Photographing Frogs with a 500mm T-mount Lens

In this video, Sean shows you how he uses an inexpensive 500mm T-mount lens and a couple little tricks to capture photos of frogs and other wildlife up-close.
Click here to learn more about our T-mount lens adapters: bit.ly/3ib5kNk
And click here to learn more about our Macro Extension Tubes: bit.ly/33usbzs

[@cappuccino3444]

great vid. I love these cheap 500mm lenses, this makes them even more useful

[@FotodioxInc]

Thanks! We love them too :)

[@ScottJWaldron]

The frog photos do look nice!

[@FotodioxInc]

Thanks, yeah, we were surprised how much quality we could get out of this cheap lens!

[@Lurker1979]

I have done that with my generic 500mm lens with extension tube. Took a couple of great photos of my cat. With some intresting circler distortion on the edges.

[@FotodioxInc]

Nice! Yeah, it's a great way to get a little more out of a lens like that.

[@STILLWILLPHOTO]

Great timing with this video because toads have emerged from the mud in my garden with the passing storm

[@FotodioxInc]

Happy shooting!

[@rexplorer.official]

Just what I needed

[@drijfkip1]

Your extra magnification with the extention rings is simple to calculate. 500 + 28 + 7 = 535mm.

[@FotodioxInc]

Perfect!

[@j.roberto3074]

Great video. I needed this information!

[@FotodioxInc]

Glad to help!

[@eliedelorme9945]

Good to know that trick I have a meeting with some froglet...thanks

[@FotodioxInc]

Good luck! Frogs can be skittish even when photographing them with a 500mm lens :)

[@jacovanlith5082]

Almost correct. After having mount thr lens to the camera body, you have to rotate the lens to bring the distance scale upwards. The inner ring of every T2 mount has a thread. By partly unscrewing the three or four screws on the outsife of the rmount, the inner ring can rotate. After having done this thighten the tiny screws.

[@FotodioxInc]

Good point! I didn't do this because I was adapting the lens to a mirrorless camera with a digital focus assist, I was focusing by eye, not by distance scale on the lens.

[@SHOCKPROOFX]

Cool stuff!

[@Linkman247]

I currently have a Nikon D5100 and still love and use it after 12 or so years. I've been looking at mirrorless cameras that Nikon seems to be shifting too. Should anything happen to my current camera I may end up switching to Mirrorless which would mean I would need to get a FTZ adapter to use my current lenses. Is there a way that this 500-1000mm lens with teleconverter could be made to work with a Nikon Z mount camera to take advantage of IBIS? Or will that not work with this kind of lens. I know autofocus won't work because the camera doesn't "detect" the lens.

[@FotodioxInc]

Unfortunately with this lens, which is fully manual, you wouldn't get any IBIS, because the lens can't talk to the camera in any way. The Sony camera I used for this shoot has a stabilized sensor that works with manual lenses--you just tell the camera what focal length you're using.

[@Linkman247]

@@FotodioxInc thanks for the insight. So if I would ever upgrade to a Nikon z50 or something mirrorless that has ibis, it should theoretically work? I know you can use f lenses on the z bodies with the ftz adapter. Just checked. Apparently the z50 does not have IBIS or even sensor cleaning.

[@FotodioxInc]

@@Linkman247 You'd need a camera that can do stabilization with a manual lens. I'm not sure that a Z50 can do that.

[@Linkman247]

@@FotodioxInc thanks for the advice!

[@johntravena119]

Amazing some of the shots you got. If I didn't know I'd think you paid for some serious glass! 😉

[@FotodioxInc]

:)

[@ConsensusX]

Great shots! Did you shoot wide open with this lens?

[@FotodioxInc]

Yes, I shot around f/8, which is the widest this lens goes.

[@ConsensusX]

@@FotodioxInc Nice! It's looks pretty sharp.

[@marcuslamb-bentley4492]

What lens are you using please? So many different brands. Thanks

[@FotodioxInc]

We used the Five Star 500mm f/8 T-mount lens.

[@nikkibatts3580]

nice photos

[@FotodioxInc]

Thanks

[@JPI77]

Awesome Video! I have the 500mm f/8 from Ultimaxx. Is it the same thing or slightly different?

[@FotodioxInc]

The Ultimaxx 500mm f/8 looks identical to our Vivitar 500mm, so it should be the same.

[@360icon]

Thats a kool idear! I know where a bunch of farm ponds are at….. but i will take a way mo better lens

[@FotodioxInc]

The main reason we had to use a macro tube with the setup was to get the 500mm T-mount lens to focus closer than it was designed to. Most lenses have a much closer minimum focus distance, so you most likely wouldn't need this setup for them, but it varies from lens to lens.

[@kendrickl.buchan7271]

Great review! Btw, I am planning on buying this lens and attaching it to a macro extension tube and from there I will make a DIY mount to my smartphone. I would like to ask if this idea is possible? Thanks

[@FotodioxInc]

That won't work because you can't just mount a lens on another lens--in this case a T-mount lens on a smartphone lens--and get a useable image. Camera lenses are made to send an image circle to a sensor that captures it, so the only way for you to mount a lens on a phone is to put some kind of screen for the image circle of the adapted lens to land on and for your smartphone camera to film off of. Something like this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYucn56Xp7ChjKs

[@kendrickl.buchan7271]

@@FotodioxInc Thank you for responding. I have an idea that instead of using a focusing screen between the 500mm lens and my phone's camera at a specific distance, I will use an eyepiece from a telescope (10mm) so that it will act as a camera sensor to receive the image from the lens. It's a crazy idea tbh 😅, but it's like a concept of phone digiscoping.

[@FotodioxInc]

@@kendrickl.buchan7271 Cool, that might work

[@youranonymous931]

@@FotodioxInc just curious why you said it won't work? People mount conversion lenses on top of another lens all the time. Seeing that this is a manual lens, it should not have any issue mechanically (for example AF, motor etc) as everything is done manually.

[@FotodioxInc]

@@youranonymous931 A conversion lens is different than a standard lens. A conversion lens is designed to snap over an existing lens and modify it, like a fisheye adapter lens you snap over your phone's lens to modify it to fisheye, while a standard lens is designed to throw an image onto a sensor or piece of film. With a standard lens, you'll need something for the lens to throw the image circle onto so you can capture it with your other lens, which is why the adapter I linked above has a piece of frosted glass in it to capture the image. Now, you can hold a standard lens about a foot away from your eye, or a lens, and see an upside-down image in the rear of the lens, but capturing that will only give you a tiny round image that's not very useful.

[@ParadikmaOfficial]

is it full frame lens?

[@FotodioxInc]

Yes.

[@ericborde]

Wanted to get one of these but can’t seem to find one at the bargain prices y’all have!

[@FotodioxInc]

There are some on ebay right now for $34: www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=five+star+500mm+lens&_sacat=0

[@ericborde]

@@FotodioxInc thanks!

[@Roby0593]

What is the exact name of that lens ?

[@FotodioxInc]

Vivitar 500mm f/8 Telephoto Lens

[@wbhfilm_7381]

"Was it an African or European Swallow?"

[@FotodioxInc]

It was.... a duck! :)