Small update on the newly announced Rokinon 300mm f/6.3 lens. It’s going to ship in July for $299. And on top of this post you can see the video showing the new lens. What I didn’t know until now (Thanks Mike) is that Rokinon already has a Mirror lens for Sony. It is the Rokinon 500mm f/6.3 for A-mount ([shoplink 18677 ebay]can be found here one Bay[/shoplink]).
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26 Responses
Is he shooting with the lens cap on? What was that black thing in the middle of the front element?
This is one of the two mirors of the lens.
It’s a mirror lens. It bounces the image around the back up to the front and back again so you can get an objective focal length that’s a lot longer than the actual lens. Here’s more: http://www.photozone.de/mirror-lenses
I have one and the basic PRO/CON is that you get a super-zoom at a great price (since it doesn’t have need as many elements) and it doesn’t have any CA, but you can’t stop down the aperture (it doesn’t use one) and it’s bokeh looks like doughnuts.
It is the front mirror. The light reflects off the back mirror then the front mirror, goes through some normal optics and hits the sensor.
Yeah, I just read about it now. Very interesting design, makes for much smaller telephoto lens, though it looses quite a bit of light.
The advantage is that you get a small lens.
The disadvantages are the ring-shaped bokeh and the lack of a diaphragm (the lens is always used wide open).
But handy and at a sensible price.
$300 for lens without OSS and AF
DOF is extremely narrow with cat lenses.
You cannot have your entire subject in focus and there is no diaphragm so you cannot compensate for it.
The small size and price are the only advantages.
DOF is okay with typical usage of this particular focal length – soccer,birding,anything that not so near. The longer the distance,the more DOF you get. Not plenty but enough to get everything in focus,for a man sized subject.
If you fill the frame with a medium to small bird only part of the bird will be in focus.
Although the lens is f6.3 the dof is pdobably similar to about an f2.8 or 3.5.
The lens is usable but anyone who buys one should be aware what to expect.
If you like lots o bokeh and donut shaped out of focus background highlights you will like this type if lens.
If you like craisp sharp images with everything in focus you will not.
Its a usefull tool but for limited uses.
It’s nice, price, design, e-mount etc.
Ohh wait…F6.3? Are you kidding? It’s a very very dark lens! =(
Not darker than a 18-200 !
Since the mirror system itself partially covers the entrance pupil the effective T-Stop is even much smaller – anyway form factor is great especially considering that lenses longer than 300mm usually require an advanced tripod.
The aperture lets in exactly as much light as any f6.3 lens — there is no ‘special’ light meter mode for a cat lens. If your exposure is 1/500 f6.3 @ ISO400 … you’re good to go what ever lens you use.
Catadioptric system usually don’t have an aperture and the calculated one does not measure that the entrance pupil is only a donut and NOT a full circle. Therefore like while solar eclipse only a reduced amount of light reaches the sensor. When using two identical cameras both at ISO 400, but a catadioptric 300mm one of them and an usual lens on the other set to the same aperture the shutter speed will differ quite a lot.
If 500 f/6.3 is too dark then I would recommend the excellent Sony 500 F/4 with an adapter. Oh, wait $12,998 at B&H. (:-(). Yes, real optics costs real money.
You are right. I’m using manual lenses on the Nex, then they has big apertures and a small price.
Small size and low price is what’s attractive nowadays.
I’ll have to see samples of its use (not technical samples) but this could be useful at odd times.
Stalking with a 300mm lens while you’re holding a tiny camera is fun.
Ebay says it actually is T mount and needs adapters, for A or E mount. Anyway it seems quite interesting given the price. 500mm, minimum focus 1.7m… Some guys in flickr already have used it on alpha and even have comparison with Sigma!
This one is a different new lens. Samyang already have 2-3 t-mount mirror lens (500 and 800). This is a new one, compact 300mm, designed for mirrorless cameras.
It sounds ironic to use a “mirror” lens on a “mirror-less” camera. If it is a mathematical equation, the “mirror” and “mirror-less” will cancel out. And the result is a regular lens/camera combo.
I think it is great to have a super tele lens in kit lens size. It will be very handy (portable) for people/parents shooting at a outdoor ball game. Much smaller than using a 70-300 zoom.
That doesn’t make much sense. There are two mirrors in a lens like this, and they have nothing to do with a conventional SLR mirror. These are redirecting the light inside the lens to effectively fold the path the light takes and yield a much smaller lens.
An SLR mirror reflects the image up into an optical viewfinder and phase-detect autofocus sensors, and flips up out of the path of the light entirely when a photo is taken.
$300 for a 300mm or $179 for 500mm? If this had been $150 or 500mm, then maybe. At $300 and 300mm, no thanks.
It is nice and small, but unlike their 8mm fish-eye, this one needs AF to make it worth the money. We have many adaptable options for less.
All new canon and Nikon lenses in production are lens stabilized, they replacing old with new stabilized. how could one get HQ photos without Oss and AF , why third parties lens producers do not produce what we are looking for. Yes video shooting is important for me too. Is the Nex system really good ? I am considering selling my NEX 6 and moving back to Nikon d5200
Most NEX lenses are stabilized I think. I used to use Nikon gears and all of my 5 lenses weren’t stabilized. I’m just okay with non-IS lens. I don’t really see the difference BTW. I’m not in any intention implying that IS is useless,it’s just not apparent to me. The only lens that amazed me is the Canon 70-200mm F4,IS-ly speaking. Perhaps IS is more needed in longer focal length,which I don’t use so often.