500mm for £100?

[Elliot87]

Sometimes my 70-300mm isn't enough reach, limiting my ability to get the shots I'm after. In a year or so after some serious saving I'll look to either buy a 300mm f/4 with 1.4 teleconvertor or a Tamron 150-600. The sigma 150-600 contemporary may also be an option but I'd need to find out some more about it first.

In the meantime I want something that is very cheap, will give me more reach and has at least as good image quality as my Tamron 70-300mm @300. Is that possible? Possibly not but I've come across some options which might fit the bill and wanted to draw on your experience to see if they're worth the gamble.

One option is this or a similar variant: Vivitar 500mm f/8.0 Manuel Focus Telephoto Lens + 2x: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo

The other option would be one of the many 500mm f/6.3 or f/8 mirror lenses such as this: Opteka 500mm f/6.3 Telephoto Mirror Lens for Nikon: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Firstly I know these can be difficult to use and that puts a lot of people off. That doesn't matter so much to me, if taking a great picture was easy I don't think I'd be as interested. I also find using challenging equipment satisfying, like flintlock muskets.
What I care about is IQ and the potential to get a great shot with a lens. I'd much rather the limiting factor being myself rather than the gear.

So what I want to know is what experience do you have with these lenses and can either type be capable of sharp results at 500mm? I don't expect true prime lens quality but on par with a decent zoom would be nice. So far I've read mixed opinions. I also know there are many different makes etc. so if there is a particular lens you could recommend that would be great.

Thanks

 

[480sparky]

Both of those lenses are designed, marketed and advertised simply to extract money from unknowing consumers.

......... can either type be capable of sharp results at 500mm?...........

No. Save your money for a real lens. Now you know.

Taking photos with either won't be easy. Taking great photos.... well... maybe you'll get one or two over time. But only if you stick with it, and make a concerted effort. But most likely, you'll end up selling it for 10% of the original price just to get rid of it.

Keep in mind who is writing the reviews you're reading. I'd be willing to bet that most of them that shower praise on them are noobs who have never seen what decent glass can do, let alone great glass.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

... I've come across some options which might fit the bill and wanted to draw on your experience to see if they're worth the gamble.

One option is this or a similar variant: Vivitar 500mm f/8.0 Manuel Focus Telephoto Lens + 2x: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo

The other option would be one of the many 500mm f/6.3 or f/8 mirror lenses such as this: Opteka 500mm f/6.3 Telephoto Mirror Lens for Nikon: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

No. Just... No.

...

Save your money for a real lens.

This. Seriously... THIS.

 

[JackStalk]

A cropped picture that's perfectly in focus is sharper than one with a longer focal length but slightly mis-focussed due to manual focus. I prefer cropping with my 600mm lens versus using the teleconverter to make it 1200mm but losing AF.

 

[aroy]

Mirror lenses have a fixed f-stop, and rings in OOF areas. So you are left with speed and ISO as variables. Unless you are shooting fast action - BIF, Sports etc, a mirror lens will do the job, though not as well as an equivalent telephoto lens. As far as I remember for a given size, the telephoto lenses are sharper than mirror lenses of upto twice the diameter, but they are extremely inexpensive option for long distance surveillance or shooting the starts.

 

[Felisek]

I have a 1000-mm mirror lens, as described here. It is not good. Image quality is poor, I managed to take a few pictures of the Moon, but this is all you can do with it. It is huge, heavy and cumbersome. Focus is a nightmare: the tiniest flick of the barrel throws you out of focus. To take a sharp-ish picture of the Moon I had to tweak the focus back and forth, keep shooting and hope that one of the pictures would be more-or-less OK. It is very wobbly on my carbon fibre tripod, even a slight breeze makes the image shake. You would need a heavy-duty tripod to keep it steady. I cannot imagine using it for wildlife.

I don't recommend mirror lenses. You truly get what you pay for.

(Caveat: mine is an old Soviet model, perhaps modern Optekas are better, though personally I don't believe it)

 

[Elliot87]

Thanks everyone! I ruled these out as an option a while ago and more or less wanted reminding why I did that. I find reading reviews and views elsewhere dubious. Would much prefer one review I can trust here than 50 on amazon.
I'll save my money