Vivitar 500mm f/8.0 Lens

Pros: Light, very reasonably priced
Cons: Fixed focal distance, difficult to focus

I bought this lens on the advice of a shop assistant, since I told him I wanted a lens suitable for nature photography (birds), but one that wasn't especially heavy or unwieldy since I could be carrying for many hours at a stretch in difficult...

Pros: Cheap, light weight. Bokeh wasn't too bad, probably due to bad overall image quality though?
Cons: Awkward to use, poor image quality.

Picked up mine without reading any reviews beforehand & regretted it :( The only nice thing that I can say about it is its very light weight. What I didn't like was:

1.Very awkward to focus. There is a lot of focus movement past infinity.
2.Very poor contrast.
3.Images blurred & washed out.
4.Very susceptible to lens flare.
5.Very slow. Is closer to F11 than F8. (Confirmed by pointing a 400mm Sigma lens at the same subject & checking the meter reading at F11)
6.Viewfinder can get very dim at times, again not helping focusing.

Have replaced mine with a used Tamron 500mm SP, which is rated as being one of the better mirror lenses, & cost about the same used as the Vivitar did new.

Out of curiosity, I took a comparison shot using a tripod & release of something on a bright sunny day. Where the Tamron image was bright & sharp, the Vivitar looked like it had been taken through a net curtain. The Tamron was also a stop faster.

Save your money & buy something else.

Pros: Price, size and weight.
Cons: Low contrast images, poor sharpness.

Ok, this is not a great lens. This is also a VERY cheap lens and it's also small and light. Focus is difficult and the image (f8) is dim. Pictures show low contrast and edge to edge sharpness is just not there. However, I paid less than $100.00 for this lens brand new. Build quality is good and it is very easy to handle. I bought this for the very rare occasions that I would need a 500mm lens. You can get usable pictures from this lens if your goal is to just get the picture. Not recommended for any serious work. If you want a nature photography lens, this is not it. For the occasional long distance snap shot it’s just fine. For best results use a tripod and focus carefully.