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[OM] 600mm mirror lens, plus question on 300/350 CAT lenses.

Subject: [OM] 600mm mirror lens, plus question on 300/350 CAT lenses.
From: DBellamy2k@xxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 22:05:50 EDT
Keith Allchin wrote:

> Today I have seen a used Sirius 600mm mirror lens, with OM fit,
> for 199ukp >>

I forgot to mention that I have a Tamron 500/8 mirror lens myself, and I 
quite like it. I have used it for shots of my mates surfing, and for the late 
2000 total lunar eclipse. I have been pleased with the photos I have had from 
it, but haven't really used it much, since I bought it in about 1993-94.

I did a search at Jessops for Sirius lenses and found only 1, a zoom. There 
are lots of Tamrons there, and almost everywhere else it seems, and usually 
plenty og Vivitars and Sigmas. I suppose these were the big 3 independent 
lens manufacturers of the 80s and beyond.

One thing to watch out for with Tamrons is you have to find the 
interchangeable Olympus OM mount to go with it, and these got very expensive 
new, although I think you can probably pick them up used for a tenner or 15 
pounds maybe.

I mentioned the one at Ffordes because I think it came with a load of Olympus 
gear they got recently, including my 16mm fisheye which just arrived from 
them this Wednesday.  ;-)

Jim Brokaw wrote:
<< I'm not sure the
difference between 500 and 600 is worth worrying about, you can't really
hand-hold either one... and f8.0 is slow either way. >>

I nearly always forget when I put on my 500/8 CAT lens, that I have f/8 and 
ONLY f/8, which can be a pain if you have 400 or 800 ASA film on a bright day 
and every shot is overexposed!

At f/8 of course, the split image/microprism is more or less unusable 
(darkened), so you have to rely on the matte / ground glass of the screen, 
althugh I find that OK. Of course, you can always change focusing screen to 
one suited for slow telephotos.

The daytime shots I have done were mostly handheld, maybe leaning on/against 
something nearby, but of course you will need 1/500 second or faster to avoid 
camera shake. So basically at f/8 that gives you 1/500, 1/1000 (and 1/2000 on 
some OM cameras) unless you have a tripod. With the 600, camera shake will be 
marginally worse, because of the extra magnification.

I have wondered about trying a 300 or 350mm CAT/mirror lens - anybody have 
any experiences to share or recommendations?

Kind regards,

Dave Bellamy.
http://members.aol.com/synthchap/

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