mirror lens

[peem]

Hi . I have a 500mm f6.3 mirror lens . Are they any good for astro photos ? Thanks

[gary1968]

I cant really answer that, however, go and give it a go, it wont cost you owt as you already have it.....

Gary

[GlassWalker]

Depends on who made it and what you want to do with it. They vary widely in quality. At a similar aperture, you could probably do better getting something like a 80mm refractor.

[Capricorn]

As Gary said give it a go, the mirror lens are pretty rare, more correctly they never caught on, so I guess no one will give a definitive answer.

If it fits your DSLR then put it on a mount and take 10 shots and see.

If no good delete the images or change the exposure parameters and have another go.

Nothing to lose.

[StuW]

I'd hardly say they were rare, you can pick them up in pretty much any camera shop and they are easily obtained off ebay for less than £100

[old_eyes]

Go for it!

You can do nice work with a DSLR and a standard lens, so give it a go. Although at 500mm you will want to be pretty well polar aligned and guided.

old_eyes

[laser_jock99]

A lot of mirror lenses sold were very slow at F8 but your F6.3 lens might be worth a punt ?

[mikehab]

Hi - did the original poster (peem) try this in the end? I'm also wondering whether these f/6.3 500mm mirror lenses are any good for AP - so would be interested to hear whether you have been successful...?

[sologuitarist61]

I use a mirror lens, but don't use it much for astro, more for general photography, however took one some time ago of the moon, as below. Canon 50D, Tamron 500mm f8 on a Celestron EG5GT mount (heavily cropped).

If your is the Samyang 500mm f6.3 then give it a go as these are very good mirror lenses indeed,

[peem]

I will try it if i ever get a clear night .The only partly clear night was 2 weeks ago when the moon was full!! I have a vixen polarie but no polar scope I have only managed afew photos in the last month or more . I used a 85mm and a 50mm lens for one minute without any obvious trailling Looking through the little hole in the polarie to find the pole star is not as easy as it looks in the video . Forecast is not good for the next week Its been rain wind and more rain here in the western isles

[mikehab]

I decided to take the plunge and managed to bag a Samyang 500mm f/6.3 mirror lens off ebay - first light tonight and got this photo of the moon...

Mike

[mikehab]

Here's another picture of the moon taken tonight with the Samyang 500mm f/5.6 mirror lens. EOS 60D, 9 frames, pre-processed in PIPP then stacked using AutoStakkert.

[RAC]

Give us a shot of a dso with it please someone!

[Andymac79]

I have considered them in the past purely for the weight save, the 500mm is pretty compact compared to a telephoto of the same length. But this is no help to anyone as I never bought one

[mojocvh]

"If your is the Samyang 500mm f6.3 then give it a go as these are very good mirror lenses indeed"

Good to read as I'm seriously thinking of one for piggybacking,

Mike pm on its way.

cheers

Mo.

[Xlracer]

sigma 600mm lens on a canon550 on an astrotrac. The celestron c90 mak spotting scope has a longer focal length, and t mount fitting and is extraordinarilly cheap

[Xlracer]

Image with 600mm sigma lens aboce

[Ags]

Let's see a picture taken with the sigma!

EDIT: must type faster!

[Xlracer]

Ah!

Picture below

[gary1968]

What were the camera settings for that pic?

Gary

[Xlracer]

Hi

1 minute at ISO1600 with an Andy Ellis (Astronomiser) baader filter modded Canon 550 with an astronomik clip in light pollution filter. The clip in OB filter makes it good for terrestial use too. Probably too high an ISO but I was just playinng LOL

[gary1968]

That's a pretty good result for only 1min sub, well done. Makes my eq3 pro and cam with lens even more appealing.

Gary

Sent from my HUAWEI U8815 using Tapatalk 2

[Xlracer]

Hi

I used ISO1600 for 2 minutes.

[Xlracer]

ISO 1600 2 MINUTES ON THIS ONE WITH NO POST PROCESSING

[Xlracer]

ISO 1600 4 MINUTES IT SAYS ON THE EXIF DATA, ON AN ASTROTRAK WITH THE 600MM SIGMA