Review: Samyang 500mm f/8 Mirror Lens

Samyang/Phoenix 500mm f/8 Mirror (Catadioptric) Lens

Mirror telephoto lenses, often referred to as reflex lenses but more accurately called catadioptric lenses, are frequently misunderstood and mistaken for poor quality. In reality, the catadioptric system is an ingenious telephoto design which reduces size, weight and cost when compared to refractive designs of similar focal length. Optically, it virtually eliminates chromatic aberration. But, like all advantages, they come at a price.

At any give price point, any lens design design represents a compromise. Make a lens longer, and you sacrifice sharpness, speed and contrast. At higher price points, these sacrifices are reduced, but come at the price of increased size and weight. So, it naturally follows that any lens design that packs so much power into such a small package and at a reasonable price will be subject to the limitations of physics.

That said, the Pheonix/Samyang 500mm f/8 MC Mirror lens is somewhat of a feat in optical design.

Ignorance is Bliss
In 1976, when I purchased my first SLR, the Canon AE-1, I pined after the Canon Reflex 500mm f/8. I was intrigued by the donut-shaped bokeh that it produced, seeing it as a unique advantage that no other telephoto lens had. Since then, I’ve always had an affinity the aesthetic of reflex lenses.

Interestingly, while some complain about the quality of the reflex len’s bokeh, others seek to produce creatively shaped bokeh using custom aperture disks. Lensbaby even offers a creative aperture kit for their Optic Swap series of lenses.

I passed up several opportunities to purchase the reflex lens for my Canon AE-1, which of course would have been unusable with my present Nikon Bodies.

Newer, Cheaper, Better
Fast-forward to 2010. By comparision to the reflex lenses of old, the Phoenix/Samyang version is smaller, lighter, has a shorter minimum focus distance, and is quite inexpensive. For about a hundred dollars, you can purchase a lens which will enable you to capture images that no other lens can.

Mounted to my Nikon D90, this lens is about the same dimensions as the fully retracted Zoom-NIKKOR 16-85mm f3.5-5.6, and weighs in at 4.3 oz. less. It’s focal length however is 750mm, a 588% increase over the Nikkor! At 127.5mm, the Nikkor is actually 1-1/4" longer, and costs over $490.00 more than the Phoenix/Samyang.

In use, it’s solid and simple. It’s satin-black anodized, all-aluminum construction is a nice departure from plastic, and the etched, color-coded, paint-filled markings harken back to the days of old. The focus ring is silky-smooth and heavily-damped, which aids in critical focusing. Once the T-mount adapter is installed and adjusted so the index mark is at top-dead-center, it mounts like any other manual focus lens.

Operation is straightforward; set the camera to manual, select an appropriate ISO/shutter speed combination, focus and shoot. If you rely completely on auto exposure and auto focus, you will find this challenging, perhaps even daunting. But, if you have experience with traditional photography, you will have no problems outside of the fact that you are attempting to hold the camera steady at 750mm. The situation would be the same if you were using a 750mm manual refractive telephoto lens. Except that you would have paid over $3,000.00 used, and be toting around something that weights 6 lbs., 10 oz. and is over 15" long.

Build Quality ★★★★★
Solid, all-metal construction, but extremely lightweight due to smaller refractive optics. Black anodized aluminum with engraved, paint filled markings. Useful focus scale.

Focus ★★★★★
Silky smooth and heavily damped to avoid accidental movement. Wide rubberized focus ring with long travel to assist focusing. Works well with AF confirmation lamp. Razor-thin depth of field not for the faint of heart. There’s no hard stop at infinity focus, and if you consider this to be the point where the index mark aligns dead-center with the infinity symbol, then the focus scale is very slightly off. However, this is not field relevant, and well within acceptable limits for a T-mount lens.

Optical Quality ★★★
When properly focused, using an adequately fast shutter speed and/or tripod, this lens is amazingly sharp for a $100.00 piece of glass. The images from a mirror lens have a soft quality even though they are tack sharp, which can be deceiving at first. However, they are conspicuously void of chromatic aberration, making them very clear. Given a little effort, it is not difficult to coax excellent images from this lens. But it may simply be impossible to get any closer to the subject, or fork up any more cash. And this is were this lens shines.

Value ★★★★★
Tons of fun and well worth the measly $100 or so dollars. To sweeten the deal, it comes with three 30.5mm filters that attach to the rear of the lens; a skylight filter, an ND-2x and an ND-3x. While the skylight filter has a warming effect, sadly it provides very little UV suppression having failed the black light test. There are actually quite a few 30.5mm filters available, especially those suited to black and white photography.

