Portraits of crows, testing a Minolta 500mm f/8 AF mirror lens.

I had the opportunity to do a portrait photoshoot of three crows, as they were hanging out in my backyard. I was testing out a lens which I've just received from eBay, the Minolta 500mm f/8 AF mirror lens. It's a real pleasure to use, because it's much lighter and smaller than most telephoto lenses (only about 600g), so it can comfortably be shot handheld with Sony's in-camera image stabilization. A limitation is the fixed f/8 aperture with its small depth-of-field, but it's a fair trade-off considering the advantages, as the image quality is surprisingly good and the autofocus (an unique feature amongst mirror lens) is fast.

The lens is a good choice for those who want to photography wildlife (or unsuspecting humans) without the burden of a huge heavy expensive lens and the necessity of a tripod. Because it's an old lens, it can be found on eBay for about 250$ in mint condition (pro tip: always purchase from Japanese sellers, the quality and service are always excellent).

I'm glad I'm bigger than them, these are intimidating looks.

Notice the ring bokeh below, a characteristic of mirror lenses when there are strong highlights in the background. Some might not care for it, but when it's not too distracting I find it only adds some flair to the images.

The lens (image from dyxum.com).

The camera is a Sony a77.

-aoi
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