reasonably priced for their reach. They usually have a fixed aperture f/5.6, f/8 or f/11 depending on the model for mine. My MTO1000 fails the lightweight part

One of my 500mm models is light enough to be used with the Techart pro for autofocus which helps a lot but sadly the auto ISO on my camera wouldn't go low enough for the airshow shots I took with this.

Out of focus point sources give the donuts mirror lenses are well known for, but they can also give a bad look to longer features such as the waves here which are effectively doubled up

FS test - Reflex + focal reducer by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

Mirror lenses can be tricky to manually focus I used one pre-focused on the corner to capture this back in 2010
BSB Brands Hatch 2 by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

Then when one of the riders came off, and ended up on the other side of the track it turned out he was distinctly out of focus
125 rider midtumble by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr
 
So the new lens arrived today it’s in used condition and has a few minor cosmetic blemishes however it’s fairly clean on the lens just some slight signs of dust and a couple fingerprints on the filter

So I’m using a Sony A55V.

I’m enjoying learning photography and this is my first mirror reflex lens
 
Adhd.Artwork said:
So the new lens arrived today it’s in used condition and has a few minor cosmetic blemishes however it’s fairly clean on the lens just some slight signs of dust and a couple fingerprints on the filter

So I’m using a Sony A55V.

I’m enjoying learning photography and this is my first mirror reflex lens
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Good luck with it!

One thing I failed to mention earlier nearly all mirror lenses (having no aperture & no AF) are made in T2 mount, and then take a simple screw on adapter to any SLR mount. This means you can change the mount of them to fit whichever camera you want.
I've occasionally brought these lenses cheaper than might be expected because they were being sold as having unpopular mounts. Two minutes after they arrive the mount was changed :)
 
Petrochemist said:
Good luck with it!

One thing I failed to mention earlier nearly all mirror lenses (having no aperture & no AF) are made in T2 mount, and then take a simple screw on adapter to any SLR mount. This means you can change the mount of them to fit whichever camera you want.
I've occasionally brought these lenses cheaper than might be expected because they were being sold as having unpopular mounts. Two minutes after they arrive the mount was changed :)
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The lens the op has (the SAL 500 f/8) is a rebadge of the Minolta 500mm reflex lens - so is a native A-Mount lens - it is a fixed aperture, but does have Auto Focus.
It's a FF lens, so on the OP's A55 it will have an apparent focal length of 750mm - not bad given it's only 12cm long, and weighs just 665g.
 
Faldrax said:
The lens the op has (the SAL 500 f/8) is a rebadge of the Minolta 500mm reflex lens - so is a native A-Mount lens - it is a fixed aperture, but does have Auto Focus.
It's a FF lens, so on the OP's A55 it will have an apparent focal length of 750mm - not bad given it's only 12cm long, and weighs just 665g.
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I did think it might be one of the few exceptions. AFAIK his lens (in it's two guises) is one of two AF mirror lens produced, though one of mine can be used with the Techart pro to gain AF finishing. There was also apparently a mirror lens with adjustable aperture made, though I know even less about that model.

My Samyang 300mm/6.3 mirror is designed for APSC & MFT so manages at 600 equivalent (on MFT) & only weighs 320g (& 7.5cm long) but admittedly it doesn't have AF..

I've also tried 500, 600 & 1000mm mirror lenses with MFT as well as the Pentax Q for even more reach though they are FF models. Camera shake was unsurprisingly a major issue with the Q (crop factor a little over 5) but on a reasonable tripod & with good light the MTO 1000 on MFT (2000mm equivalent) worked OK as long as the subject was static enough to allow careful focusing. I don't remember getting anything remotely usable with the Q, but I tried it in poor light without a decent tripod so that's hardly surprising.

The MTO weighs over 2.4kg so is very much an exception to mirror lenses being light weight. It's made worse by coming with 3 heavy filters that screw on the front (most mirror lenses use filters at the back)

I wouldn't mind adding the Minolta 500mm reflex lens to my collection, but now I'm retired I can't afford £100 and my A to E AF adapter could do with an upgrade...

To bring things back closer to theme @Adhd.Artwork have you had a chance to play with it yet? Can you share any pics :)
 
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Petrochemist said:
I did think it might be one of the few exceptions. AFAIK his lens (in it's two guises) is one of two AF mirror lens produced, though one of mine can be used with the Techart pro to gain AF finishing. There was also apparently a mirror lens with adjustable aperture made, though I know even less about that model.

My Samyang 300mm/6.3 mirror is designed for APSC & MFT so manages at 600 equivalent (on MFT) & only weighs 320g (& 7.5cm long) but admittedly it doesn't have AF..

