Tamron 500 Mirror Lens

Got an eye out for one of these, would appreciate any info/comments good, bad or indifferent. I would like a Sigma 150 - 500 but am struggling to justify it. Well! it`s going to be a close call.

Cedric

Eider Drake Tamron SP500mm

Swan Tamron SP500mm

The Tamron is an excellent lens, that can produce excellent photos. There are limitations with it though. Out of focus highlights can produce a "doughnut" effect also if the subject is close, as opposed to isolated from an out of focus background, the bokeh can be messy.

There is a group on flickr for mirror lenses mirror reflex

It is an inexpensive way to go long and well worth the money - even if you don't like it you will probably only lose the cost of the postage when you re-sell. And the Tamron BB 500 is one of the best out there.

There is a another up / down side of course to Mirror (Reflex) lenses - you need to polish up your MF skills as there is no AF.

Two (not perfect - too far away in most cases - read the comments) threads I posted last week, all take with the T500.

link

link

Thank you both, especially the links. Iv`e just pressed the buy it now button LOL.

You certainly won't regret it.

Think you are going to enjoy that lense after you've gotten used to it - BTW I always shoot it on a monopod.

You do have the adapter for Pentax don't you (or does it come with it) ?

Had to buy the Pentax adaptor as a separate buy. Possibly a bit expensive at £21 but it`s boxed with both caps and instructions. Will be using it on either a K10 or K20 and I guess my daughter will pinch it to use on her K200. I always use some form of rest with the DA 300* so with a 500 at f8 I guess it`s a must to use a monopod or tripod. I wanted a longer lens `cos we have just booked a week on Mull. I used a Tamron 28-300 for Eagle/Deer shots on Skye and Raasay it just didn`t quite work and with a 2 times converter it just didn`t work. I did buy a 1.4 converter from SRS though which works well with the DA 300*. Just need a few days out in the wilds of Suffolk for some serious testing when the 500 arrives.

Once again thanks for your inputs and i will be posting soon ish.

Cedric

Woah Cedric ...... you have a DA*300 ?!

I think you'll get better results (and AF) cropping from the 300 than you will from the T500. The T500 beats out my 55-300 (after cropping) but surely never the 300 ... and the 300 works very well from all accounts with the AFA x1.7 (which also gives you faux AF) which = 510mm.

IMO - you should put that T500 and adaptor on the market and get the AFA x1.7 (after you've had a bit of fun with it first but definitely before your week on Mull) !

Hi Kevin, I normally use MF with the 300 anyway. I just prefer to, I had some naughty thoughts about the 1.4 on the T500 or even the 2.0 providing enough available light. I have a whacky notion of the T500 on the K10 and 300 plus 1.4 on the K20. The DA 300 * is a wicked bit of glass and i love using it.

Cedric

Some time ago I forked out next to nothing on a f1/8 500mm mirror lens, that is light, less than 25cm in length, and a jpy to use, noth on the intended ME-s and K10D. Two Christmasses ago I had the idea I wanted a super-telephoto zoom. I've an idea Tamron had a 300-500mm, which was perfect - nowhere, in no warehouse anywhere, in Pentax fit. Idea two, less enthusiaistic, was a Sigma 150-500mm. Same story, everywhere. Enentually, somwhere in Devon, I found a 50(!!)-500mm, f1/6++, and - since its thread diameter is 86 mm m- even the polarizer was £50.00 I do not recall any change back from £1000.00.

The ?Tamron mirror lens has served my D- and normal SLRs well, with lovely, sharp and pleasinly deep focal plane. It's filters are merely 72mm _ I already had them. The other thing, well, I got it out of the box, marvelled at its weight and length fully extended, worked out how to attach it to the tripod, and can say I have taken no more than a handful of shots with it. For wildlife and things, you need to carry kit long distancces, and I have a disability anyway, but would still resent the effort if I was fighting-fit. There seems to be a bit of a hiatus in the medium-long telephoto lens for the Pentax market. I bought two cheap things (which most certainly show their shortcomings tothe lest criticsl of photograph appraisers) - a tiny 50-500mm DA (rationale, take it on holiday wth 1.5x adaptor); and an awful Sigma 70-300mm 'macro' (i.e. between 200 and 300mm you get something like up to 1:6 'magnification'), but it was my most used lens for a while, as the focal-length range was so ideal for my following a year centred around a pair of moor-hens in a municipal pond), but the pictures are terrible (unlike the sharp, bright deep-fielded results from the little 500mm fellow, which I didn't have at the time [and anyway had not yet made the mental leap that one of Pentax's many excellent qualities is that thir old lenses can be used on their newest SLRs].

I need somehowto cover just below 150 up to (let's be sensible now) 400mm, ideally with a single, but possibly with two, normal-sized lenses. I am currently a kind of anti-Midas. Any ideas? Sugestions for part-exchange/swap before I go through the necessary counselling before putting the huge doodah on EBay.?

Grumpyguts : The Sigma 100-400 is going to give you better IQ than you are getting now but the 50-500 is better still ...... but not if you can't / don't want to carry it around !

IMO : Sell the 50-500 and get the 100-400 or a 60-250 + Tamron x1.4 or better still Pentax AFA x1.7.

Tha Tamron 500mm mirror is a brilliant lens but like all lenses of this type it needs to be used with care and the correct technique. There is no need to go to the expenses of buying 72mm filters, the correct size is 30.5mm and they are fitted behind the rear element.

I have a Tamron 500 c/w adaptor and hood that I am thinking of selling if anyone is interested

Placed the order on e bay on Sunday. Here I am sitting with laptop on me knees and a Tamron 500 f8 mirror lens sitting beside me in a smashing black leather case (ideal for sarnies and a can of pop when the lens is on a camera). Just waiting on postie for the Pentax adaptor. Wonder if I`l get a second delivery after 7?????

Cedric

Well I didn`t get a second delivery LOL. Have to wait for the adaptor. The lens came complete with filters etc but no instruction book. There are white lines scribed on the fixed barrel.The rotating section presumably lines up with one or other of them but which and why. Would welcome some advice please.

Thanks

Cedric