Samyang/Rokinon 300mm f6.3 mirror lens

[dv.]

***** OPEN THREAD *****

 

feel free to add images taken with 300mm mirror lens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2016 by dv.

[dv.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2016 by dv.

[erwiurewurwehu]

These are pretty good. I like the swirly bokeh.

[Mike G]

Impressive

[Mike G]

dv, did you use a tripod for these super shots?

Edited July 29, 2016 by Mike G

[frod]

the bokeh is appalling

[Richdog]

Agreed, the bokeh is distractingly horrendous!

Edited July 30, 2016 by Richdog

[John999]

Thanks for posting these shots.  They provide a much better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of this lens for those of us who may be tempted to purchase this very affordable compact lens.

[dv.]

dv, did you use a tripod for these super shots?

 

only hand held     used 1/500 or 1/1000 shutter speed most of the time.

[dv.]

Thanks for posting these shots.  They provide a much better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of this lens for those of us who may be tempted to purchase this very affordable compact lens.

 

It is a very compact lens. I would say the size is about a XF18-55mm

 

This 300mm is not the sharpest lens, but with post-processing (sharpen, high pass filter from Photoshop) you can get pretty descent result keep in mind that you do need higher shutter speed to prevent camera shakes when hand held ：）

Edited August 1, 2016 by dv.

[yukosteel]

I love the pictures of animals/birds. Looks like it's not very easy to master the lens to make bokeh less busy, but I like that unusual look! : )

[johant]

I honestly thought mirror lenses were something from the past!

 

Lovely doughnuts in some of the shots [emoji14]

Edited August 20, 2016 by johant

[Mike G]

I was so impressed with dv's pictures, I went and bought one!

[dv.]

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Edited November 1, 2016 by dv.

[dv.]

[dv.]

Central Park, NYC - Fall 2016

 

 

[frod]

That bokeh is giving me a seizure lol

[mpw1950]

Some great pictures but ...

I have occasionally toyed with getting this lens for the fun of it. But having actualy seen the mirror lens bokeh again I decided I will just stick with my Fuji 100-400mm.  I rememember the doughnuts when they were fashionable (1970s) but had forgotten how intrusive they are and how quickly enthusiasm would disappear. Thanks, you have saved me an expensive experiment!

[asathor]

It is a tripod-lens (as long and slow as it is) and an interesting close-up lens. Near field and far field bokeh can be interesting but midfield is truly LOOPY.

 

I sold it because I don't do much tripod work and I can't handhold it.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2016 by asathor

[ackas]

It really isn't hard to hand shoot the lens... and often I feel that people saying it isn't sharp are really talking about that they manually focused a little off. But the trade off of compactness, light weight, and overall portability is the reason to use the lens; the 100-400mm is anything but.

I find it extremely silly though, that you all are doing little more than bandwagoning "eww, donuts" when some of these shots do well at minimizing those donuts and focusing on the subject. Others... well.... yeah, you really need space between your subject and the background; but not all of them are bad, and many are rather nice.

Remember, the number one rule in photography is that it is not the lens you wish you had on you, but the lens you have, that you work with. If you want to lug the 100-400mm around and are fine with that, then that is your style of photography and nothing is wrong with it. But if you generally handshoot and enjoy keeping a light pack of smallish lenses... that's the market here.

No one lens is perfect, but the 300mm reflex lens does have its own niche.

[dv.]