One-Minute Reads about Film Photography

Mirror lenses and life at the beach.

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Mirror lenses like 250mm f5.6 and 500mm f8 are fun to work with and have advantages and disadvantages.

One advantage, because of their design, is that they are much more compact then glass lenses of the same focal length and less expensive as well. The major disadvantage is a fixed aperture. Most mirror lens kits will include a couple of neutral-density filters to allow shooting in very bright sunlight etc.

But one interesting (advantage or disadvantage) is the donut bokeh that mirror lenses will produce when shooting scenes with bright reflections. I like this effect in some photos, but in other situations it can be distracting.

This photo was taken with a 500mm f8 Rubinar Macro (Ukrainian) lens and a Mamiya 645Pro mounted on a tripod in bright sunlight so that a fast shutter speed could be used. In addition to the donut bokeh, another interesting benefit particularly for this photo, is a relative narrow depth-of-field that helps the subjects stand out.

So if you are thinking about procuring a mirror lens, just be aware of these things, and happy shooting!

• gregory gammon / www.vinylfye.com