Build Quality
Unique

It is not possible to pick up this lens and get perfect shots. Takes practice.

I had wanted a mirror lens since first seeing some of the photographs taken using these particular lenses. A Nikkor was out of my price range, thus I purchased this lens from a private sale. I have gotten some spectacular shots of subjects using my Nikon D40X. However, when it comes to shooting landscapes it is very difficult to get a clear image (at least it has been for me thus far).
It is a beautiful lens and, even though I am a beginner, would say that it is definitely worth it to purchase this lens. Although I have only had the lens for a brief amount of time, I have been shooting with it almost every day. If you do not have the time to devote to learning how to focus and shoot well with this lens DO NOT BUY IT. It takes practice to get great images.
A tripod is must to get a clear image.

Similar Products Used:

Quantaray 500mm spotting scope

Close up shots in nature when it is difficult to get close.

Confusion with focus mechanism Not particularly clear

I have had the Quantaray Mirror 500mm for several years. After I got past the contrast issue, I finally got the hang of it. I think it is a good lens to "capture the moment", but haven't figured out yet how to make a sharper image. When I did get a good image, it may have been just luck. My best experience was taking pictures of the Orca Whales in the Puget Sound. I was amazed at myself that I could focus so fast, (since the focus mechanism is backward) catching the whales jumping in and out of the water. I got great close-ups. And all that from a rocking boat no less!

Customer Service

It would probably be better to go with a more expensive single lens if you are looking to buy a new lens for close up photography. However, if you already have one of these or get it for free, go ahead and experiement with it, you might be surprised.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 35-135mm Quantaray 28mm

None.

No contrast or saturation. Lack of sharpness. Lens is bascially unusable.

I had terrible luck with this lens on a Nikon D70. Could be a quality-control problem due to the other positive posts, but I could not get a decent picture out of this lens. The results were awful: no constrast whatsoever, and impossible to a achieve any hint of sharpness. Tried everything from fixing on tripod with remote shutter release at 1/1000 sec, and still could not get ONE decent picture. (I'm not talking about PRO lens results -- understand that this lens is incredibly cheap-- but no joke: I have made pinhole camera that produced better results.) This one is going back.

Light, compact, reach

None if you have a good eye for the very touchy focusing (typical for long focal lengths).

I don't know why anybody would bash this lens, I was tempted to scratch the deal from all the bad hype. But I have had five rolls of this pushed though and everything is spotless. One suggestion for prospective buyers-even with a tripod you NEED to use shutter speeds faster than 1/500... so you better stock up on 400-800 ISO!

Customer Service

Just needed to go back because of a defective T-Mount

Similar Products Used:

minolta's verson

Good sharp image.

Has none when used properly

I almost didn’t buy the lens because of poor reviews. Now that I have taken some photos with it I came to the conclusion it is a poor workman who blames his tools. I have photos of antelope that at 100 yards the eyelashes are clear and the highlight in the eye is perfect. I took photos of a near full moon @ 1/250 and the result is fantastic. You have to give this lens some respect and use it in the conditions it was designed for. If you do your job right it will give fantastic results. I don’t see what all the whining is about.

Price. Compact. Weight.

Sharpness color contrast sharpness Just Don't Buy It!!!

Real cool looking lens!!! You can impress all of your friends, but forget about getting sharp pictures. I tried this lens on a Canon Elan7 and couldn't get a sigle decent 5X7 unless i use 400ISO or 800ISO speed film. Forget about 8X10; it's not going to happen. Before returning it, I pop it on my Pentax K-1000 and the results made me think about keeping the lens...But only for a little while. Save Your Money For A Real Telephoto!!!!

Customer Service

Was able to return the lens for store credit after three months. HEY, you can get alot of film for $130.00

Similar Products Used:

Never used anything like this before.

Long reach

slow speed

I knew I wanted more reach for wildlife photography and I had a choice of sending $2315.00 for a 500mm pentax or $149.00 for the mirror lens. After weighing that decision I bought the lens and kept the price differance in mind. The reach the lens has given me for deer and other wildlife has been great. I get best results at speeds in excess of 350 and using some type of support. For what I wanted and considering the price I could not be happier with the purchase.