I've also tried 500, 600 & 1000mm mirror lenses with MFT as well as the Pentax Q for even more reach though they are FF models. Camera shake was unsurprisingly a major issue with the Q (crop factor a little over 5) but on a reasonable tripod & with good light the MTO 1000 on MFT (2000mm equivalent) worked OK as long as the subject was static enough to allow careful focusing. I don't remember getting anything remotely usable with the Q, but I tried it in poor light without a decent tripod so that's hardly surprising.

The MTO weighs over 2.4kg so is very much an exception to mirror lenses being light weight. It's made worse by coming with 3 heavy filters that screw on the front (most mirror lenses use filters at the back)

I wouldn't mind adding the Minolta 500mm reflex lens to my collection, but now I'm retired I can't afford £100 and my A to E AF adapter could do with an upgrade...

To bring things back closer to theme @Adhd.Artwork have you had a chance to play with it yet? Can you share any pics :)
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This is one of my shots on the 2nd day of using it. No editing just a raw photo.

I don’t like zoom lenses however I do use a Sony 75-300 basic zoom but I’m finding I’m drawn towards prime and telephoto.

I’ve been advised that zooms are a necessity however I don’t feel the creativity when using them.

I have several Minolta zooms that came with camera bodies when I first started this process but now I’ve found telephoto and prime I’m looking to sell the zoom and focus on the telephoto and primes am I being stupid?
 
Adhd.Artwork said:
This is one of my shots on the 2nd day of using it. No editing just a raw photo.

I don’t like zoom lenses however I do use a Sony 75-300 basic zoom but I’m finding I’m drawn towards prime and telephoto.

I’ve been advised that zooms are a necessity however I don’t feel the creativity when using them.

I have several Minolta zooms that came with camera bodies when I first started this process but now I’ve found telephoto and prime I’m looking to sell the zoom and focus on the telephoto and primes am I being stupid?
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I certainly see the appeal of primes, but there are times when I find the flexibility of a zoom very useful. With Long primes it can be difficult to locate your subject (perhaps only 5 degrees) with a zoom you can find it using the wide end then close it once it's centered. A great help for birds/planes overhead where all the background can be similar.

At the wide end zoom's are definitely not a necessity in any way, though they can still be a convenience.

I've not brought a zoom in several years, though I still regularly find primes I can't resist adding to my hoard.

With your photo I feel it would have been better in portrait format so as to get all of the foal in frame while still keeping the older horse.
I do like the way the bokeh in the trees looks like horse shoes - very appropriate :)

It's good to see that even just on day 2 you're getting shots without camera shake ruining them.
 
Faldrax said:
The A55 (in common with all Sony A-Mount cameras) has In-body sensor stabilisation, so works with all lenses.
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IBIS struggles to cope with really long focal lengths, where movements are significantly amplified. It's standard in my Pentax DSLRs & Sony A7ii too, but definitely has it's limits
 
Petrochemist said:
IBIS struggles to cope with really long focal lengths, where movements are significantly amplified. It's standard in my Pentax DSLRs & Sony A7ii too, but definitely has it's limits
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On my A700 (APS-C) and A900(FF) I could happily handhold my 70-300 at full zoom at shutter speeds down to 1/100, so it was certainly of some use (or I'm just good at holding the camera steady, but I suspect it's the IBIS).
I did have a 150-600 on A-Mount as well, but was principally using it on faster moving subjects, where stabilisation wasn't a factor, so can't tell how well it worked on those focal lengths.
 
Faldrax said:
On my A700 (APS-C) and A900(FF) I could happily handhold my 70-300 at full zoom at shutter speeds down to 1/100, so it was certainly of some use (or I'm just good at holding the camera steady, but I suspect it's the IBIS).
I did have a 150-600 on A-Mount as well, but was principally using it on faster moving subjects, where stabilisation wasn't a factor, so can't tell how well it worked on those focal lengths.
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A 300mm lens at 1/100th is about than 2 stops slower than the guideline of 1 over equivalent focal length, even early iterations of IBIS should manage that.
To manage at 500mm is roughly another stop, & beginners often struggle with shake even with normal focal lengths.

On occasion I've managed sharp shots hand holding a 50mm lens at 1/8s on film (no IBIS or other stabilisation) but thats been the exception rather than the rule.
 
Petrochemist said:
A 300mm lens at 1/100th is about than 2 stops slower than the guideline of 1 over equivalent focal length, even early iterations of IBIS should manage that.
To manage at 500mm is roughly another stop, & beginners often struggle with shake even with normal focal lengths.

On occasion I've managed sharp shots hand holding a 50mm lens at 1/8s on film (no IBIS or other stabilisation) but thats been the exception rather than the rule.
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Yes, so with 2 stops of stabilisation + 1 stop up for beginner means shooting at 1/250 on the 500m should be achievable, the sort of numbers where subject movement (for wildlife) starts to become the primary concern, rather than camera shake.
 
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