Versatility ★★★★
With the appropriate T-mount adapter, this lens will fit any SLR, 35mm, full-frame or APS-C! Works particularly well with DX DSLRs, where it’s focal length is 750mm but the aperture is still f/8! Good for nature photography and exploring distant, out-of-reach objects, but it’s not for sports!

Diaphragm
Fixed at f/8.

Filters
72mm (front), 30.5mm (rear).

Hood
Not included, but badly needed. The Hoya 72mm Screw-in Rubber Zoom Lens Hood is highly recommended.

Included Accessories
Vinyl storage pouch, front lens cap, rear cap, three 30.5mm filters; Daylight, ND-2X, ND-3x

Specifications
You can view Samyung’s Specifications for this lens by visiting their website.

Recommendations:

• Use a Tiffen 72mm Low-Light Warming Polarizer to increase contrast and saturation; This is an ideal filter for this lens as it’s inexpensive, suppresses UV radiation, and adds only one stop to the exposure.


• For general protection, use the Hoya 72mm UV(0) Haze filter. This inexpensive, single-coated filter is more effective than the newer UV(0) S-HMC filter manufactured in the Philippines.


• Use a Hoya 72mm screw-in rubber zoom lens hood to increase contrast and reduce flare. With the appropriate step-up rings, this hood is ideal for all your other lenses as well, as it adjusts for three different lens focal lengths.


• If you prefer to use rear-mount filters, try the Tiffen 30.5mm UV Haze 1 filter. This filter has proven effective in suppressing UV, and is quite inexpensive. Although it is possible to purchase a 30.5mm polarizer, there would be no practical way of adjusting it once the lens is mounted.


• Motion blur may be more distracting than noise, so use a higher ISO when warranted. Noise can be reduced in post processing, but motion blur cannot.

Picture Taking
Being almost as compact, but a little lighter than a standard zoom, it’s a joy to carry to carry around. Because it’s so small, people don’t realize you’re shooting with a very long telephoto, so you operate in a kind of stealth mode. This makes it possible to capture candid portraits without the subject knowing…great for street photography. It also enables you to capture the intimate details of distant objects, or fill the frame with objects that are very far away. Focusing is challenging, but aided by the fact that the focus confirmation works quite well, despite it only being rated for lenses of f/5.6 or faster. It helps to judge the distance by eye, and dial it in on the focus scale before composing the subject. Then, it’s just a matter of fine tuning.

It’s easy to mistake lack of sharpness with motion blur, so be sure to work with a shutter speed fast enough to overcome the shakes. 1/500th sec. works well, despite the effective focal length of 750mm on the DX format, and I’ve shot as low as 1/250th with good results. A monopod certainly helps, as does the technique of bracing the camera against a stationary object.

For nature photography, a tripod works well, even if not locked down to enable free panning, It’s the minute oscillations of hand-holding that wreak havoc, which the tripod and monopod tend to suppress. A steady hand and the body’s own ability to damp vibration are techniques that have been all but forgotten, but are most relevant here. And the mass of the camera/lens combo also plays a significant role. Due to the lens’s light weight, you might want to use a grip with heavy, high-capacity NiMH batteries installed to add vibration-dampening mass if shooting in low-light conditions.

Flash is not at all out of the question, and can be used as fill if shooting within range. However, your stealth ability goes out the window, and you may need to use it in manual mode. Not a problem with the D90, as the on-board flash allows me to dial in the precise power needed in 1/3 stop increments, as would an external flash. Plus, an external flash in good ol’ auto-aperture mode reduces the need to adjust manually.

This lens takes on a whole new purpose with digital photography. It’s subdued contrast and saturation can easily be enhanced in post-processing. If you shoot in camera raw, you can underexpose the images slightly to reduce motion blur, and increase the exposure in post. When it comes time to upgrade, this lens will only get better. Higher ISO capability in your next camera means sharper, images with less motion blur.

Although not particularly exciting, here are some sample images:

Cable Conundrum. Handheld from about thirty feet away. If I had used a tripod, the smallest type would have been legible.

Security Light. Handheld, about fifty feet away. If you look closely, you can see the wire embedded in the glass behind the metal grill.

Suburban Safari. Handheld, braced against a building. A life-size elephant statue, from about 100 feet away.

Halloween Skull. Handheld from about ten feet away, indoors, built-in flash. Proof positive that this can do macro.

