THE MIRACLE (AND SCIENCE) OF MIRROR LENSES

This could get confusing… a mirror lens on a mirrorless camera? What is a mirror lens exactly? More importantly, why can they be very handy for long telephoto photography?

Paul Burrows

The technical definition of a telephoto lens is one with a focal length greater (or longer) than 50mm (on the 35mm/full frame forma), but the telephoto range is more generally accepted to begin at around 85mm which would be classified as a ‘short telephoto’ lens. Beyond 300mm you move into the ‘supertelephoto’ range which includes 400mm, 500mm and 600mm lenses. Anything longer than 600mm is generally for specialised applications such as wildlife or some sports. The focal length of a lens is actually the distance from its optical centre – also called the rear nodal point – to the focusing point in the camera which, obviously, coincides with the focal plane in the camera (also called the plane of sharp focus). Due to the longer focal length, telephoto lenses are…

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Camera (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 430

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