Phoenix Gold 500mm f/8.0 Mirror Lens

I think this is the best lens for amateur photograpers for bird, wild life and ,maybe, sport photograhy. It is very light for a focal length of 500mm (750 mm effective digital), and the aperture of f8 is adequate under bright light for the careful manual focusing required. Camera shake is a major concern of course, and a shutter speed of 1/500 sec is needed if a tripod is not used (1/200 sec even with antishake cameras).For use with SLR digital cameras, the shutter lock setting must be set to off, because the camera does not know that a lens is attached. At a price of around $100 new (Mine was bought on ebay for $60), it improves your chance of getting a good picture of a nervous or remote subject. It is made as a screw mount lens, and a t-mount adapter (about $15) is needed for each specific camera. If you have two different model cameras, the lens can be shared for the cost of an additional t-mount.