I loved the wholesome interaction at 0:40!! this was a fun video, I loveee dc in the winter and admire your dedication to getting those shots of the planes
That is the first video I've ever encountered you, and I just want to say that you shouldn't sell yourself short. This video was highly entertaining, and you have a very non intrusive personality which is hard to find on RUclips. You also made me want to visit Washington incredibly bad. You would be a great city ambassador! Thanks for the entertainment!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the kindness. In the moment it felt very disjointed but I'm glad it came together in an entertaining package. Definitely come visit Washington! I think it's a place all Americans should visit, given it's history and importance to our country
You will need to upgrade your gear and shooting techniques in order to properly use Ultra Tele lenses. 1- get a heavy duty video tripod (a 100mm bowl video design) that has a center column rear hook to hang a camera bag to add weight stability. Make this purchase because you will most likely be using a hybrid camera and will want to be shooting video. The video head can be purchased later. 2- use a remote shutter release to avoid finger induced vibration. 3- Do NOT use a ball head, instead use a heavy duty Gimbal Head. It will allow you to balance and focus large, heavy manual tele lenses. The heavy tripod and gimbal head duo will dampen external vibrations. 4- Never use a tele converter with mirror lenses. If fact all tele converters cause light loss and loss of image quality. 4- Instead, carry a full frame sensor camera and a crop sensor camera. Switch to the crop sensor camera to increase your tele range without light loss or image degradation. 5- Always carry spare fully charged batteries in a warm pocket during cold weather. 6- Shoot in cold weather when shooting Ultra long distances because warm weather conditions produce Heat Haze. 7- Always use high shutter speeds. All your mirror shots were out of focus because of vibrations. After you gear up, practice shooting nearby before heading out to the field. Practice makes perfect. You remind me of my younger self. I still use a Sigma 600mm and Pentax 1000mm mirror lenses. I also use a Nikkor 70-200mm auto focus, Nikkor 200-500mm auto focus and a Nikkor 600mm f5.6 AI manual focus Bazooka lens. Save your money and purchase a lens at a time. And you too will own a nice collection of Ultra Tele lenses. Watch the RUclips photography channels to learn how to use tele lenses. Wild Life shooting requires another set of skills, worth learning too.
The shot at 12:50 is my favourite by a long way, it's a really cool shot. I love the slightly offset composition. To me, the grain and softness really add to the bleak look, it's very dramatic and looks like it could be a still from a movie or something. I prefer it without the harsh edit at the end though, but that's just my opinion!
I still have my ancient ProMaster Spectrum 7 500mm lens from the mid 80s. It is useful due to it's lightweight and sometimes it is only lens that can get that shot if you travel light. Two of the sharpest mirror lenses I know of, were the Nikon 500 and the Tamron SP 500mm, which I have one of. This was a lens I used professionally in the late 80s. And, someone gave me one a few years later that had water damage. But still works fine. This Tamron series lens was in their Adaptall 2 system. I much prefer my Tamron SP 200-500mm f5.6 Adaptal 2 lens, bigger, heavier, but also brighter and significantly sharper. Mirror lenses are fun, and good to have in a pinch!
500mm mirror lens + MFT camera = gold got a $30 kalimar mirror lens and $15 adapter, perfect combo, no loss of light from the 2x crop factor so you still get 1000mm f/8 (and subsequently t/8)
Five bucks? Its fine! Having said that, my first 500mm mirror lens from about 45 years ago was terrible. I did pick up a few other mirror lenses over the years that are actually very good. Regardless of the lens, ive always found 2x converters degrade the image way too much. Maybe a 1.4x would be a better choice. I think your compositions for both stills and video were very good. I give you a lot of credit for getting out in the cold and just doing it - that's half the battle.
I may actually consider taking it out again without the teleconverter. It's perfectly acceptable, especially when focused near infinity. But I'll definitely reserve the 2x for my shorter lenses. And you're right, getting out there is half the battle. I don't so much mind the cold as I mind the rain. I prefer to keep myself and my electronics dry
I occasionally use a Tamron 150-500mm for video, and with a crop-sensor camera, the effective focal length is 750mm at max zoom. Even with a super-smooth, super-expensive Sachtler fluid video head, any pan/tilt action makes me look like I've had too much caffeine. Stabilization helps to some extent, but these are not exactly 'fun' lenses to shoot with if you value your skills in smoothness. Add to that the fact that the longer distance you are from your subject, the more the atmosphere plays a role in the image quality. Heat haze is magnified immensely, as is smog or fog. I'm guessing yours will sit on a shelf most of the time, but it's still fun to bust out occasionally just for a new perspective and challenge. Hope you get through this upcoming winter storm okay. Stay indoors if possible.
@4:52 you could do a 3 shot panorama of horizontal frames stacked vertically to get a really nice composition. I do that a lot when I either need a wider or more shallow lens than I have on me
I loved your video ! Your humor is fun, and you explain things at a good pace. Btw, for my taste, boke donuts looks fantastic. Greetings from Costa Rica 🇨🇷
I've had a 500mm a couple years back and it was fun to use, but recently I've reviewed the Rubinar 1000mm f10 and it was pretty wild. I've tried mounting it on an aps-c camera with a two times teleconverter but it was impossible to keep it still!
I forgot to mention it during the wrap up but this is definitely one of those use cases for a geared tripod head. The ball head just opens you up to way too much movement and makes it hard to handle. The geared head plus a remote shutter release would make the setup much more user-friendly
@@lightleakss Yep, ball heads can only hold so much. The 1000mm has a collar mount, but even on s heavy and sturdy steel Manfrotto a little bit a wind was enough to turn everything into jello 😂
@@MarcoAries I picked up a 1000mm Rubinar on a close-out years ago. (It was cheap so I had to have it.) Same problem! I don't know if I'll get around to it, but I'd like to see if I can adapt it to an equatorial mount to use it for astrophotography.
You say this video is C grade and stuff, but these kinds of videos where a person just takes his gear and tries stuff, is the best kind. I enjoyed it, I love a good zoom lens!
