[Brightcolours]

If they can  make autofocus tilt and shift, it won't be  hard to make autofocus mirror lens, especially someone already did it.
Frankly I am sure they came out with something that's why they are investing there otherwise they already have the new cheap tele primes.

    I suppose the AF and IS will give them some sort of new lease of life, as the main user issues were holding a light short lens stable, whilst trying to manually focus accurately ...... which made them a struggle to use  .... 
 
 ........that only leaves the "elephant in the room ... doughnuts!" ...... and the art of trying by careful compose the shot so as to control them as much as possible ....

..... as per BC's poetic examples ........

You do get the images, Dave. Those are not about "smooth bokeh", but about what you can do with the lens. Only the one with Donna, our american Bulldog, has typical doughnut bokeh to which one could object if one wants. In some other shots, it is interesting which textures get created in the background, and they are not typical "document a flower" images, but rather about a whole composition, with light and colours.
Thanks for your thoughtful compliment, and understanding that one can embrace a lens' imperfections.