cheap big primes

[taz]

ok, so as some know, I'm disabled, hmmm, but I like to shoot wildlife when I can, birds as well
I'm also a pauper (yes, isn't everyone these days), so i have been looking at some of these big lenses for sale brand new on ebay
you know the ones, 400mm to 800mm super zoom jobs. My question is, has anyone actually tried one of these? And if so, what were
the results? i wouldn't expect them to be fantastic due to the price alone, some are like $120, but i was just wondering how they faired
against say a 600mm mirror lens?

 

[Unframed Dave]

I still have a manual focus 500mm f8 Centon (Jessop's own brand) mirror lens. I tried to use it on an olympus Om2sp. The results were dreadful. Manual focus without modern day aids was just too imprecise.

I believe the other lens you are referring to are also manual focus and the price is similar to what I paid for the mirror back in the eighties. Given the effect of inflation, it suggests they are not up to the standards of a lot of today's lenses.

I saw a lady trying to use one on a recent wildlife holiday on the Isle of Man. She was very frustrated at her lack of success.

The sony 400 - 800 seems to deliver some excellent results and I regard the 200-600 very highly. I think both represent far better value for money.

 

[iamdlewis]

ok, so as some know, I'm disabled, hmmm, but I like to shoot wildlife when I can, birds as well
I'm also a pauper (yes, isn't everyone these days), so i have been looking at some of these big lenses for sale brand new on ebay
you know the ones, 400mm to 800mm super zoom jobs. My question is, has anyone actually tried one of these? And if so, what were
the results? i wouldn't expect them to be fantastic due to the price alone, some are like $120, but i was just wondering how they faired
against say a 600mm mirror lens?

So those super cheap telephoto lenses are all fully manual. Handholding a 200-600mm and manually focusing that can be a pain depending on the conditions. Manually focusing the 200-600+1.4x at 840mm sucks. Only having manual focus for a 600mm and trying to photograph things other than elephants, sleeping lions or large raptors in trees seems like something for someone other than me.

A good lens is a good lens regardless of the body type. The difference between a lens for a floppy mirror body and a mirrorless body is only the distance between the rear element of the lens and the sensor on the camera.

 

[Unframed Dave]

Mirror lens review:

https://share.google/5CTegl38DE4uhtezE

This guy is being polite, the images are trash compared to a modern lens.

 

[iamdlewis]

I forgot about those. Those are really only made for astro and that is really the only thing they are good for.