I used a Soligor 500mm mirror lens professionally in the seventies for motorsport, I loved the donuts! But I now have an RF200-800, with a 2x on a crop body that is 2,560mm. Still, I had an Canon XL1 video and using a 400mm f2.8 with a 2x I had nearly 10metres. I pointed at the moon and I think it took 4 mins to move across the screen. Mind you, even on a tripod there was camera shake!
Amazing reach with that Quantaray + 2x converter! Yeah optical quality won't be the best. I do have a Nikkor 500mm f/8 F mount on my Z6ii/Z7ii cameras - have yet to fully experiment with this setup. When the weather gets a bit more reasonable in NYC I will head over to the Botanical Gardens and try it out. I will be using without a tripod but I have the IBIS to help me out. It's a great "art" lens in a compact package. The IQ of the Nikkor is a bit higher - the quality of the mirror primary and secondary optics makes a bit of a difference. I got my Nikkor 500mm mirror at KEH used for about $230 in Ex++ condition - very clean and almost new. It does have a tripod collar but I use mine handheld.
These are old-tech SCT/MAK telescope designs employed for consumer-grade photography purposes. There were some russian make of these 'mirror lenses' which had better build and optics quality. They also need fine tuning in terms of centring the field of view, collimation just like telescopes in order to get slightly improved results than out of the box un-aligned optics.
I used to use a similar setup on my canon film camera. I shot a lot at air show and motor sports events, neither had good shooting positions to use smaller lenses. Both venues required credentials to get good spots
I got it from Pro Photo DC. They do a rummage sale a couple times a year with all their accumulated used gear that isn't good enough to put in the display case
This "Lens" reminds me of my Maksutov Cassegrain's and Schmitt Cassegrain Telescopes! The FL on this type of optical design is amazing! You should definitely try it at night/Astrophotography shooting some Planets or the Moon! The results would be very pleasing, I'm sure!
Interesting. I have micro 4/3 and a 100-400 and a 2x teleconverter, which is 400-1600mm in full-frame terms. Very hard to take pictures with!!! Good luck with the channel. I love taking pictures for others. I had a great interaction with an Indian family outside of Buckingham Palace.
I've had some practice over the last year, but I still felt ridiculous. That initial interaction with the couple was actually super disarming and helped me feel way more comfortable for some reason
so crazy seeing someone in basically my backyard lol i have a 100-500 & a 2x TC. I've been meaning to do this too. and a longer focal length dramatically reduces depth of field.
For video this might make some sense (though as you noted very difficult to handle), but for photos I would think a dedicated 400 or 600mm lens (without teleconverter) and cropping in would yield much better results (and you'd likely have autofocus as well), particularly in lower light situations (and the bokeh would also be so much nicer).
I actually love this video because reflective lenses get so much hate and you didn't hate at all... love mine, thank you (300mm on m4/3: 600mm ff equivalent)
I think you need a better tripod. Preferably one without a center column. E.g. Gitzo Exact Systematic GT5533LS or something similar, and hang something heavy below it. You should also use some remote release or self timer to reduce camera shake
I definitely had a sharpness issue with mirror lenses I've tried to use, including a 1100mm MTO 1000A. They just don't seem to have the quality or alignment adjustment that a proper cassegrain telescope would have. It's much more practical to have a zoom lens, like the Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 that I have now. The telephoto offers better sharpness than the 1000mm mirror lens, along with autofocus and image stabilization which helps a lot at long focal lengths.
The mto is definitely an unwealdy beast. Struggles alot with heat waves at any distance and is far from the sharpest but with a sturdy tripod its a bit of fun still. Sucks to cart around
Man, I remember seeing that lens in the back of Popular and Modern Photography back in the 80s, never knew anyone who actually bought one. They went by several names Quantaray, Cambron, and so on, and they usually sold for $170+.
Enjoyed your presentation. Who doesn't enjoy a long lens? I'll tell you what's fun. If you ever get a chance, try out the Nikon P1000. You won't be shooting a wedding with it but being able to zoom (at 125 times equivalent) from 24 to 3000mm is crazy. There's not really much usable beyond 2000mm or so; it gets soft as atmospheric distortion is a problem) but I use mine exclusively for long-range video. The 4K video is much better than the stills and is surprisingly sharp. Happy shooting!
There are many shorter telescopes out there than 1 Meter. I am doing astrophotography with 1M focal length, you could frame up many different targets in the night sky nicely with that, altough I would recommend to definitely try the 500mm first. With that you could try to nicely frame up the Orion Nebulae or the Andromeda for example. Ppl usually underestimate how big those targets are in the night sky. Although for sure you will definitely need some small sky tracker to achieve better results so you can take longer exposure times. I would strongly suggest to just test it out with a tripod :)
I bought one of these, and it’s just a little too cumbersome for normal use. I took a 250mm reflex lens to Scotland though, and it was perfect for the long distance shots.
I use a 40yr-old Sigma 600mm mirror lens (the best of the bunch from that period) with a 2x converter. I also use an old ETX-90 (ota) and a pistol grip with trigger which allows me to turn the focus knob while shooting.
I love my nikkor ais 500mm f8 and 2x tele! although the Tamron 500 f8 has a softer bokeh. The Nikon's bokeh can be distracting with the wrong background. Good enough for me on a d7100 in manual mode
This has me thinking now. It has been my resolution to do more telephoto landscape shots this year and this offers a few interesting opportunities for comparison. I mostly use Micro Four Thirds, so I can achieve a similar field of view with my Olympus 100-400 and an 1.4x teleconverter. However, I am aware of the difference between FoV and actual focal length, so this leads me to my Sony A7s and my array of vintage lenses that I bought the camera to use. I have teleconverters and the excellent Tamron 500mm mirror lens as well as the Sigma 600mm. However, I also have an unbranded 1000mm mirror lens - no teleconverter needed. How will all of this compare. I think I shall have fun finding out.
