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Hi, am an ameteur and new to digital photography.
Mirror lenses were a craze a decade or so back. No they are available rather inexpensively.
Are they usable on dslrs? I am using a Pentax Kx and am looking for a 500mm mirror lens - if and only if usable with my Kx.
You can still pick them up for very little money, Yes they will work on DSLRs, Although most of them do not connect electrically ( most use the T42 mount, Some are dedicated but not many ), So they need to be used manually.
If you can live with that ....
I tried various models/brands on DSLRs a few years ago, The results where not wonderfull, Brands tried included Tamron & Sigma.
Of the 2 the Sigma was a better lens, That said it was in better condition too, However apart from the manual only issue, I could not live with the " Bocke " produced in backgrounds.....
Very pronounced ring like patterns, Although some might find it arty.....!!!
Overall verdict from my tests, Not really worth the effort......
Most mirror lens come out at around 500mm, On a cropped digital sensor, You can almost get that sort of reach with a standard 300mm prime or zoom, Whilst still having such toys as AF and Image Stabilising, And much better quality images.....
So while its an amusing concept, An interesting experiment, I would not bother with a mirror lens, Unless someone is giving you one for free, And you like messing around with them.....!!!!!!
IF its focal range your looking for, Take a look at the Sigma 150-500mm image stabilised zoom lens, These are 20 times better than an average mirror lens.
Additionally they are fixed aperture (usually f8) so you do lose light through to the viewfinder which can make focussing difficult in all but bright conditions, so ditto everything cameracat said .... except
i have one from my film camera days (also Pentax K mount) and it does have its uses. It all depends on what you are gonna do with 500mm, that's750mm equivalent on a yours and my dslr!
Its the business for taking pics of the moon (no background so no rings, which I personally think add to some shots) and other stationary distant objects but I would not want to use it for fast moving wildlife.
So as said, if you can get one free or pretty cheap and you're happy with manual focus they can be an asset and good to experiment with, but they do have limitations.
I've seen a lot of mirror lenses on overstockers.com. I suspect that their wide barrels would make it difficult to connect them to some modern DSLRs with overhanging pop-up flash housings. When mirror lenses were popular (in the 1980's) cameras had pentaprism housings that did not stick out (far, if at all) beyond the front of the camera body. Professional DSLR's have their housings high above the centre of the hole where the lens goes, so wider lens bodies will fit.
Of course, there is nothing particularly wrong with the design of mirror lenses and most advanced amateur astronomical telescopes (eg. Meade and Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain and Maksutov-Cassegrain types) are designed the same way. However, all have high f numbers, f8-f11. I attached a camera to a 1800mm Meade ETX 125 and got a very grainy looking high contrast picture as a result.
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