nikon mirror 500m f8, whats it worth?

[redline]

i saw one for 450$ s/h,
anyone have any advice for such a lenses?

[kipper]

About that Redline

I wouldn't pay anymore than $500-600 for one.

[yeocsa]

Hi

$500 - $600? very expensive for a mirror lens. Check out Tamron - it is alot cheaper and almost as good.

regards,

Arthur

[Greg B]

Maxwells' price guide has the 500mm Nikon mirror at $1,650

[yeocsa]

Buy from Adorama. US$339 for a used Nikon Mirror Lens in excellent condition. Must be crazy to buy from Maxwell at that price!

regards,

Arthur

[Greg B]

Indeed. I am certainly not recommending to buy at Maxwells guide prices, but their guide does give what I imagine is the recommended retail price. You could undoubtedly do better even at Teds! (I am not suggesting Teds either, that is meant to be funny)

[redline]

Buy from Adorama. US$339 for a used Nikon Mirror Lens in excellent condition. Must be crazy to buy from Maxwell at that price!

regards,

Arthur

yeah, but its cost me atleast 600$ once ups are done with it. mine just get a cheapie 99$ for kicks. but i heard focusing it quite differcult.

[redline]

dunno about maxwell market price ppl, let just add a huge markup on top of retail value of any items that come into this country...

[Hlop]

Maxwell's price guide is just funny reading. Their price for 80-400VR now is 2,925.00 but itwas about 3,500 just few months ago when I've got it from Poon for 1,700

[birddog114]

Maxwell's price guide is just funny reading. Their price for 80-400VR now is 2,925.00 but itwas about 3,500 just few months ago when I've got it from Poon for 1,700

Hilop,
You have to let your countrymen make some dough otherwise they're gone broke and will not reply your email same as he replied an email to GregB in another thread.

[kipper]

yeocsa wrote:

$500 - $600? very expensive for a mirror lens. Check out Tamron - it is alot cheaper and almost as good.

$339US is $450AU, add on shipping costs and any GST and you'll have it at $500 easy.

[kipper]

Redline, speak to I think Bigpix, he has a mirror lens, and seems to produce good results with it. I'd get one but F/8 isn't a good enough aperture for me. I want F/4 atleast

[yeocsa]

Better to get TC - 1.7 or 2.0. With your 300 f2.8, you get 600 f5.6 with 2X TC - better than mirror lens anytime.

regards,

Arthur

[kipper]

Like Arthur said, if you've got a 300MM F/2.8, get a 1.7TC or 2.0TC.
Btw, out of interest which 300MM F/2.8 do you have?

[Killakoala]

I have a 500mm F8 but it's an older model. I got it for $100 about 10 years ago, second hand.

It is fully manual and difficult to focus with the D70 due to the smaller veiwfinder. It can be very challenging and frustrating and expect to 'lose' plenty of good shots due to being out of focus. It does work though. The Bokeh is weird due to the construction of the lens. It's basically a Schmidt-Cassegrain construction such as a telescope.

Here's a few examples of shot taken with it.

http://killakoala.smugmug.com/photos/16159778-M.jpg
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/photos/16159784-M.jpg

This one really shows the strange Bokeh.
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/photos/16159791-M.jpg

http://killakoala.smugmug.com/photos/16159793-M.jpg
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/photos/16159766-M.jpg

And you can even do portraits with it.
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/photos/14047949-M.jpg
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/photos/22215596-M.jpg

Some more
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/photos/14047944-M.jpg
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/photos/14047945-M.jpg
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/photos/14047943-M.jpg

[kipper]

Yeah I was talking to a few nature photographers about 500MM and 600MM lenses and they said, go fully AF with the D70. One bloke sold his D70 and get a D2H just so he could MF a 600MM lens. It's a shame really, one of my big hates about the D70 and the F80 is the small viewfinder. Played around with a friends F50? and I was annoyed that had a bigger viewfinder than the F80. Anyway that's a bit OT.

[birddog114]

Yeah I was talking to a few nature photographers about 500MM and 600MM lenses and they said, go fully AF with the D70. One bloke sold his D70 and get a D2H just so he could MF a 600MM lens. It's a shame really, one of my big hates about the D70 and the F80 is the small viewfinder. Played around with a friends F50? and I was annoyed that had a bigger viewfinder than the F80. Anyway that's a bit OT.

The D70 is not designed to use with the big gun, invest into the Pro body and you'll be happy.

[redline]

Like Arthur said, if you've got a 300MM F/2.8, get a 1.7TC or 2.0TC.
Btw, out of interest which 300MM F/2.8 do you have?

ais model, thinking maybe the 300 stacked with a tc may not be enough for this weekends meets at wtp. but i am alittle put off by the werid bokeh and problems focusing the mirror lenses has.

[kipper]

Yeah, I saw the 300 F/2.8 AI-S on Keh.com and was thinking about hiring it for WTP but then read up on it's AF performance. Might be ok though for these raptors as they're not as darty as small birds.