I grew up in D.C every summer till I was 15 My parents would ship me off to my grandparent's house off MacArthur BLVD I would take the bus to George Town and walk the streets You should make it a point to go to Fletcher's Cove off of Canal Rd NW its a great place for photography and there's a tunnel to drive under the canal ......and a hiking trail that goes all the way into George town I have a NIKON 500mm with a 2X converter and take photos and video of the moon Regards, Rick
I have a very old 500mm f/8 Canon FD that's been collecting dust since Adam was a lad. I recently bought a used Sony A7R2 and have a Canon FD adaptor so I think I will attempt some moon shots. Thanks.
I have the Nikon Reflex Nikkor C 500mm and It comes with a built-in tripod mount, with a button to switch between horizontal and vertical. You just press it and spin the camera without moving anything else.
I bought one of these a few years ago for about $20 but havent used it since theres a colony of fungus living inside, was not expecting to see anyone shooting on one.
@9:30 _"It's winter so there's not a lot of wildlife around..."_ [meanwhile birds circling around his head.] However - doing birds with this lens would be a real PITA. Not only due to the optical quality (or lack thereof) but also because it is so short. With a physically long lens like for instance the Sony 200-600mm (the one that I have) it is much easier to point and shoot birds in flight. And no, you don't even need a tripod with a gimbal head, like some people in the comments section suggested.
A bit better sharpness would be nice, see if it's collimated correctly or not, I've seen some youtuber do it might be a bit difficult though. Nice fjällräven mössa!
Got one myself years ago. Often nicknamed the russian-barrel. Pro: It's super cheap, small, lightweight, often comes with a converter that allows a crazy tele. Great for spying, terrible for taking pictures. No autofocus, fixed zoom ratio, no stabilization, smallest movement on focus ring makes huge difference... focussing is a nightmare, basically impossible to get a sharp image.
they are fun to play with - I use the nikkor 500mm f8 on my D850 to shoot sports as a different look - they are dark and really have a ton of compression. Nikkor also made a 1000mm f11 - hard to find and I think they made about 50 copies of the 2000mm
You are standing in Visica piscis at 7:17 Symbolism Various symbolic meanings have been associated with the vesica piscis: When arranged so that the lens is horizontal, with its two overlaid circles placed one above the other, it symbolizes the interface between the spiritual and physical worlds, represented by the two circles.[13][14] In this arrangement, it also resembles the ichthys (fish) symbol for Christ,[14] and has also been said to be a symbol of life, of "the materialization of the spirit", of Christ's mediation between heaven and earth, and of the eucharist.[15]
@@lightleakss I know I know hard to explain. You need an overhead view of the monument to understand. 2 circles overlapping and the monument going through the center. Maybe you have seen the Jesus fish on the back of cars? The same thing. Has nothing to with photography of course but with hidden symbolism like in Washington DC. ruclips.net/video/uXjwoI6AXek/видео.html
@@lightleakss I wondered too, so I looked it up. Turns out he's correct: you were standing in it. According to Wikipedia, the vesica piscis was added to the Washington Monument grounds in a renovation in 2004, and the page shows a picture for it. Search the internet for vesica piscis, and a page from sacred geometry shop came up explaining all the symbolism of it (it's a geometric shape). It's fitting for an area with such a huge amount of symbolism in it already, and the fact that you titled the video "This Lens Lets You See God" really fits. I can see why the commenter said that.
I have a JINTU 900mm F8. The zoom on it is insane. However, you NEED a very steady tripod for it, so hand shooting is out of the question. Too much camera shake.
Why would you want to keep the shutter speeds low? I had a 600mm mirror lens for a while, fun to get photos I couldn't get otherwise, and light in the camera bag, but required good technique and a solid tripod.
I had an opportunity to pickup a slightly malfunctioning Nikon AF-S 500mm f/4D lens for $500. I managed to revive it to full working condition by cleaning contacts with Deoxit D100, but I have yet to figure out where to use that little monster. It weighs over 8 pounds. Looking at world through the 500mm lens, which acts like 750mm mounted on my D200, is a fascinating experience. The plan is to mount it to a Nikon 1-series V2 or similar for the 2.7x crop factor. 1350mm field of view should be interesting and it's further compatible with teleconverters... When you point this lens somewhere, you can't even see with a naked eye where it's looking. I like how compact and unassuming the 500mm mirror lens is. My 500mm would attract far more attention, especially if I pointed it toward federal buildings. :)
I have an old soviet 1000mm lens, my main problem with it the field of view is so narrow anything in the view-finder disaper when I touch the camera due to my triod isnt rigid enough. The lens has iron-sights on the side of it to roughly pont the lens towards what you intend to shoot.
Man, I’ve been thinking of getting a used A7Rii for a bit and I think this vid convinced me to pull the trigger…I mean shutter button…click buy essentially, thank you.
I don't think you'll be disappointed. I love my A7Rii. The only things I'm not a fan of are the lack of USB-C support, and the non-articulating screen. It's not the best vlog camera but there are workarounds to get the job done.
And now shoot it on APS-C with one of those slow motion cropping cameras like the a6700 - that'd push you over 2300mm. Put the right filter (!!!) on that and you could film slow motion of the sun up close.
That was fun to see in real use and some nice compositions despite the focus and stability challenges, just one correction at 2:05 - A 2x TC loses 2 stops of light, meaning light is halved twice (1-1/4=75% lost), so f-stop (which is actually the denominator of an implied "1/#" fraction) doesn't double but quadruples (ie. this whole fraction is divided by 4) and it should go from 500mm/f8 to 1000mm/**f32** not f16... A 1.4x TC would be one stop lost (f16), but "only" 700mm equivalent, though I'd imagine it's worth the tradeoff in pragmatic terms for probably much better IQ and usability if you don't absolutely need the 1000mm. Reflex lenses are awesome in theory, but the bokeh is just so unappealing to me personally that I'd never buy one unless I was like a private investigator or something else purely practical lol, just seems more like a tool to me since I know I'd waste so much time trying to hide that distractingly busy bokeh in any artistic endeavor, and tbh I've never really wished for more reach than my 300mm/f4 PF prime on APS-C (450mm equivalent) which I'd also consider to be my handheld focal length limit even with built in stabilization--and like what's the point of a super small lightweight reflex lens if it has such a long focal length that you need to take a tripod anyway right...
