I bought a Centon 500mm F8.0 compact mirror lens 2 weeks ago. The bird is sitting a the very top of 40ft tree.

The Moon this seemed sharper when I took it, maybe I will knock it down a stop or 2 next time

I never noticed the bird before I scanned this slide. The mirror lens cost 99.00 dead cheap but there seems to be more grain with this lens, I shot the other waterfall photos on the same film (Velvia 50) with my 28mm-105mm lens and there is no grain when scanned, but they look great in a slide viewer. Anybody know why

I can't answer your last question, but thought I'd comment anyway. 500mm, wow, I've only gone as far as 200mm. With 500, do you have to use a tripod? They are all fine shots, in spite of your dilemma. On my monitor though, it looks like #1 and #3 could have some more contrast. Or maybe it's #3 looks a little blue. But even if it is, that would be an easy fix. Love that bird! What a cool surprise!

Great investment! That lens you have has the same focal lenghth as one of my astronomical telescopes! Cool.... Cute bird....at that focal length you'll need a very stable tripod, as I'm sure you know, and the use of cable release is probably a given. A few stops down wouldn't hurt the moon shot, but it still looks a bit blurred, I'm not sure if that is because of movement or slight imperfections in the mirror/lens. You were right azy, this would have been very handy at the whale watching! :-)>

A book I got says "In bright sunshine you will probably find that ISO100 film allows a shutter speed of 1/500, even 1/1000, but in dull conditions, film of a least ISO400 will be required, in order to manage fast, action stopping shutter speeds" hope that answer your question. All the above were taken with a tripod and cable release. The bird in the top pic I have managed to get eating from a brid feeder, hopefully I have got some good close up photos with this lens.

hummm... Was used to a Sigmar 300mm f2.8 and a focal duplicator.... some time ago i've bought a cathadyottric lense and i've found that are really funny to use. i've bought a 500mmm VIVITAR months ago... and now i'm planning to buy a Sigmar 600mm to replace the low-cost low-quality VIVITAR. The cost of this kind of lenses is really low... (my vivitar costs 90$) ... with the possible exception of Nikon ones... The Interesting side effect of this kind of optic is the "rippling" effect you get in OoF regions of the pic.... i like it...

Nice lens the 500 mirror you just have to watch the shutter speeds with only f8 aperture, you should try shooting the sun on water you will get some good doughnut effects with the high lights. :O)