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

none

low-cost $149.99 USD, lightweight
T-mount system lets you buy one lens, and multiple T-mounts for different camera bodies (Nikon, Pentax, Canon, etc.), if you have >1 camera system
Prime lens (not zoom), minimal distortion and chromatic aberration (no red/blue fringing on sharp edges).

very low contrast
low sharpness
manual-focus only, focus-ring turns opposite direction as expected!
Severe flare.

I had mixed feelings about this lens. Optically I did not like the lens very much. Sharpness was worse than I expected, though for $150 perhaps this is a workable tool, but definitely not good for 8x10" enlargements. (Bluriness shows even on 4x6 prints.)
The low-contrast can be a blessing for beginners. I shoot print film, which owing to design tends not to reproduce high-contrast scenes very well (at least not through the generic supermarket photo developers.) This Quantaray reduces contrast so much that I can shoot a dark object against a bright sky, and both will look "normal" in the print. I.e. the dark object has detail (it's not just pitch black). I've shot enough print film to know this kind of situation *usually* produces an over-exposed sky, or underexposed subject. This lens captures both due to the reduced contrast.
Back to sharpness, owing to my inexperience, I found that some of my shots suffered from camera-shake. This wasn't initially obvious, because I assumed any tripod would provide adequate stabilizatoin. Not so, the lightness of the lens makes camera vibration a significant problem at shutter-speeds 1/250 and below. After I figured this out, I improved my sharpness noticeably (on 4x6 print), enough that I'd say the lens's sharpness is adequate for 4x6 prints (but nothing larger.)
And finally, focusing the lens is very difficult due to the loss of light through the front. The lens is rated at f8, but as with all mirror lens, the front mounted mirror blocks some additional light, dropping the effective aperature more.

Customer Service

not used, no comment

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 50mm F1.8 AF
Nikon 35-70 F3.3-4.5 AIS
Nikon 75-150 f3.5 (E)

Are you kidding....strengths??!!
Makes for a great paper weight. Oh and it's nifty leather case.

It focuses beyond infinity, it is not sharp, it is hard to focus, no lens hood available. It is also way too light for it's length.

I had trouble selling this lens when I started buying professional lenses because it was known to be a piece of crap. I wasn't ever impressed with the sharpness of this lens. Mirror lenses all have this in common. I had a Minolta MAXXUM system at the time and didn't have mirror lock up with any of my camera bodies....which is what it needed even on a tripod to get a shot that wasn't a mess. I bought this lens because I wanted to be able to shoot things like people and land scapes far away that I could not possibly shoot in while being seen like secured areas, candids...etc. Well after having several problems, I packed it up in it's case and managed to sell it for $35.00 in a trade in for what I'm shooting now. I wouldn't recomend any beginner buying this lens because you'll regret it. The last guy was right about getting crappie enlargements with it. I thought I would use it in a pinch when I needed the length for the work that I did at the time. however, I got much better results by enlarging shots taken with the also crappie 75-300 lens by Quantaray. I learned a 150.00 lesson.....never buy junk! Today I shoot with Canon EOS and I pay a lot for the lenses and bodies. I wouldn't be able to sell any images taken with this lens today even if it were used in a pinch situation. It is too bad that I even have to give this piece of crap a single star rating.

Customer Service

none... if it needed fixing, I would have played the game "kick the lens" with it.

Similar Products Used:

Quantaray 35-80, & their 75-300 lenses.

Compact, light weight

Nothing but. Very low contrast, makes quick focusing very difficult to impossible.

USELESS! Had much, much better results with a doubler (telextender). Don't waste your money! Imagine! The salesperson tried to talk me out of buying it. I had to see for myself, and boy it was even worse than he said. Why Quantararay even markets this thing is beyond me. I believe it is made by Samyang, rather than Sigma, which explains a lot. Don't waste your time with this piece of junk! If there was a rating lower than 1 star, it would be appropriate.

Customer Service

not tried.

Similar Products Used:

None