Samyang 500mm f/8.0 Lens

jonto71

jonto71

Suspended / Banned
Messages
7
Edit My Images
No
Looking for a cheap telephoto lens for my Sony Alpha 350. Seen these on ebay with a x 2 teleconverter. Does anyone have any experience of this lens? Are they any good?

Looking to use on a trip to Dubai following the cricket.
 
There was a tog here sometime ago who posted some excellent shots with a Samyang 500 mirror lens, so it can produce some good images. You need to remember that they are f8 so will need good light (hopefully ok in Dubai!) however with a 2x converter good light is going to be an absolute requirement and you will find it much harder to get a good image due to light and degradation of image caused by the converter.
 
Hi, I've closed your other threads asking the same thing. If you could keep it to the one thread there's a better chance of getting decent answers :) I've left one of the threads asking about lens options as it's not specifically about this lens.
 
To behonest i won't bother about the mirror lens if you not sure what they are.

The focal range are good but it take some work to get decent images.

I would look for something else instead.
 
The Samyang are ok, but if you can get a tamron 500mm mirror lens, then that will be a a much better bet - it's definitely a higher quality optic.
 
There's always the Sony/Minolta 500/8. Same basic design as the samyang, but with AF. Minoltas go for about £300-400 on eBay.
 
If you do go with the samyang bear in mind that for about £10 more they have a f/6.3 version, which will get you a little more light, and give a better chance of focusing properly
 
I just ordered one and I am looking forward to having a bash. Long time since I was doing the manual focus thing so I guess there will be more error in the trial. I have just got a decent tripod though so that should help.
 
The Minolta/sony 500mm AF mirror is a cracking good lens. Not only because of AF but it's optics are better than the Samyang/tamron/sigma's that are cheaper. Not cheap and has a learning curve though, but wonderfully light to walk around with. A quick example that was handheld and shot on the fly. It landed on the rail and took off almost immediately.

4679138205_24d5ba99aa_b.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top