It's definitely 1000mm at f16. A 2x teleconverter reduces the brightness by 75%, which is 2 stops. That we agree on. Where you're making the mistake is by saying that you need to multiply the f number by the denominator of the fraction of light you're trying to correct for. That 1/4 is a percentage and f number is unitless, so you can't directly relate them. Because a stop is a halving or doubling of light, you convert that denominator to stops by calculating which root of it equals 2, which in this case is 2 (2^2=4, but 1 stop which is 1/2 the light is 2^1=2, or 3 stops which is 1/8 the light is 2^3=8, etc) Then you have to convert those stops into f numbers which is a geometric series in the form of sqrt(2)^n. Consequently that's where the f numbers come from, you just multiply every preceeding f number by 1.4 for each full stop. But the quirk is that every 2 stops is sqrt(2)*sqrt(2), or just 2. That's why if you want to adjust an f number by 2 full stops, you just halve or double it. And I totally agree about the tripod comment, kinda wild to have such a light lens but be tied to a tripod for stability reasons. Not as big a deal when you can shoot higher shutter speeds but it really kills you when you start to lose the light
Wonder how it compares with a Canon SX50HS ( 24 - 1200 mm, f/3.4 - f/6.5) which probably is easier to focus. Of course low temperature and low wind days would be best for decent optics at long range. Your ability to crank up the ISO beyond 6400 might be the best use case.
It doesn’t matter where you are, if people see you with “pro” gear they are going to ask you to take their picture for them 😂 and we are generally happy to oblige. I know that lens is compact, light and cheap, but I’ll stick with my 600 f/4 and 1.4 and 2x converters for a maximum f/8! When using a lens that long you really need a gimbal, it is much more stable than a ball head.
But hear me out....$5 The ball head made it 10x harder to use. Definitely need a different tripod head if I ever wanted to seriously shoot with this lens again
Is your focus peaking on with sensitivity set to high? I also have a 500mm F8 mirror and even with focus peaking settings it's still hard to get sharp shots because the image is not very sharp. But even with close enough it has a super nice look if you don't pixel peep.
I believe I keep in on medium because high is just too sensitive for my liking. When I did get it to trigger focus peaking, it was only on the left side of objects. That's actually what led me to make the astigmatism comment while looking at the Jefferson memorial
Its the K&F Concept SA254T2 Lightweight Aluminum Compact Tripod with Ball Head www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1578207-REG/k_f_concept_kf09_090_sa254t2_lightweight_aluminum_compact.html
The first and only time I used a tripod on the Mall I ate a $150 fine for not having a permit and they threatened to take my gear. Damn Park police are tough! Permit for still photography is only $50 for up to 10 people but still!
@@lightleakss I was shooting the fountain at the National Gallery of Art on a long exposure. (tripod) A year later I was asked to leave (thrown out) of the National Arboretum for not having a permit as well. Cold days are best, they don't patrol 🙂 (no tripod)
You should take more time to practice at home before posting. Why? Because you wasted precious minutes of my life trying to like this.
I didn't realize I was forcing you to watch the whole thing and leave a snarky comment. Thanks for the engagement though
pin of shame. Nice.
This is the lens for when you want to do street photography in France... from England.
This video was not awful. I actually really enjoyed it.
This comment was not awful, I actually think it helped me understand the video better.
@@FoolsVerse This reply was not awful, I actually think it helped give context to the comment.
I loved the wholesome interaction at 0:40!! this was a fun video, I loveee dc in the winter and admire your dedication to getting those shots of the planes
"C" tier youtube content?? my guy, this was real and authentic! def "A" tier youtube content nj brother
This is so kind, thank you
@@lightleakss S Tier
I agree. 😊
I was lost, but this video helped me to find God. Now I am back on track. Thanks, dude!
That is the first video I've ever encountered you, and I just want to say that you shouldn't sell yourself short. This video was highly entertaining, and you have a very non intrusive personality which is hard to find on RUclips.
You also made me want to visit Washington incredibly bad. You would be a great city ambassador!
Thanks for the entertainment!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the kindness. In the moment it felt very disjointed but I'm glad it came together in an entertaining package. Definitely come visit Washington! I think it's a place all Americans should visit, given it's history and importance to our country
You will need to upgrade your gear and shooting techniques in order to properly use Ultra Tele lenses. 1- get a heavy duty video tripod (a 100mm bowl video design) that has a center column rear hook to hang a camera bag to add weight stability. Make this purchase because you will most likely be using a hybrid camera and will want to be shooting video. The video head can be purchased later. 2- use a remote shutter release to avoid finger induced vibration. 3- Do NOT use a ball head, instead use a heavy duty Gimbal Head. It will allow you to balance and focus large, heavy manual tele lenses. The heavy tripod and gimbal head duo will dampen external vibrations. 4- Never use a tele converter with mirror lenses. If fact all tele converters cause light loss and loss of image quality. 4- Instead, carry a full frame sensor camera and a crop sensor camera. Switch to the crop sensor camera to increase your tele range without light loss or image degradation. 5- Always carry spare fully charged batteries in a warm pocket during cold weather. 6- Shoot in cold weather when shooting Ultra long distances because warm weather conditions produce Heat Haze. 7- Always use high shutter speeds. All your mirror shots were out of focus because of vibrations. After you gear up, practice shooting nearby before heading out to the field. Practice makes perfect. You remind me of my younger self. I still use a Sigma 600mm and Pentax 1000mm mirror lenses. I also use a Nikkor 70-200mm auto focus, Nikkor 200-500mm auto focus and a Nikkor 600mm f5.6 AI manual focus Bazooka lens. Save your money and purchase a lens at a time. And you too will own a nice collection of Ultra Tele lenses. Watch the RUclips photography channels to learn how to use tele lenses. Wild Life shooting requires another set of skills, worth learning too.