Except for a fifty percent reduction in size to make them web-friendly, these images have not been post processed. However, they all respond very well to added contrast, saturation and sharpening, especially with Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw or Apple Aperture, which both apply the changes as metadata without permanently affecting image quality.

I must admit, I’m at a slight disadvantage with the D90. If this were a D300S or above, I could enter the lens information manually and have full metering capability. But it’s OK for now, as I have Chimping to fall back on. My next body will probably be the successor to the full-frame D700, and that will allow me to take advantage of full matrix metering.

Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-4.5G: Six Primes in One

The AF-S DX Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR has six ideal focal length designations on the barrel, which are my go-to numbers. Although DSLR zoom lenses are continuously variable, I find myself going straight to these numbers first, depending on the subject matter. Generally, I set the lens to 24mm, which gets me closest to the classic 35mm focal length. For portraits, I tend to work around 50mm. Starting from the short end:

Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6	35mm equivalent	f-stop range
16mm	24mm	f3.5-f22
24mm	36mm	f/4.0-f/25
35mm	52.5mm	f/4.5-f/29
50mm	75mm	f/5.0-f/32
70mm	105mm	f/5.6-f/36
85mm	127mm	f5.6-f/36

Like the Canon SD780 IS and Nikon P5100, the maximum and minimum apertures are variable depending on the focal length of the lens. At 85mm, it goes all the way up to f/36! This is not as great an advantage as it seems though, since diffraction begins to soften images above f/11. To get the best combination of depth of field vs. sharpness, work between f/8 and f/11.

Remember the old photojournalists’ saying, “f/8 and don’t be late”.

On the other hand, f/5.6 is a memorable number, as it’s available across the board, and gives good all-around results regardless of which focal length you use. Happily, as long as you don’t manually change the aperture, the D90 returns to the maximum aperture for any given focal length automatically as you zoom back out. But if you change it, it sticks, which is one reason I like to work with a single focal length whenever I can.

Prime lenses such as the Nikkor 20mm f/2.8D, 35mm f/1.8G, 50mm f/1.4G, and 85mm f/1.4G all have distinct advantages in both size and speed over the Nikkor 16-85mm, but VR narrows that gap somewhat. In theory, at 35mm, VR makes the 16-85mm behave similar to f/1.8, (except for the ability to freeze action), but it can't compete with the compactness of the 35mm f/1.8.

Canon Powershot SD780 IS: Seven Primes in One

The Canon has seven steps as opposed to the Nikon P5100’s nine, and they’re pretty similar. Starting from the short end:

Canon Powershot SD780 IS	35mm equivalent	f-stop
5.9mm	33mm	f/3.2
7.2mm	40mm	f/3.5
8.7mm	49mm	f/4.0
10.6mm	60mm	f/4.5
12.5mm	70mm	f/4.5
14.8mm	83mm	f/4.8
17.9mm	100mm	f/5.8

Unlike the Nikon, The Canon doesn’t report the 35mm equivalent focal length in the EXIF data, so I had to calculate it. Camera manufacturers have always varied features between brands, but with digital you can expect even more differences. There are no standards other than industrial design common sense, and camera companies have egos just like any other. Happily, the multi-selector on the Canon controls the exposure compensation, flash mode, self-timer and AF focus range just as it does on the Nikon except that it’s rotated 90° counter-clockwise. I’m actually surprised the icons have been as consistent as they have.

The Menu button on the Canon behaves like the Setup mode on the Nikon, and the Func. Set button on the Canon like the Menu button on the Nikon. It works out OK, because you can get to both quickly with just your thumb. The Nikon requires your left hand and a trip to the Mode Dial on top of the camera. It’s a very different kind of camera, just as a rangefinder is from an SLR. There’s no one perfect camera and I like working with the different designs.

Thank goodness these functions are not touch-screen controlled. If they were, I wouldn’t have bought this camera. If I want touch control, I’ll use my iPhone, thank you very much.

Here are some test shots:

The Morning After:
Looking east from 7th Avenue, Manhattan

Fall Foliage

Times Square at Night

I’m fairly happy with existing light results. Even at low ISO the images are somewhat grainy, so the results at ISO 1600 don’t seem as bad. They’re still much sharper than they would ever be with the closest sized film camera, which would probably use 110 film.

