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does anyone have a vivitar 35mm f1.9?
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 1:58 am    Post subject: does anyone have a vivitar 35mm f1.9? Reply with quote
Back in the 90's, I used to have a vivitar 35mm F1.9 lens in M42 mount that I used to use a lot in both color and bw film.
Im thinking of trying one again on digital but Im concerned about performance, sometimes what worked great on film doesn't
work so great on digital. Anyway, does anyone have or used on on digital and what was the results?


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 2:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I forgot to mention, my lens was not multicoated, just single coated, ( I think all of them were single coated) but it still
had excellent flare resistance and contrast. The lens had excellent build quality too. Solid metal and smooth focus.
Actually Im surprised it wasn't part of their Series 1 lineup ( it wasn't ).


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 4:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, I own a Vivitar 35mm f/1.9, but it is in Canon FD mount and I've never tried it with my FD-to-EOS adapter. I haven't used it much, the last time was a moody-looking landscape on a very foggy winter day, shot with Elite Chrome slide film. Those shots wouldn't help much in judging sharpness. Recently I bought a Canon FL 35mm f/2.5, one of my favorite 35mm lenses. I would like to do a comparison of the two lenses one day. Hopefully within the next few months I'll be buying a Sony NEX (I'm waiting for the update of the NEX 7 to be released), which will allow me to use my Canon FD and FL lenses on a digital with a glassless adapter.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 5:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch, the 7's replacement should be great(I'm waiting for the FF NEX myself), and you can use your Canon RF lenses on it too as I do, I also have a 50mm f/1.8 but its the Canon version, mine doesn't seem as sharp as I was hoping it would be, how sharp is yours?


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lightshow wrote:
cooltouch, the 7's replacement should be great(I'm waiting for the FF NEX myself), and you can use your Canon RF lenses on it too as I do, I also have a 50mm f/1.8 but its the Canon version, mine doesn't seem as sharp as I was hoping it would be, how sharp is yours?


I'm expecting big improvements from the next NEX.

Not just full frame but also 50-100 mega pixels.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:15 am    Post subject: Re: does anyone have a vivitar 35mm f1.9? Reply with quote
hifisapi wrote:
Back in the 90's, I used to have a vivitar 35mm F1.9 lens in M42 mount that I used to use a lot in both color and bw film.
Im thinking of trying one again on digital but Im concerned about performance, sometimes what worked great on film doesn't
work so great on digital. Anyway, does anyone have or used on on digital and what was the results?


I just bought one and it is on its way to me. If you are patient, once its get here, I'll post some shots for you. If you are not, you can always buy one and try it. Whatever works best for you.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have the lens but have not used it much, I don't use 35mm lenses much on my APS-C bodies and it's body is rel. big and I prefer small lenses, e.g. my S-M-C takumar f2/35 is considerably smaller. It is a rather good lens I would think, not sharpest wide open but not much behind the mentioned S-M-C which is not known for great sharpness wide open neither. I do prefer colors of any of my Takumars over those rendered by any of my Vivitars though.
The only few sample photos at my flickr had been taken at low light, may not say all that much about sharpness:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuuan/sets/72157622747417903/


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have bought a Vivitar 35mm/1.9 some months ago.
It is good, but not very good I would say. Not Zeiss Contax 35/1.4 quality.
I bought it to test wheter the bokeh is like on the more expensive Vivitar Series 1 28mm/1.9 - and at least it looks a bit like that.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I think it will be a decent performer if you need the speed. The best advantage of this lens is cheap when compare to other fast lenses.

Few close shoots in my flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/calvin83/sets/72157631549928401/


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I recently aquired a Vivitar 35mm f1.9 with a mint Konica T3,seller advertised as 58mm lens which of course is the front filter size,I paid $35 for Camera + lens but havn't had chance to use it yet.I figure I got a bargain because lens sells for a lot more than what I paid.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
calvin83 wrote:
I think it will be a decent performer if you need the speed. The best advantage of this lens is cheap when compare to other fast lenses.

Few close shoots in my flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/calvin83/sets/72157631549928401/

Out of curiosity, I just checked ebay, and most are around $250, ouch.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I guess I have one sitting around unused...should put it on ebay then Wink


PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
hifisapi wrote:
calvin83 wrote:
I think it will be a decent performer if you need the speed. The best advantage of this lens is cheap when compare to other fast lenses.

Few close shoots in my flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/calvin83/sets/72157631549928401/

Out of curiosity, I just checked ebay, and most are around $250, ouch.

This lens is quiet cheap few year ago but it seems become more popular these days! I think you can still find one for around $130 with a bit patient. Click here to see on Ebay


PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lightshow wrote:
cooltouch, the 7's replacement should be great(I'm waiting for the FF NEX myself), and you can use your Canon RF lenses on it too as I do, I also have a 50mm f/1.8 but its the Canon version, mine doesn't seem as sharp as I was hoping it would be, how sharp is yours?


You know, honestly I haven't put it through any sort of rigorous tests in that regard. I should, though. Maybe I'll take the glass out of my FD-EOS adapter and shoot some macro shots with both it and my FL 35/2.5. That would make for a decent comparison.

I'm waiting for an FF Mirrorless from anybody! Sony, Canon, Pentax, hell even Panasonic! I'm getting tired of waiting, though, and I'm not getting any younger, so I just thought I'd get the new 7 or whatever it's gonna be called. Oh, actually there is a FF Mirrorless that is very full-featured as both a still and video camera -- the $3,300 Sony NEX-VG900. It's a digital video camera that takes both Sony A-mount and E-mount lenses, but it is very full-featured in still-camera mode. If the other makers don't get with it, I'm gonna start saving my ducats for the VG-900. So what if it doesn't look like a still camera.


PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hi!

Take a look at the new thread I started with a bunch of shots from this lens:

http://forum.mflenses.com/a-bunch-of-shots-from-the-vivitar-35-1-9-t59842.html

It's a better than decent performer. I find lots of "keepers" in what I shoot with it; it has a special character.

I got mine for about $60 on that auction site, but I think I was lucky.

Cheers!


calvin83 wrote:
hifisapi wrote:
calvin83 wrote:
I think it will be a decent performer if you need the speed. The best advantage of this lens is cheap when compare to other fast lenses.

Few close shoots in my flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/calvin83/sets/72157631549928401/

Out of curiosity, I just checked ebay, and most are around $250, ouch.

This lens is quiet cheap few year ago but it seems become more popular these days! I think you can still find one for around $130 with a bit patient. Click here to see on Ebay


PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 7:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have a photo of my Vivitar 1.9/35 on my flickr and noticed that it got a number of views today and I suppose that this must be because of this thread.
so I decided to post this photo here:

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