vivitar lenses

blackdoglab

yeah I'm easy.... but I'm not cheap
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I've been playing with a 135mm vivitar lens (pentax screwmount) and Like the feel and speed of it(f2.8). I want to get a lens to replace my tokina 35mm and I'm thinking of searching out for a vivitar. So.... what are your experiences?
 
I've used a vivitar 28mm f/2.8 on my FE before, and it was very soft. So soft, you could even see it in the viewfinder. The other Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 that I was using that day was much sharper wide open. It was a very old lens anyway, i have no idea how it was treated before I mounted it on my camera.
 
Try a Mamiya Sekor 35mm m42 mount lens, or a regular Pentax. I have a Vivitar 28mm AI for my Nikon and it is a bit soft too, but if I'm careful you can't tell until I'm on the very last zoom click on the back of my D200.

mike
 
I didn't shoot it on my D70, but if I was shooting wide open with it, you didn't need a loupe to look at my negatives. lol the naked eye could see all the detail it resolved. That's bad.
 
Vivitars are absolute crap, especially the zoom lenses. Do not buy one, not even the APO ones. In screwmount you should have absolutely no problem finding a very very cheap Super Takumar.
 
Alternatively, try a Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm/f2.4 (M42 screwmount). If you want a Pentax lens, SMC and Super-Multi-Coated lenses have the advantage of multi-coating over Takumars and Super-Takumars.

As for Vivitar lenses, they are not all absolute crap. Older Vivitar Series 1 prime lenses (some in M42 mount) were rather good.
 
I've got my fingers crossed. I'm bidding on an asahi takamur 35mm. wish me luck.
 
I'd have to partially disagree with Max. Not all Vivitars are crap. Some are merely mediocre. Some are useable. Some are even ok.

The thing with a Vivitar is to work out who designed/made them. There's a couple of websites that will help you work this out based on lens designations and serial numbers. Then you have to work out if the lens in question was a good one, since manufacturers with good reputations can turn out terrible glass too. For this of course you can only really rely on others' experience. In other words the old Vivitars can be good but finding a good one can be a gamble and is generally more effort than it's worth. As pointed out there are much safer bets for M42 glass, and you won't go too far wrong with a Super Tak. Oh and good luck :)
 
I had (come to think of it I still do) a Vivitar 19mm/3.8 with my Canon T90 and it was excellent. Well built, great images with no softness at all. It had plenty of use and I was going through my old stuff the other day, came across it and noticed that it looks brand new.

I also had (still do.....) a Vivitar S1 28-105/2.8 for the T90 - that produced excellent images but wasn't so sturdily made - it's still all working as it should but the rubber zoom/focus grip is showing signs of use. As it should I suppose and it is, after all, only cosmetic.

So, no bad experiences.
 
i've heard a few good things about vivitar series 1 lenses, but I can't find any in m42 on ebay. Well, I've got 6 hours left to go on the takamur. If I don't get it, I might search for a mir 37mm (hey, it's a zeiss design). If it's anything like my heilos, then i'll be happy.
 
Andy I think I have that lens sitting in a box somewhere - might have to give it a go on the dSLR!
 
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I'd have to partially disagree with Max. Not all Vivitars are crap. Some are merely mediocre. Some are useable. Some are even ok.

The thing with a Vivitar is to work out who designed/made them. There's a couple of websites that will help you work this out based on lens designations and serial numbers. Then you have to work out if the lens in question was a good one, since manufacturers with good reputations can turn out terrible glass too. For this of course you can only really rely on others' experience. In other words the old Vivitars can be good but finding a good one can be a gamble and is generally more effort than it's worth. As pointed out there are much safer bets for M42 glass, and you won't go too far wrong with a Super Tak. Oh and good luck :)

Is it really worth all that trouble at this price point though?

Vivitar glass often seems okay until you get in one situation and all of a sudeen it's crap. Take for example the 80-200 vivitar I used to shoot with from time to time. It was a decent lens. Not the fastest thing in the world, and definitely a bit soft, but it certainly got the job done. Then I decided to try some several-minute long night exposures, and ended up with shots that were completely ruined by these gigantic halos that were caused by light bouncing around inside the poorly designed thing...
 
As posted above, get yourself one of these - in fact I could sell you this one! </spam>

f1.jpg
 
Good news. I won the Takamur and my tokina can take a rest. Now i'm gonna look for a KMZ telephoto.
 

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