Mirror Lens and telephoto lence

[sandeep2478]

Hi All
What is the diffrence bw Mirror lence and telephoto lence

Can we use mirror lence for wildlife photography?

can get 500 mm lence quite cheap

Thanks
Sandy

[Cellarman]

A mirror lens uses curved mirrors rather than lenses, so the light path is folded, making the lens physically much shorter. Telephotos use lenses (obviously), but are physically shorter than long-focus lenses. The problem with mirror lenses is that they usually have a fixed aperture size, meaning that depth of field cannot be changed. They also create ugly doughnut-shaped images of out of focus highlights.

They are a cheaper way to obtain a long focal length lens, but do not give the same quality as a good telephoto.

[pressld2]

Agree with everything that Cellarman says except the use of the word "ugly" for the doughnut shaped out of focus bits. I've always thought that they can look quite attractive, especially when its sparkly bits reflecting off water.

They're also called catadioptric lenses.

I've still got my old Nikon 500mm mirror lens.

Dave P.

[acherontia]

I agree with Dave -the doughnut effect can look quite attractive - especially on water when it's so obvious it doesn't look like some accidental aberration and it's quite easy to post process out any effect you don't want.

The main advantage is the mirror lens is it's more affordable - although it does sometimes tend to get a viscious knocking by some gear freaks who will sell their soul for better/bigger/swankier stuff.
There are still a few wildie pros out there who use mirror lenses - don't knock them too much. Like a lot of things they have their advantages and disadvantages.
They're a lot shorter and easier to handle but you do tend to get stuck with f8 which is a bit slow and more or less rules out use on a dull day.

Re lenses - you can have an 800mm lens and it still won't beat getting close. Although it is useful if you're big and strong enough to heft it up quickly. that rules me out then...
Successful Wildlife Photography rules -
1 get close
2 get close
3 get close...................

Acherontia

[Jim Ford]

I've had a couple of mirror lenses, and like most users have not been very satisfied with them. The one I still have (but don't use) is a Tamron 350mm f5.6 SP. The 'SP' means that it's high quality, but I don't find it very sharp.

Jim

[Hobjob]

In my experience of one mirro lens, it lacked sharpness +++.

Other downsides as above - F8 and manual focus.

The bigger swankier lenses (sic) are also a lot better,
but sadly, a lot more expensive.

[DZ]

I would still find a time and place to use one but it’s just the fixed aperture that sucks. They never seemed to have had the design and time spent on making them better ... just like the Wankel engine

[Meta menardi]

Not from experience, but I think a quick knock and they are spoilt.