Thank you ai bot 🙏
The shot at 12:50 is my favourite by a long way, it's a really cool shot. I love the slightly offset composition. To me, the grain and softness really add to the bleak look, it's very dramatic and looks like it could be a still from a movie or something. I prefer it without the harsh edit at the end though, but that's just my opinion!
0:40 my heart would just melt awayyyyyyyyyyyyy😭🫠
I still have my ancient ProMaster Spectrum 7 500mm lens from the mid 80s. It is useful due to it's lightweight and sometimes it is only lens that can get that shot if you travel light.
Two of the sharpest mirror lenses I know of, were the Nikon 500 and the Tamron SP 500mm, which I have one of. This was a lens I used professionally in the late 80s. And, someone gave me one a few years later that had water damage. But still works fine. This Tamron series lens was in their Adaptall 2 system.
I much prefer my Tamron SP 200-500mm f5.6 Adaptal 2 lens, bigger, heavier, but also brighter and significantly sharper.
Mirror lenses are fun, and good to have in a pinch!
500mm mirror lens + MFT camera = gold
got a $30 kalimar mirror lens and $15 adapter, perfect combo, no loss of light from the 2x crop factor so you still get 1000mm f/8 (and subsequently t/8)
Five bucks? Its fine! Having said that, my first 500mm mirror lens from about 45 years ago was terrible. I did pick up a few other mirror lenses over the years that are actually very good. Regardless of the lens, ive always found 2x converters degrade the image way too much. Maybe a 1.4x would be a better choice. I think your compositions for both stills and video were very good. I give you a lot of credit for getting out in the cold and just doing it - that's half the battle.
I may actually consider taking it out again without the teleconverter. It's perfectly acceptable, especially when focused near infinity. But I'll definitely reserve the 2x for my shorter lenses. And you're right, getting out there is half the battle. I don't so much mind the cold as I mind the rain. I prefer to keep myself and my electronics dry
The same
Exactly... cropping in is probably the better way than using a teleconverter (except for video maybe, but that's a very narrow use case).
That’s a really neat very niche piece of kit. I recommend a geared head for your tripod.
I clearly need one if I ever plan on using this thing again
I occasionally use a Tamron 150-500mm for video, and with a crop-sensor camera, the effective focal length is 750mm at max zoom. Even with a super-smooth, super-expensive Sachtler fluid video head, any pan/tilt action makes me look like I've had too much caffeine. Stabilization helps to some extent, but these are not exactly 'fun' lenses to shoot with if you value your skills in smoothness. Add to that the fact that the longer distance you are from your subject, the more the atmosphere plays a role in the image quality. Heat haze is magnified immensely, as is smog or fog. I'm guessing yours will sit on a shelf most of the time, but it's still fun to bust out occasionally just for a new perspective and challenge. Hope you get through this upcoming winter storm okay. Stay indoors if possible.
@4:52 you could do a 3 shot panorama of horizontal frames stacked vertically to get a really nice composition. I do that a lot when I either need a wider or more shallow lens than I have on me
I could have done this this had I actually been thinking in the moment. Will definitely tuck that technique away for a later date though, thanks!
I loved your video ! Your humor is fun, and you explain things at a good pace. Btw, for my taste, boke donuts looks fantastic. Greetings from Costa Rica 🇨🇷
I've had a 500mm a couple years back and it was fun to use, but recently I've reviewed the Rubinar 1000mm f10 and it was pretty wild. I've tried mounting it on an aps-c camera with a two times teleconverter but it was impossible to keep it still!
I forgot to mention it during the wrap up but this is definitely one of those use cases for a geared tripod head. The ball head just opens you up to way too much movement and makes it hard to handle. The geared head plus a remote shutter release would make the setup much more user-friendly
@@lightleakss Yep, ball heads can only hold so much. The 1000mm has a collar mount, but even on s heavy and sturdy steel Manfrotto a little bit a wind was enough to turn everything into jello 😂
@@MarcoAries I picked up a 1000mm Rubinar on a close-out years ago. (It was cheap so I had to have it.) Same problem! I don't know if I'll get around to it, but I'd like to see if I can adapt it to an equatorial mount to use it for astrophotography.
@@jimzielinski946 that would be neat. I don't have any experience with astrophotography, but I fear it would be a little soft for it..
You say this video is C grade and stuff, but these kinds of videos where a person just takes his gear and tries stuff, is the best kind.
I enjoyed it, I love a good zoom lens!
I used a Soligor 500mm mirror lens professionally in the seventies for motorsport, I loved the donuts! But I now have an RF200-800, with a 2x on a crop body that is 2,560mm. Still, I had an Canon XL1 video and using a 400mm f2.8 with a 2x I had nearly 10metres. I pointed at the moon and I think it took 4 mins to move across the screen. Mind you, even on a tripod there was camera shake!
good job and good luck with photography!!!! ;)
Amazing reach with that Quantaray + 2x converter! Yeah optical quality won't be the best. I do have a Nikkor 500mm f/8 F mount on my Z6ii/Z7ii cameras - have yet to fully experiment with this setup. When the weather gets a bit more reasonable in NYC I will head over to the Botanical Gardens and try it out. I will be using without a tripod but I have the IBIS to help me out. It's a great "art" lens in a compact package. The IQ of the Nikkor is a bit higher - the quality of the mirror primary and secondary optics makes a bit of a difference. I got my Nikkor 500mm mirror at KEH used for about $230 in Ex++ condition - very clean and almost new. It does have a tripod collar but I use mine handheld.
My man, this what youtube was made for !
Can't wait to see more of your videos
Enjoyed it. Great example of , “hmmm, I wonder what that would do?”, a road many of us travel.
Your thumbnail and title are masterpieces in and of themselves. You have gained a subscriber today lol
That's basically a maksutov cassagrain small optical tube assembly, with a mount for a camera. Crazy! Would love to see some astrophotography with it!
My thoughts exactly!👌👍
Another banger video, nice shots!
Mentioning walkability as a positive was an instant sub!
