>
> 2) Mirrors: Have we discussed the Zuiko 500 mm f/8 recently? (Haven't
> checked the archives yet). What's your take on this lens? Given the
> price, what are decent non-Zuiko alternatives for catadioptrics? I
> recently found a T-mount 500f8 Celestron in a pawn shop for $200 US.
> Celestron usually makes good stuff. Decent? Other alternatives? Do any of
> you own mirror lenses for your OMs? Are ya happy?
I have a 15 year old Tokina 500mm f/8 (more like T/10) mirror that I
like a lot. Give me bright sunlight, a monopod, and a seat in the
stadium at a high school soccer game and it's perfect.
The donut-shaped out-of-focus effects are an acquired taste. Lots of
light is necessary - but I've been known to handhold at the beach (I
used to be on the rifle team...) On a monopod I can go down to 1/60sec.
When I was young and foolish I even added a 2X converter to get
something like a 1000mm T/20 that was still easy to handle (but, in
truth, even I could see the loss in quality - this sort of thing is only
useful in a real emergency).
It's light, simple, and robust - in the OM tradition. No need for a
separate tripod socket, it still feels like a lens on the body (rather
than the other way around). It's so small that for years it lived in
its own case inside my ratty Tenba2 bag that I carried everywhere. The
Tenba2 bag is more crowded now, so the Tokina is usually naked - but it
still goes to every soccer game with me. When the light fails, I have
to move to something shorter and faster, like a 200mm f/5...
--
Kenneth Sloan sloan@xxxxxxx
Computer and Information Sciences (205) 934-2213
University of Alabama at Birmingham FAX (205) 934-5473
Birmingham, AL 35294-1170 http://www.cis.uab.edu/info/faculty/sloan/
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