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Kiron 2/24, info needed
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:15 pm    Post subject: Kiron 2/24, info needed Reply with quote
I'm about to buy a copy of this lens in canon fd mount to use on my nex.
I've been after a fast wide for a while, as it would be perfect when I want to go out with just one lens, and after some negotiating it seems like I'll be able to get it at an interesting price.
The lens has a mixed reputation, some claim it's great, others that it's not sharp until well stopped down, and the samples I found in threads here are not visible, so, to all who have it, how does this lens perform and what would be a good price for one in good (used) condition?

Thanks in advance.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
It's a great lens - i do have the Kiron 28/2 soon..bought it into UK. Wink That 28mm also does have a good reputation, the 24mm/F2 is even more rare, it seems nowadays. I paid ~75 EUR for my Kiron Kino Precision 28/2 w/o shipping costs. So you could imagine, the 24/2 goes for a higher price for sure...usually much more.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
doomed-forever wrote:
It's a great lens - i do have the Kiron 28/2 soon..bought it into UK. ;) That 28mm also does have a good reputation, the 24mm/F2 is even more rare, it seems nowadays. I paid ~75 EUR for my Kiron Kino Precision 28/2 w/o shipping costs. So you could imagine, the 24/2 goes for a higher price for sure...usually much more.


Thanks.
In the end I bought it: 70 euros + shipping seemed ok checking other auctions' prices, and glass look very clean even if the lens barrel has some signs of usage. I just realized that I have no fd-nex adapters, so I must go and get one before the lens arrives.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
That sounds like a very good deal to me, congrats. Cool fd to nex (e-mount) adapters are way cheap..10 to 20 bucks. you can easily use a black edding to cover up for small age-related signs of use.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
It's very good lens for the money. Just make sure that the aperture is operational. They're often oily/stuck, and kind of PITA to clean.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Gardener wrote:
It's very good lens for the money. Just make sure that the aperture is operational. They're often oily/stuck, and kind of PITA to clean.


Thanks for the heads-up: I asked the seller before making my offer, and he says that everything works fine: I hope it's true.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Exactly, some Kirons do have that problem with oily aperture blades, mine should be fine, too.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
it's a very good price! both the f2 24mm and 28mm Vivitar are the cheapest option for f2 lenses in those focal lengths, that alone makes them very attractive. I have both of them in their Kiron versions. The 28mm surprised me very much, is very sharp even wide open. The 24mm, when wide open, only is sharp in the very center and looses very distinctively towards the corners, they look quite 'bad' even when used on APS-C. If you want sharpness at corners many f2.8 24mm lenses ( Nikkor, Olympus, Pentax, Canon, Hexanon..) will easily outperform it, but if, @f2, you look for sharpness near to center the Vivitar will be fine. I prefer the color rendering of the f2.8 Nikkor, Pentax and Oly ( the ones I have experience with ) but the Vivitar offers f2, that alone makes it a very interesting lens, and it's not much bigger than those f2.8 lenses ( the exception being the Olympus, it's tiny )


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kuuan wrote:
it's a very good price! both the f2 24mm and 28mm Vivitar are the cheapest option for f2 lenses in those focal lengths, that alone makes them very attractive. I have both of them in their Kiron versions. The 28mm surprised me very much, is very sharp even wide open. The 24mm, when wide open, only is sharp in the very center and looses very distinctively towards the corners, they look quite 'bad' even when used on APS-C. If you want sharpness at corners many f2.8 24mm lenses ( Nikkor, Olympus, Pentax, Canon, Hexanon..) will easily outperform it, but if, @f2, you look for sharpness near to center the Vivitar will be fine. I prefer the color rendering of the f2.8 Nikkor, Pentax and Oly ( the ones I have experience with ) but the Vivitar offers f2, that alone makes it a very interesting lens, and it's not much bigger than those f2.8 lenses ( the exception being the Olympus, it's tiny )


