On Mon, 28 Sep 1998 17:03:06 -0700, "F. Hayashi" wrote:

>I was looking at some ads, and discovered that there are quite a few
>cheap 500/8 mirror lenses. One I saw was Vivitar, for $87. Does anyone
>have any experience with similar lenses? I'm sure the expensive ones are
>fine, I'm interested in how bad the really cheap ones are.

B-a-a-a-d! ;-) But if you want it only for snap-shooting, or for
other reasons don't care about the (very low) image quality, they
are fun, compact, and reasonably cheap. If you have a Nikon, the
older-version Nikkor 500mm f8 mirror often runs about $250 used,
and it is really good! The Tamron is OK, and may be worth looking
for used - and I just saw a Vivitar Series I 600mm f8 on r.p.m
at a remarkably low $275... (it isn't as good as the Nikkor, but
these Solid Cats have minor collector value, I guess, and usually
sell for more). (BTW, anyone interested in a near-mint 800mm f11
Solid Cat [for much more, though...!]?)