Rokinon 28mm f/2.8......

[enzodm]

Rokinon is a re-brander, so it might be built by different manufacturers (like Vivitar, but Vivitar also designed some lens to be built by others). I had a Vivitar 28/2.8 that I recently sold, which vaguely resembles yours (on the left on picture, I kept the Tamron 28/2.5). It was not bad (some comparison here, only on close focus).
Not expensive, so just try. On Nikon you do not have many chances to try old lenses. I recently bought a Nikon 100/2.8 to be used on my Canon, and I'm glad of it (another interesting piece if you find one).

 

[RockstarPhotography]

Rokinon is a re-brander, so it might be built by different manufacturers (like Vivitar, but Vivitar also designed some lens to be built by others). I had a Vivitar 28/2.8 that I recently sold, which vaguely resembles yours (on the left on picture, I kept the Tamron 28/2.5). It was not bad (some comparison here, only on close focus).
Not expensive, so just try. On Nikon you do not have many chances to try old lenses. I recently bought a Nikon 100/2.8 to be used on my Canon, and I'm glad of it (another interesting piece if you find one).

Why do you say you don't have many chances to try old lenses on Nikon? I've used lenses my grandfather gave me that he acquired in the 70's. granted there was no autofocus, or light meter, but they shure turned up some purdy pictures!!

 

[enzodm]

Why do you say you don't have many chances to try old lenses on Nikon? I've used lenses my grandfather gave me that he acquired in the 70's. granted there was no autofocus, or light meter, but they shure turned up some purdy pictures!!

yes, "only" old Nikon lenses (which may be very very good). On Canon you could mount almost everything, with light metering in Av and manual, except old Canon lenses.

 

[Ron Evers]

OK Dan, I mounted my $28 Vivitar 28/2.8 & gave it a work-out today.


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2. Extreme crop of above shot.

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6. Extreme crop of above photo.

 

[Stradawhovious]

Thanks for going through all that trouble Ron!

If my lens is anything like that, it will be $30 well spent. I will post some when I get it, and see what the bear can see.

 

[djacobox372]

Why do you say you don't have many chances to try old lenses on Nikon? I've used lenses my grandfather gave me that he acquired in the 70's. granted there was no autofocus, or light meter, but they shure turned up some purdy pictures!!

yes, "only" old Nikon lenses (which may be very very good). On Canon you could mount almost everything, with light metering in Av and manual, except old Canon lenses.

Lol, what are these great non nikon/canon lenses that u can mount on your canon?

IMO the only old lenses not made in a nikon f-mount that I would want are the canon fd mount lenses that won't work on nikon or canon dslrs.

 

[enzodm]

Lol, what are these great non nikon/canon lenses that u can mount on your canon?

IMO the only old lenses not made in a nikon f-mount that I would want are the canon fd mount lenses that won't work on nikon or canon dslrs.

Zeiss (east&west), Leica, Schneider, Pentax, Yashica, Olympus, some mechanically not great but optically great russian lenses, etc. Some hidden gems from Vivitar or Tamron (or also other re-branders). Unfortunately not Canon FD, but Canon and Nikon are only now market leaders .
Actually, except for some mad price, you may buy almost any old fixed 50mm/135mm/200mm for not much money and have a fast prime lens to play with (and worth it if comparing with entry level zooms).
Reusing old lenses, from what I see on Ebay, is more an european phenomen than north-american (prices for manual lenses are higher in EU, if not for customs I would buy more on the other side of the ocean).

 

[Stradawhovious]

Well..... here it is. Lightning fast shipping....

Arrived with a little more damage to the front element than expected, but it doesn't seem to effect IQ any so i guess I don't much care. the only thing that I question is that it makes my focus indicator all kittywampus. There are little arrows in the viewfinder on either side of the focus indicator light that tell you which direction to turn the barrel to get to focus..... and this lens makes the arrows show the wrong direction. I gues I could get used to it, but it seems strange. At any rate, I think that for $30 it was a steal.

On preliminary tests, the lens seems really soft at f/8 to f/2.8 at any distances greater than 20 feet, but closer up it's sharp. From f/8 to f/22 it's pretty clean at further distances. I didn't really get a chance to give it a workout tonight due to the youngets boy's "Blue an Gold" Cub Scout dinner, so I hope to have some test shots I'm not afraid to share by tomorrow.

But until then, Here is one at f/2.8 to tide you over. (or once again make you groan at the prospect at wasting yet another 30 seconds of your life.)