Vivitar Series 1

greeches

greeches

Veteran
I didn't want to make a post until I got some glass first!

Been reading about this glass, as I've heard it as legendary glass growing up, but never remembered to investigate further.

AMAZING clarity! And its very cheap to obtain. No image-stabilization (its from the 70's) but very fast and very crisp pictures.

Here are some links for reference.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/vivitar/70-210mm.htm

http://www.photographyreview.com/cat/lenses/35mm-zoom/vivitar/PRD_84956_3128crx.aspx

http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic.php?t=25319

Vivitar didn't make their own stuff, they just re-badged other makers. Kiron made some of their finest glass, so finding an older fast Kiron will probably yield good results.

I'll post some test footage soon, but I can already tell a difference from the 28-135 IS Canon.
 
This is the kind of post I love. It's fun to discover some awesome glass that time forgot. Case in point: the Vivitar Series 1 lenses.

Vivitar Series 1 glass is truly amazing. My first Series 1 was the 75-205 3.8 made by Kiron and I bought it primarily for the price (only $29). However, after I played with it, I realized it was some nice glass and did some research on it and found out why it was so good. Since then I bought two 70-210 3.5's (by Kiron and Tokina) and two 28-90 2.8-3.5 (made by Komine- another awesome lens manufacturer for Vivitar) and they are all awesome lenses. Which ones did you get?
 
I don't know much about vintage glass. Would you need an adapter to use these lenses on the 7D bodies?

EDIT: Or would you just need an adapter if the lens was made for Nikon or Canon FD mounts, then? I'm doing my research...
 
Last edited:
I remember when the first Series 1 70-210 came out. It was (I think) the first zoom to make pros sit up and take notice, and I LUSTED!
Trouble was I was nobut a teenager at the time and it cost £185 (In the late '70s). A few years ago now I got one second hand, and it's amazing! Only downer is it's FD fitting.
Now I'm looking for one in a fitting I can adapt to my 550D.

I had to laugh at Ken Rockwell (The best response to any of his witterings) saying the Vivitar "focuses backwards" ha ha "Everyones out of step but my Johnnie" Nikon focuses backwards, so the Vivitar, in fact focuses "right"

Dave
 
i have my eye on 2 right now...one with a Minolta md mount....and one with a pentax mount (the sellers says "works wel on my pentax kx)

I dont know alot about mounts and such...but would these be the appropriate mounts for the respective lenses?

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Adap...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1282472258&sr=1-1


http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Lens...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1282468657&sr=8-1

Ok well the Minolta one is a no brainer i guess :)...but how about the pentax?

I apologize greeches for highjacking...but ur the one that kinda confirmed this :)...i've seen the others also talk about it but this post was the one that pushed it over the edge.
 
I had someone offer to sell me a couple of old vivitars for dirt, but they were fd mount. anyone have a way to make it work well? (I've seen the lense-cap method,but it looks iffy cause the lense wont lock)
 
jscottprice said:
I don't know much about vintage glass. Would you need an adapter to use these lenses on the 7D bodies?

EDIT: Or would you just need an adapter if the lens was made for Nikon or Canon FD mounts, then? I'm doing my research...
Click to expand...

Yes, because the current EOS mount is post-80's. The easiest mount is an adapter to go Nikon F-mount to EOS.

There's an EOS adapter for old Canon mounts, pre '88 or so, but it's suckalicious compared to the Nikon F-Adapter. Also, the old Nikon glass is better than the old Canon glass. (Sometimes old Canon lens fans pop up but not very often.) But old Nikon glass is raved constantly.
 
I will do a test in the coming weeks. Most of them are Kirons.

28-105 f/3.2 - 4.5
28-90 f/2.8-3.5
70-210 f/3.5
 
Chris Watson said:
With the exception of the opening shot and the sliding shot, all the shots from the preceremony part of the trailer was shot with either the Vivitar 28-90 or the 70-210. Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/14007238
Click to expand...

I have to say that is a very "filmic" look. Not too sharp but clean and overall really pleasing to the eye.

With that shallow DOF shot racking focus onto the ring, what f-stop were you using? In reply to what someone else said, I've too read that the Vivitar Series 1 lenses have problems at max aperture with over-softening the image. Did you find this to be a problem?

I'm looking at getting one of these lenses just because they are so SO cheap.
 
jscottprice said:
I have to say that is a very "filmic" look. Not too sharp but clean and overall really pleasing to the eye.

With that shallow DOF shot racking focus onto the ring, what f-stop were you using? In reply to what someone else said, I've too read that the Vivitar Series 1 lenses have problems at max aperture with over-softening the image. Did you find this to be a problem?

I'm looking at getting one of these lenses just because they are so SO cheap.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments. The macro shot on the ring was taken wide open at 2.8 at 28mm. I've found it to be a little bit soft zoomed all the way in (see close up of the eyes for an example) but it's within acceptable parameters for me and easy to sharpen in post if need be. The two 70-210's I own are amazingly sharp wide open. The Tokina and Kiron versions of the lens are great but there's a little something special about the Kiron version that's hard to put a finger on. Try to get a Kiron (serial number starts with "22") if you can.
 
jambredz said:
i have my eye on 2 right now...one with a Minolta md mount....and one with a pentax mount (the sellers says "works wel on my pentax kx)

I dont know alot about mounts and such...but would these be the appropriate mounts for the respective lenses?

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Adap...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1282472258&sr=1-1


http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Lens...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1282468657&sr=8-1

Ok well the Minolta one is a no brainer i guess :)...but how about the pentax?

I apologize greeches for highjacking...but ur the one that kinda confirmed this :)...i've seen the others also talk about it but this post was the one that pushed it over the edge.
Click to expand...

The Minolta lens might give you problems as you'll need a glass adapter to make it work. The Pentax K is a much better bet since all you need for that one is a metal adapter without the need of a glass element. Best of luck!
 
ok so i bought my Series 1 today (pentax k mount). I didnt even know there were so many versions and that the first 3 are the ones that are highly sought after. luckily the description of mine says its version 2...so i should be ok :)
 
i got the Version 2 (tokina ) after NOW reading up on them i see that it doesnt do so well in the macro category as the rest however everything else is pretty good :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top