We stan dense walkable communities on this channel
These are old-tech SCT/MAK telescope designs employed for consumer-grade photography purposes.
There were some russian make of these 'mirror lenses' which had better build and optics quality.
They also need fine tuning in terms of centring the field of view, collimation just like telescopes in order to get slightly improved results than out of the box un-aligned optics.
I used to use a similar setup on my canon film camera. I shot a lot at air show and motor sports events, neither had good shooting positions to use smaller lenses. Both venues required credentials to get good spots
This was a great video! Where’s the camera store with a rummage sale?!
I got it from Pro Photo DC. They do a rummage sale a couple times a year with all their accumulated used gear that isn't good enough to put in the display case
@ thanks man!
This "Lens" reminds me of my Maksutov Cassegrain's and Schmitt Cassegrain Telescopes! The FL on this type of optical design is amazing! You should definitely try it at night/Astrophotography shooting some Planets or the Moon! The results would be very pleasing, I'm sure!
Great video mate. Great work. Keep it up. Only thing is you can add a bit of background music.
I usually do, but found it distracting this time. Thanks for watching nonetheless
I really appreciate your videos you deserve more followers
Interesting. I have micro 4/3 and a 100-400 and a 2x teleconverter, which is 400-1600mm in full-frame terms. Very hard to take pictures with!!! Good luck with the channel. I love taking pictures for others. I had a great interaction with an Indian family outside of Buckingham Palace.
I need to learn how not to be shy in public like you, I would struggle so much to talk to myself in the camera like this
I've had some practice over the last year, but I still felt ridiculous. That initial interaction with the couple was actually super disarming and helped me feel way more comfortable for some reason
so crazy seeing someone in basically my backyard lol i have a 100-500 & a 2x TC. I've been meaning to do this too. and a longer focal length dramatically reduces depth of field.
Lovely stuff!
I was like "that's the DC metro..." and then it was and I felt travelled.
For video this might make some sense (though as you noted very difficult to handle), but for photos I would think a dedicated 400 or 600mm lens (without teleconverter) and cropping in would yield much better results (and you'd likely have autofocus as well), particularly in lower light situations (and the bokeh would also be so much nicer).
I actually love this video because reflective lenses get so much hate and you didn't hate at all... love mine, thank you (300mm on m4/3: 600mm ff equivalent)
I think you need a better tripod. Preferably one without a center column. E.g. Gitzo Exact Systematic GT5533LS or something similar, and hang something heavy below it. You should also use some remote release or self timer to reduce camera shake
9:29 yes... exactly what I was thinking
Came across you as browsing, enjoyed watching, new subscriber 🥳🥳🥳
I got school in some hours and I stayed up just to watch this video
I definitely had a sharpness issue with mirror lenses I've tried to use, including a 1100mm MTO 1000A. They just don't seem to have the quality or alignment adjustment that a proper cassegrain telescope would have. It's much more practical to have a zoom lens, like the Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 that I have now. The telephoto offers better sharpness than the 1000mm mirror lens, along with autofocus and image stabilization which helps a lot at long focal lengths.
The mto is definitely an unwealdy beast. Struggles alot with heat waves at any distance and is far from the sharpest but with a sturdy tripod its a bit of fun still. Sucks to cart around
Sadly most MTOs aren't very sharp
16:24 Rest in peace Dominion Photo 💜 they are very missed
Pro Photo DC actually, but Dominion Photo is definitely missed around these parts
Donut/ring specular highlight gives away that it’s a mirror lens. It’s fun to use, just be careful with the bokeh and highlights.
Man, I remember seeing that lens in the back of Popular and Modern Photography back in the 80s, never knew anyone who actually bought one. They went by several names Quantaray, Cambron, and so on, and they usually sold for $170+.
If I paid $500 (inflation adjusted from 1985) for this thing I would have been SO MAD. Glad I got it at a 99% discount
Enjoyed your presentation. Who doesn't enjoy a long lens? I'll tell you what's fun. If you ever get a chance, try out the Nikon P1000. You won't be shooting a wedding with it but being able to zoom (at 125 times equivalent) from 24 to 3000mm is crazy. There's not really much usable beyond 2000mm or so; it gets soft as atmospheric distortion is a problem) but I use mine exclusively for long-range video. The 4K video is much better than the stills and is surprisingly sharp. Happy shooting!
For some reason this was suchhhh a refreshing video to watch
I appreciate that! That's for watching
Man, you got some great results for five bucks. Great video!
There are many shorter telescopes out there than 1 Meter. I am doing astrophotography with 1M focal length, you could frame up many different targets in the night sky nicely with that, altough I would recommend to definitely try the 500mm first. With that you could try to nicely frame up the Orion Nebulae or the Andromeda for example. Ppl usually underestimate how big those targets are in the night sky.
Although for sure you will definitely need some small sky tracker to achieve better results so you can take longer exposure times.
I would strongly suggest to just test it out with a tripod :)
I bought one of these, and it’s just a little too cumbersome for normal use. I took a 250mm reflex lens to Scotland though, and it was perfect for the long distance shots.
Wow, it's so small, and it doesn't strike terror into the heart of the common man like my 200-600 does
I use a 40yr-old Sigma 600mm mirror lens (the best of the bunch from that period) with a 2x converter. I also use an old ETX-90 (ota) and a pistol grip with trigger which allows me to turn the focus knob while shooting.
Keep in mind that shots zooming in at that distance also involves atmospheric haze in most cases, it's Not always the lens fault of unsharp IQ.
I used to have a 500mm and put 2 2x teleconverters on on my Minolta x-370 😁🤣 it was very dark and could only use it on the brightest of days.
I love my nikkor ais 500mm f8 and 2x tele! although the Tamron 500 f8 has a softer bokeh. The Nikon's bokeh can be distracting with the wrong background. Good enough for me on a d7100 in manual mode
This has me thinking now. It has been my resolution to do more telephoto landscape shots this year and this offers a few interesting opportunities for comparison.