Thanks for the info,
I already have a 24mm I am completely satisfied with, which is the nikkor AI-s 2.8/24 - a truly outstanding performer, in my opinion.
So, what I am looking for from this lens is acceptable performance wide open at close range (so mainly in the center) to have some fun with the combination of wide field of view and tiny dof, and something to use in those extreme situations in which that extra available stop saves the shot - situations in which critical corner to corner sharpness is not vital, usually. From this point of view also the funky-ish (from what I read) bokeh of the kiron wide open is mostly welcome. And from the answers so far it seems that this lens could be exactly what I need at a very reasonable price. And if it isn't, i will probably be able to sell it for what I spent.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Aanything wrote:
kuuan wrote:
it's a very good price! both the f2 24mm and 28mm Vivitar are the cheapest option for f2 lenses in those focal lengths, that alone makes them very attractive. I have both of them in their Kiron versions. The 28mm surprised me very much, is very sharp even wide open. The 24mm, when wide open, only is sharp in the very center and looses very distinctively towards the corners, they look quite 'bad' even when used on APS-C. If you want sharpness at corners many f2.8 24mm lenses ( Nikkor, Olympus, Pentax, Canon, Hexanon..) will easily outperform it, but if, @f2, you look for sharpness near to center the Vivitar will be fine. I prefer the color rendering of the f2.8 Nikkor, Pentax and Oly ( the ones I have experience with ) but the Vivitar offers f2, that alone makes it a very interesting lens, and it's not much bigger than those f2.8 lenses ( the exception being the Olympus, it's tiny )


Thanks for the info,
I already have a 24mm I am completely satisfied with, which is the nikkor AI-s 2.8/24 - a truly outstanding performer, in my opinion.
So, what I am looking for from this lens is acceptable performance wide open at close range (so mainly in the center) to have some fun with the combination of wide field of view and tiny dof, and something to use in those extreme situations in which that extra available stop saves the shot - situations in which critical corner to corner sharpness is not vital, usually. From this point of view also the funky-ish (from what I read) bokeh of the kiron wide open is mostly welcome. And from the answers so far it seems that this lens could be exactly what I need at a very reasonable price. And if it isn't, i will probably be able to sell it for what I spent.


you obviously have the correct expectations of what this lens gives, and therefore I am certain that you will make good use of it and enjoy it. get it and have fun!


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Watch out for stuck aperture mechanism. That is a common fault of this series.
Its easy to fix but don't be surprised if you have to.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
luisalegria wrote:
Watch out for stuck aperture mechanism. That is a common fault of this series.
Its easy to fix but don't be surprised if you have to.


Yes, it looks like 80% of the reviewers had a sample with stuck iris. The seller says that everything works fine, so I hope I'm in the lucky 20%, but if that's not the case I will have something to do on a lazy rainy sunday afternoon - and I'll ask for a partial refund.


PostPosted: Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've owned the Kiron and Komine made versions of the 24/2 and I love the colours produced by both - cold and film like Smile Sadly both versions glow until stopped down, making them unusable for the low light shots I wanted to get. I'll be interested to see what you make of it Smile


PostPosted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 3:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
If you're buying this to back up a Nikon 24/2.8 you may be very disappointed. I had the same idea in 28mm, and since the 28/2 Kiron has a great reputation, I bought one. It was not a good thing to do. Switching between the Nikon 28/2.8 and Kiron 28/2, it was quite obvious that the Kiron was lacking greatly in contrast wide open and at 2.8 was still much worse than the Nikkor wide open. It couldn't begin to match the Nikkor until around f/5.6. The contrast difference was so obvious that I could see it through the finder. I kept the Kiron, which was very clean, externally and internally (that wasn't the problem) for a while, then sold it and bit the bullet, buying a Nikon 28/2, which was what I should have done in the first place.

The sharpness was certainly there, even at wide open, as people have noted, but the contrast wasn't. Given the wonderful quality of Nikon's 24, I can't imagine the Kiron could come very close to it. I think you'd feel better about the Kiron if you didn't have the Nikon to compare it with. :-)

Regarding Kiron's legendary oily diaphragm problem: mine didn't have that, but when I took the back mount off, it looked as if when they put it together they dipped the back mount in a barrel of oil before putting it on. This is the part with all the auto-diaphragm stuff and a bunch of tiny bearings. It was just dripping wet with oil. My lens hadn't been used at all, and probably lived sitting on it's base, so all of that oil hadn't started running down into the rest of the lens yet. I took the back and washed the whole thing out in solvent, and never had an oil problem develop in the months I had the lens.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 07, 2014 9:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I received the lens in the mail today. It looks better than the ebay photos, and the iris blades are perfectly clean.
Now I just have to wait for the adapter to try it.

Thanks everybody for sharing their experience with this lens.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 07, 2014 11:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Some examples of the glow wide open (shot on film):





PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I quickly tested the lens and it looks quite good. Glow is there, and still have to try it in "real" shooting situations to see how bad is, but I like colors and bokeh, so far, and build quality is top notch.

One last question to the experts out there: does anybody know how to decode the serial number to get back to the year of production? Not really important, but I like knowing when my lenses were made.
Serial on mine is 20200***.
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