Just in Time for Christmas: My ELPH Story

My very first childhood camera was a Keystone 125X, a little plastic brick that took 126 film cartridges, and served me well on class trips to the Museum of Natural History. When it came time to upgrade, I saved up for a Kodak Pocket 110. Slim profile, sliding lens cap, thumb-operated  film advance lever; at about an inch thick, I could actually slip it into a pocket. This was the camera for me.

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First Impressions: Canon Powershot SD780 IS

As I remove the tiny device from its ecologically friendly packaging, the first thing I notice is its heft; It’s solid and substantial. If feels like a real camera, and yet it seems too small to be a real camera.

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New Arrivals: Canon Powershot SD780 IS

Canon Powershot SD780 IS, Rear

Received this just as I was on my way out, so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to try it out…

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The Next Digital Holga?

Pentax Optio H90; The Next Digital Holga?

OK, so although the Yashica EZ F521 was slated to be a “digital Holga”, its limited availability in the US may have generated a false start. After all, by definition a Lomographic camera must also be a camera for the masses; if the masses can’t purchase it readily, then what’s the point?

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Reviewing images without extending the lens on the Nikon Coolpix P5100

Here’s a little trick I discovered when reviewing images on the P5100:

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Nikon Coolpix P5100: Nine Primes in One

In a world where I’m pining after a rangefinder, my Nikon Coolpix P5100 gets better and better as I learn how to use it.

Today is the annual Halloween Parade at my daughter’s school, and this year they’re going to march down the sidewalk outside the school. I’m torn between shooting with the Nikon D90+Voigtländer Ultron 40mm, or the Nikon P5100. My concern is that the P5100 won’t be fast enough. Or, that I won’t have as much control.

So, I did a quick test, and under cloudy conditions with the AF (“infinity”) focus mode, the shutter lag is only about a second. Since the camera does not indicate the focal length in numbers, and I prefer to use the viewfinder with the LCD off, I shoot some test images to see just what the focal lengths are. Each quick flip of the zoom lever advances an apparently repeatable step, so I take a shot for each step, pull the card, and read the EXIF data. These are the results, starting from the short end:

Nikon Coolpix P5100	35mm equivalent	available f-stop range
7.5mm	35mm	f/2.7-7.6
8.5mm	40mm	f/2.9-7.1
10.1mm	47mm	f/3.1-7.7
12.9mm	60mm	f/3.5-7.7
15.7mm	74mm	f/3.9-7.6
18.6mm	87mm	f/4.3-7.5
21.5mm	101mm	f/4.7-7.3
24.5mm	115mm	f/5.1-7.9
26.3mm	123mm	f/5.3-7.3

It’s like having nine primes in one! Zoom all the way in, and three or four clicks out and I’ve got my (approximate) 90mm and 75mm portrait lengths. Zoom all the way out, and two clicks in, and I’m shooting normal at an almost ideal 47mm. Now, I feel as though I have some control.

I can use aperture priority with f/5.4 (closest to the very versatile f/5.6) in every zoom range, and for maximum depth of field, f/7.6. At a “normal” focal length, I’m around f/3, and at portrait, I’m around f/4. All these numbers are not far off from the NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom. For some strange reason, the aperture does not remain constant, but varies slightly. I can deal with that though.

Shooting with the viewfinder takes a little courage, but becomes comfortable very quickly. The camera knows to turn on the LCD each time you change something; the aperture, exposure compensation, auto-focus mode, flash preferences, self-timer, etc. As soon as you push the shutter release halfway, it turns off. You can turn the LCD off in the P, A, S, and M modes, but in all other modes it stays on. This is fine, and seems pretty logical. The P, A, S and M modes are for serious shooting, and the other modes for casual shooting.

“Mirrorless” is the new “Rangefinder”

A New Breed of “Mirrorless” Digital Camera: The Fujifilm Finepix X100.

A new breed of camera has been slowly emerging from the ashes of the Rangefinder; The “Mirrorless” digital camera.

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Just in Time

Canon PowerShot SD780 IS:
A Never-be-without-a-camera-again Camera

So here I am, looking in a shop window in Manhattan on the way to a gig as I come across the Powershot SD780. It was not far from an SD1200. And I notice both have optical viewfinders.

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Get ’Em While You Can

So smitten am I with the Janco 3-Color Pop-Up Flash Diffuser that I decided to order a second one as a backup. At its low price, why not.

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Scanning Holga Images

This morning I’m scanning some 6x6 Holga images from my first test roll. I’m quite impressed with the results. Sharp in the center, nice vignetting, nice grain, nice softness and chromatic aberration around the borders. The film stock was expired Kodak VPS 160.

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