Hi, Collin. > Cord has a really nice Tamron Adaptall-2 500mm mirror lens. > Reasonably-priced, too. $159. Anyone have an opinion on it?
[and] > As any mirror lens, it is not optically very interesting. But it gives > you an affordable 500mm which is also VERY light. You could let it always > in your bag. It is also known to be one of the best (if not the best) > mirror lens. [and] > I have one and find it quite nice. The Tamron SP 500/8 mirror is one of the neatest mirror lenses. I've tried quite a few mirror lenses over a period of time, and have kept only three basic models - this lens, the VS1 600/8 Solid Cat (well, I also have the almost-identical Perkin-Elmer 600/8), and the K 1000/11 (which I really haven't used very much). As an aside, the 800/11 VS1 Solid Cat is not nearly as good as the 600/8, and most of the ubiquitous 500/8's have been optically ho-hum, and/or have objectionable light loss (f-stop vs T-stop), and/or have excessive center obstructions (for excessive "doughnut effects"), or some combination of these characteristics. The only one of the mirrors that have gone bye-bye that I regret selling is the VS1 450/4.5 Aspheric Mirror (which I was offered too much money for to keep at the time). But I digress... Back to the Tamron SP 500/8. It is quite a good performer (for a mirror - mirrors always lose a little contrast, compared to non-mirror lenses), and it is just so versatile - it's incredibly light, yet it seems very sturdy, and it focuses down to 1:3 by itself (and to 1:1.5 with the 2X TC). Its central light obstruction is very small, so its "hot-spot effects" and "doughnut effects" are smaller than with most mirror lenses. It uses Adaptall-2 mounts, and comes with a nice nesting hood (i.e., the lens nests inside the reversed hood). Older versions of the lens have a nice rotating and removable tripod mount, although newer versions lack this feature. (The lens is so light that it's probably just as useful to mount the attached body on a tripod instead, but it does seem a shame that Tamron dropped this feature.) Actually, I am not sure that $159 is the best price I've seen - I think I've seen 'em go for less, at least sometimes. I'll dig into the archives here and scan what I've got on this lens. I think I've got a Modern Photo review of it, a full-page Tamron ad for it, and an article about its unusual construction from (maybe) Modern Photo. In any event, I'll scan what I have and get back to you. Fred
