M42 Mirror Lens! TT Artisan 250mm f5.6 - With Doughnuts! 

Mirror lenses are great fun and this looks like a great addition. I have the Sigma 600mm f8 and the Maksutov MTO 500 f8 so a shorter focal length would be nice. The donut bokeh can be a bit wild at times but they're so small and light considering the huge focal lengths I think the compromises are worth it. Using a camera with sensor stabilisation is advisable and accurate focussing can be tough at all distances, including the moon!

Very niche, but such a great decision to make the mount M42. Really clever to make it so flexible in use.

I have a Tokina 500mm F8 in Nikon F mount. I have owned it for many years and use it mainly on my old film F801 and later DSLR D7100. Nice lens.

I remember Vivitar doing Maksutov lenses, (1600 f8!!) I do Astrophotographyt and use a 127mm Skywatcher Maksutov, the middle path between refractor and reflector, Chromatic abberation is the Astrophotographers bogey man, so these are a great choice for planetry and lunar work. I must say both 7 Artisan and TT Artisan are really making a name for themselves with quality glass at reasonable prices, good stuff!

I remember when mirror lenses were popular but the independents like Vivitar and Tamron tended to make them in the 400/600/800mm sort of range, and camera manufacturers made longer very specialised ones. For example the Nikon 2000mm. Also they were usually f8 or f11. This lens is therefore very unusual in that it's shorter and faster than mirror lenses of old. I wonder what made them decide to make something so off the wall.

Finally! I have a Pentax DSLR and as such have been constantly disappointed that TT don't make lenses in PK mount. This is great news. Thanks very much 😃

Kase have recently released a 200mm f5.6 mirror lens with modern mounts.

This lens is not just the two mirrors. There are glass lenses in the design. Including the primary and secondary mirrors, there are six optical elements in five groups. The primary mirror is spherically ground, not parabolic. [Much cheaper.] The front plate of the assembly is a lens in addition to supporting the secondary lens in the middle. That front plate is frequently called a corrector plate because it mostly corrects out the spherical aberration of the primary mirror. There are four more lens elements in the central core of the assembly that finish the corrections to the optical design. - I've looked at the MTF chart and this thing has great contrast and detail for APS-C and M4/3 applications. On a full frame camera there will be a bit of vignetting in the corners. - The lens is also available in X, F, E, EOS-R, EOS-M…, but the best bet is to buy the M42 version that can be used on almost any mirrorless camera made with an appropriate [cheap] adapter. The M42 version will also be cheaper than the ones with bayonet mounts.

Wow!!! Sounds very impressive!!!

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you can't get chromatic abberation because all the colours of light are reflected the same way rather than refracted different ways as with a lens.

Great video! I used to have a Nikkor 500mm f5 with which I made a few environmental portraits with. I think that must have used it a handful of times so sold it when its value increased. I've only got a lowly Chinon 500mm f8 now and I have never used it. You have inspired me to give it a try this week!

Dear Nigel, many thanks for this review!! I wish I purchased the Minolta counterpart long ago. But now this lens is available now for a much more affordable price nowadays! By the way: I have the Tamron Adaptall 2 SP 8.0/500 mm counterpart which is also a very nice lens with lots of reach. The depth of filed of this one is very, very shallow so you have to make sure you focus is accurately set. Best wishes, Ralf

A mirror lens? It's a welcome surprise from TT Artisan. I have never used one, but that might tempt me if the price is decent. Hmmmmm (strokes beard in deep thought)

Interesting and somewhat unexpected offering from ttartisan. Definitely a bit niche

great video as usual. What is the focus throw on this lens please?

Could you please do a review on the industar 61 L/Z and its wonderful star-bokeh?

I have got an old russian Rubinar 300 f 4.5. It is incredible!

This will seriously hurt the people selling that Minolta Rokkor 250mm for $1000 dollars on ebay 🤣

Er the glass at the front is a corrector lens though right? I have an old 500mm f8 generic one and its ok, if niche

Did you drop this video a little early? I can’t find this lens anywhere. Do you know what the pricing is going to be on it?

Don't forget the Russian MTO mirror lenses which were viable cheap lenses compared to the Japanese/Korean mirror lenses all these years. But I must admit that the MTO or Rubinar lenses were heavier but they did have f5.6 for some of the them.

There's a Tokina 300mm f6.3 M4/3 mirror lens living in my lens drawer. It's a beast and I only let it out occasionally. It seems to not have an accurate hard stop at infinity, making it difficult to focus quickly, and even focus peaking seems unreliable. The depth of field is so shallow I couldn't get an entire praying mantis into focus from 5 meters away. This lens might actually be a little soft, and It really needs a tripod to work at its best.

In the past I owned a Nikon 500mm and 1,000mm mirror lens. I couldn't get past the bokeh and slow apertures. The specular highlight donuts are different, but to me, not at all pleasing. In longer focal lengths they are hard to hand hold as the lightness works against stability. The only good thing I can think of about mirror lenses is the total lack of chromatic aberrations!

This lens will mount to M42, Olympus OM, Canon EOS, Canon FD, Pentax K/M and I guess Contax/Yashica cameras. Not sure about Nikon duh...

Thank you for the video! I know from previous videos that wide angle lenses aren't what you typically gravitate towards, but do you have any experience with any Nikon F mount wide angles, like 28mm? I'm looking for a cheap one to mount on my DSLR, and other than Nikon, I was looking at Soligor and similar brands. Thanks!

It would have been hilarious if you did the whole review and didn't mention thr donuts at all lol

I’m not sure how I feel about the circles. I must admit I’ve not looked at much from mirror lenses but initially looking at these images I’ve found it a little unsettling and distracting

Price?

🐼

I recently glued a tiny coin onto an old 82mm uv filter and that gives a somewhat similar effect, except I can use it on my EF 135/2L and still maintain that sharpness but with very interesting backgrounds 😉 @njbmods cheers! Great video as well 🎉

not a fan.