Russian optics company Shvabe Holding, which is known as the owner of the Zenitar brand, has announced four new mirror lenses: the MC Rubinar 1000mm f/10, 500mm f/8 Macro, 500mm f/5.6 Macro, and 400mm f/4.5 Macro. The new versions of these devices got a redesigned lens hood, improved matte inner surfaces, and enlightened optical details – which is especially relevant for digital photography.

These four lenses are listed under the “Rubinar” line and made from milled metal cylinders (rather than a “pipe” of metal) for what the company says is a higher manufacturing accuracy and stability during operation.
The Lytkarinsky Optical Glass Plant (LZOS) of Shvabe, which developed the products, notes: at the moment Rubinar is the only serial mirror-lens lens in Russia with such characteristics.

“The lenses have become more modern in their new guise and have gained a number of advantages. For example, creative people will enjoy bokeh in the form of rings and macro mode. At the same time, our specialists retained the M42 mount thread for greater unification with all existing mounts through simple and inexpensive adapters. Currently, the first production batch has been manufactured,” noted Alexander Ignatov, LZOS General Director.

“For astrophotography lovers, the LZOS developers offer an additional service for adjusting the lens MC Rubinar 10/1000 Macro,” the company writes, translated from Russian. “This model is suitable for photographing the surface of the moon, stars, and planets of the solar system.”

Mirror lenses are very uncommon in modern lens design due to the fixed focal lengths and apertures and are also generally regarded as less sharp than traditional optics. The advantage of the lens design found mainly on telescopes is that they tend to be extremely compact for how much zoom they can provide.

No info about prices at the moment.

More info on Shvabe’s website.