> From: Nicholas Herndon <nherndon@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> Anyone have one? How useful do you find it?
Great lens! Possibly best in its class.
That said, it is a mirror lens, and merely suffers less from mirror lens
problems than other mirrors, so it certainly won't "look" like a 500mm
refractor, notably in lack of contrast and poorer colour rendition. And of
course, the lack of a diaphragm means you lack depth of field control and
shutter speed control.
But in these days when you can pump up contrast and colour in the camera,
before even considering Photoshop, these concerns are more often offset by its
incredible compactness.
I find that with the E-3's excellent image stabilization, I can hand-hold this
lens down to 1/125th or less. Because it is compact and easier to hold, I
believe I can shoot slower with this lens than with a refractor.
I find it very useful, and will always consider it if the sky is clear and I'm
going somewhere with long distances. But its inherent lack of contrast makes it
of limited use with even a bit of atmospheric haze.
I would say it is probably my 3rd or 4th most-used lens. I find it more useful
via a 4/3rds adaptor than I ever did with film. I had one long ago, sold it,
regretted selling it, and bought another.
Here's a study I did of longer lenses, posted some time ago, including this
lens and a number of other mirrors:
http://www.Bytesmiths.com/OM_Tele
Here's a shot from it that I use quite often in literature for our co-op. This
was taken from about three kilometres away from the top of a nearby mountain.
1/90th, hand-held with IS.
http://www.ecoreality.org/wiki/images/d/dd/EcoReality_from_Mount_Maxwell.jpg
Here's another shot, clearly showing the characteristic "doughnut bokeh" of
this lens, which can either be objectionable or "artistic," depending on
circumstances. 1/125th, hand-held with IS.
http://www.ecoreality.org/wiki/images/b/b1/Espi_raking.jpg
Summary: a very useful lens when you need long reach and size and weight are
more important than ultimate image quality.
----------------
A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it,
bearing within him the image of a cathedral. -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
:::: Jan Steinman, EcoReality Co-op ::::
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