Vivitar 500mm Series 1 reflex mirror lens

MWGATORMWGATOR
edited January 2014 Posted in » Nikon D5100 Forum
I purchased a Vivitar 500mm Series 1 lens for my wife. It's obviously harder to set camera up than I thought. Can I get some advice on how to get her started? We figured we need to set it in Manual and have taken some pictures, but they are not very good. The specs on the lens are:
Non-Autofocus
500MM F/8.0 CATADIOPTRIC / REFLEX MIRROR LENS
INCLUDED 3 FILTERS
SKY LIGHT , ND-2X , ND-4X
Min. Focus Distance: 5.7 ft (1.73m)
Length: 3.4”
Weight: 0.72Lbs. (330g)
Filter Size: 72 mm front
Filter Size: 30.5 mm Rear
Aperture: f:8 fixed
Groups/Elements: 6/7
Angle of view 5 degrees
Maximum Diameter: 3.0"
Macro Magnification: 1:2.
3 FILTERS INCLUDED SKY LIGHT , ND-2X , ND-4X

Comments

  • PaulsPicsPaulsPics
    edited January 2014
    Hi MWGATOR.
    I have a very similar Tamron 500mm f/8 catadioptric lens which I bought about 25 years ago for my Olympus 35mm camera. It came with the Adaptall 2 mount so the lens could be used on different cameras with the right adaptor, so when I got my Nikon D3200 I bought the Nikon adaptor. Like your lens, this can only be used in Manual mode and I have taken some good photos with it of birds (feathered kind), the moon and also of my sons football games. Keep trying with it and experiment with different shutter speeds and ISO settings. It's great that these lenses can live on in the digital age!
  • MWGATORMWGATOR
    edited January 2014
    On the digital display it looks good but after taking the picture it comes out fuzzy or completely black. There are so many settings on this camera it's hard to know where to start.
  • PaulsPicsPaulsPics
    edited January 2014
    Yes, it can be confusing at first, but keep at it. I took a lot of duds before getting the hang of it with the Tamron. Also look at exposure compensation settings too (page 81 of the user manual). These allow you to vary the exposure. Looking at the picture on the camera's LCD can be somewhat misleading too.
    Also try enabling the histogram (page 101). Histograms can also be a little confusing at first, but once you begin to understand it, it can be very useful. Also make sure the LCD screen brightness is not turned up or down too far as it may miss lead you (p137).
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