I mostly use Micro Four Thirds, so I can achieve a similar field of view with my Olympus 100-400 and an 1.4x teleconverter. However, I am aware of the difference between FoV and actual focal length, so this leads me to my Sony A7s and my array of vintage lenses that I bought the camera to use. I have teleconverters and the excellent Tamron 500mm mirror lens as well as the Sigma 600mm. However, I also have an unbranded 1000mm mirror lens - no teleconverter needed. How will all of this compare.
I think I shall have fun finding out.
14:19 I loved this one, cool.
I grew up in D.C every summer till I was 15
My parents would ship me off to my grandparent's house off MacArthur BLVD
I would take the bus to George Town and walk the streets
You should make it a point to go to Fletcher's Cove off of Canal Rd NW
its a great place for photography and there's a tunnel to drive under the canal ......and a hiking trail that goes all the way into George town
I have a NIKON 500mm with a 2X converter and take photos and video of the moon
Regards, Rick
Seeing the DC metro online makes me feel weird. Like. Woah
I have a very old 500mm f/8 Canon FD that's been collecting dust since Adam was a lad. I recently bought a used Sony A7R2 and have a Canon FD adaptor so I think I will attempt some moon shots. Thanks.
I have the Nikon Reflex Nikkor C 500mm and It comes with a built-in tripod mount, with a button to switch between horizontal and vertical. You just press it and spin the camera without moving anything else.
That sounds super convenient
I bought one of these a few years ago for about $20 but havent used it since theres a colony of fungus living inside, was not expecting to see anyone shooting on one.
I hope the fungus appreciates its $20 terrarium
@9:30 _"It's winter so there's not a lot of wildlife around..."_ [meanwhile birds circling around his head.]
However - doing birds with this lens would be a real PITA. Not only due to the optical quality (or lack thereof) but also because it is so short. With a physically long lens like for instance the Sony 200-600mm (the one that I have) it is much easier to point and shoot birds in flight. And no, you don't even need a tripod with a gimbal head, like some people in the comments section suggested.
I really just wanted to take pictures of mechanical birds. Also those seagulls were AGGRESSIVE with people in the parking lot
A bit better sharpness would be nice, see if it's collimated correctly or not, I've seen some youtuber do it might be a bit difficult though.
Nice fjällräven mössa!
This is a real life video, not perfect, just like life! I liked it. 😁
Got one myself years ago. Often nicknamed the russian-barrel. Pro: It's super cheap, small, lightweight, often comes with a converter that allows a crazy tele. Great for spying, terrible for taking pictures. No autofocus, fixed zoom ratio, no stabilization, smallest movement on focus ring makes huge difference... focussing is a nightmare, basically impossible to get a sharp image.
Very nice
they are fun to play with - I use the nikkor 500mm f8 on my D850 to shoot sports as a different look - they are dark and really have a ton of compression. Nikkor also made a 1000mm f11 - hard to find and I think they made about 50 copies of the 2000mm
I have a 400mm Mirrored Lens. No x2 converter, but the 400mm Lens. Is hard to compose a shot. From a distance.
You are standing in Visica piscis at 7:17
Symbolism
Various symbolic meanings have been associated with the vesica piscis:
When arranged so that the lens is horizontal, with its two overlaid circles placed one above the other, it symbolizes the interface between the spiritual and physical worlds, represented by the two circles.[13][14] In this arrangement, it also resembles the ichthys (fish) symbol for Christ,[14] and has also been said to be a symbol of life, of "the materialization of the spirit", of Christ's mediation between heaven and earth, and of the eucharist.[15]
Dude, what are you talking about?
@@lightleakss I know I know hard to explain. You need an overhead view of the monument to understand. 2 circles overlapping and the monument going through the center. Maybe you have seen the Jesus fish on the back of cars? The same thing. Has nothing to with photography of course but with hidden symbolism like in Washington DC.
ruclips.net/video/uXjwoI6AXek/видео.html
@@lightleakss I wondered too, so I looked it up. Turns out he's correct: you were standing in it. According to Wikipedia, the vesica piscis was added to the Washington Monument grounds in a renovation in 2004, and the page shows a picture for it. Search the internet for vesica piscis, and a page from sacred geometry shop came up explaining all the symbolism of it (it's a geometric shape). It's fitting for an area with such a huge amount of symbolism in it already, and the fact that you titled the video "This Lens Lets You See God" really fits. I can see why the commenter said that.
Wow that's actually really interesting! I'm sorry I wrote off your first comment
I have a JINTU 900mm F8. The zoom on it is insane. However, you NEED a very steady tripod for it, so hand shooting is out of the question. Too much camera shake.
I have a 500mm Minolta Rokkor mirror lens. I mount it on Lumix micro 4/3 with an adapter, not a converter. So, 1000mm equivalent, but still at f/8.
If you ever find yourself in Myrtle Beach, I can show you around to some great street photography. I enjoyed your video.
8:16 wedding videography/photography at 1000mm.
Why would you want to keep the shutter speeds low? I had a 600mm mirror lens for a while, fun to get photos I couldn't get otherwise, and light in the camera bag, but required good technique and a solid tripod.
Should have said fast. To keep motion blur to a minimum
I had an opportunity to pickup a slightly malfunctioning Nikon AF-S 500mm f/4D lens for $500. I managed to revive it to full working condition by cleaning contacts with Deoxit D100, but I have yet to figure out where to use that little monster. It weighs over 8 pounds. Looking at world through the 500mm lens, which acts like 750mm mounted on my D200, is a fascinating experience. The plan is to mount it to a Nikon 1-series V2 or similar for the 2.7x crop factor. 1350mm field of view should be interesting and it's further compatible with teleconverters...
When you point this lens somewhere, you can't even see with a naked eye where it's looking.
I like how compact and unassuming the 500mm mirror lens is. My 500mm would attract far more attention, especially if I pointed it toward federal buildings. :)
Your mistake is using the centre extension of your tripod. It is more steady NOT using that part. At 500mm it matters.
I have an old soviet 1000mm lens, my main problem with it the field of view is so narrow anything in the view-finder disaper when I touch the camera due to my triod isnt rigid enough. The lens has iron-sights on the side of it to roughly pont the lens towards what you intend to shoot.
Iron sights on a lens is the most Soviet thing ever and also extremely cool
@@lightleakss MTO 1000A it is a f10.5 mirror lens. A heavy piece but you can get the guy wires on a tv mast like 30km away.
Man, I’ve been thinking of getting a used A7Rii for a bit and I think this vid convinced me to pull the trigger…I mean shutter button…click buy essentially, thank you.
I don't think you'll be disappointed. I love my A7Rii. The only things I'm not a fan of are the lack of USB-C support, and the non-articulating screen. It's not the best vlog camera but there are workarounds to get the job done.
I have an A7R3, very similar in many ways, and I love it: it's an absolutely wonderful camera. I think you will not regret getting an A7R2.
And now shoot it on APS-C with one of those slow motion cropping cameras like the a6700 - that'd push you over 2300mm. Put the right filter (!!!) on that and you could film slow motion of the sun up close.
That was fun to see in real use and some nice compositions despite the focus and stability challenges, just one correction at 2:05 - A 2x TC loses 2 stops of light, meaning light is halved twice (1-1/4=75% lost), so f-stop (which is actually the denominator of an implied "1/#" fraction) doesn't double but quadruples (ie. this whole fraction is divided by 4) and it should go from 500mm/f8 to 1000mm/**f32** not f16... A 1.4x TC would be one stop lost (f16), but "only" 700mm equivalent, though I'd imagine it's worth the tradeoff in pragmatic terms for probably much better IQ and usability if you don't absolutely need the 1000mm.
Reflex lenses are awesome in theory, but the bokeh is just so unappealing to me personally that I'd never buy one unless I was like a private investigator or something else purely practical lol, just seems more like a tool to me since I know I'd waste so much time trying to hide that distractingly busy bokeh in any artistic endeavor, and tbh I've never really wished for more reach than my 300mm/f4 PF prime on APS-C (450mm equivalent) which I'd also consider to be my handheld focal length limit even with built in stabilization--and like what's the point of a super small lightweight reflex lens if it has such a long focal length that you need to take a tripod anyway right...
It's definitely 1000mm at f16. A 2x teleconverter reduces the brightness by 75%, which is 2 stops. That we agree on. Where you're making the mistake is by saying that you need to multiply the f number by the denominator of the fraction of light you're trying to correct for. That 1/4 is a percentage and f number is unitless, so you can't directly relate them. Because a stop is a halving or doubling of light, you convert that denominator to stops by calculating which root of it equals 2, which in this case is 2 (2^2=4, but 1 stop which is 1/2 the light is 2^1=2, or 3 stops which is 1/8 the light is 2^3=8, etc)
Then you have to convert those stops into f numbers which is a geometric series in the form of sqrt(2)^n. Consequently that's where the f numbers come from, you just multiply every preceeding f number by 1.4 for each full stop. But the quirk is that every 2 stops is sqrt(2)*sqrt(2), or just 2. That's why if you want to adjust an f number by 2 full stops, you just halve or double it.
And I totally agree about the tripod comment, kinda wild to have such a light lens but be tied to a tripod for stability reasons. Not as big a deal when you can shoot higher shutter speeds but it really kills you when you start to lose the light
kinda funny seeing photographers gawk over fl's like this when I do planetary imaging at 10,000mm lol
Any time you can go up an order of magnitude, it feels impressive
I have a collection of catadioptic lenses... 1,000mm, 800mm, 500mm 300mm, and a 250mm versions.
Wonder how it compares with a Canon SX50HS ( 24 - 1200 mm, f/3.4 - f/6.5) which probably is easier to focus. Of course low temperature and low wind days would be best for decent optics at long range. Your ability to crank up the ISO beyond 6400 might be the best use case.
Is it as good as the Nikon lens?
ok the 1000mm focal length, but the quality is really low
Planet Venus looking very bright of late.Western sky around sunset.
Thanks Light Leaks for this UNIQUE video. It's worth watching but the lens is useless to me because its sharpness is unacceptable
What is that tripod head you're using, please?
It's just a standard ball head, nothing special about it
This tripod is k&f SA254M2?
It doesn’t matter where you are, if people see you with “pro” gear they are going to ask you to take their picture for them 😂 and we are generally happy to oblige.
I know that lens is compact, light and cheap, but I’ll stick with my 600 f/4 and 1.4 and 2x converters for a maximum f/8!
When using a lens that long you really need a gimbal, it is much more stable than a ball head.
But hear me out....$5
The ball head made it 10x harder to use. Definitely need a different tripod head if I ever wanted to seriously shoot with this lens again
ah yes, 1 meter focal length
Is your focus peaking on with sensitivity set to high? I also have a 500mm F8 mirror and even with focus peaking settings it's still hard to get sharp shots because the image is not very sharp. But even with close enough it has a super nice look if you don't pixel peep.
I believe I keep in on medium because high is just too sensitive for my liking. When I did get it to trigger focus peaking, it was only on the left side of objects. That's actually what led me to make the astigmatism comment while looking at the Jefferson memorial
@@lightleakss Yea looked like it, maybe something is out of alignement in the optical path.
Thumbnail time
ayo, what tripod are you using? looking good
Its the K&F Concept SA254T2 Lightweight Aluminum Compact Tripod with Ball Head www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1578207-REG/k_f_concept_kf09_090_sa254t2_lightweight_aluminum_compact.html
The first and only time I used a tripod on the Mall I ate a $150 fine for not having a permit and they threatened to take my gear.
Damn Park police are tough! Permit for still photography is only $50 for up to 10 people but still!
Dang maybe I just got lucky. Maybe it's because I wasn't doing portraits?
@@lightleakss I was shooting the fountain at the National Gallery of Art on a long exposure. (tripod)
A year later I was asked to leave (thrown out) of the National Arboretum for not having a permit as well. Cold days are best, they don't patrol 🙂 (no tripod)