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Vivitar 400mm opinion + samples (for attila)
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PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 2:55 pm    Post subject: Vivitar 400mm opinion + samples (for attila) Reply with quote

Hi,

Attila, you asked me to take some samples with the Vivitar 400mm f5,6 to put it on the site, so here's my little "review" about it:


info:

Vendor name: Vivitar

Type: auto telephoto

Focal length: 400mm

Aperture max: 5.6

Aperture min: 32

Elements in Groups: 5 in 5

Angular field: 6°

Filter Size: 77mm

Weight: 1200 g

Barrel length at infinity: 28cm

Diaphragm action: auto

Minimum focusing distance: 6.1 m

pics of the lens:






comment:

This lens looks good at first, but has some serious issues. Definitly not what one would expect from Vivitar. Image quality is rather poor: soft at f5,6 and slightly better at f8, acceptable sharpness at f11. Chromatic Aberrations (CA) are terrible: awful red fringing on almost all pictures (see samples), it is even visible in the bokeh.
The lens seems to have some kind of coating, but it is not very effective on the CA issues.
I did not notice any haze or lack of contrast, so in that aspect the lens is fine.
Handling is easier than one would think. The lens is not thát long and can be handheld, although there is an adjustable tripod collar. Focusing is smooth and can be done pretty fast, after some practice.

I would not recommend this lens unless you really need a telephoto and if you don't mind clearing the CA in post-processing. I'd say it would be worth maximum 25 euros, any higher than that and you can probably find something better, but for under 25 euros, it's acceptable. (I paid 10 euros)

details of the CA:



11 full size samples:
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_1.jpg
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_2.jpg
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_3.jpg
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_4.jpg
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_5.jpg
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_6.jpg
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_7.jpg
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_f5,6.jpg
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_f8.jpg
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_f11.jpg
http://www.tdn9.be/lens_review/Vivitar400mmf5,6_auto_telephoto/sample_f16.jpg

(samples have only been processed trough photoshop CS3 in batch to reduce filesize (just JPEG compression, not reduced in pixels, otherwise it would have been 37 MB upload!, now 14 MB) and to add my copyright data to the EXIF)

There you go, hope you can use it Smile


Tom


PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Many thanks ! For 10 EUR ? never mind gorgeous looking paper weight Smile

http://www.mflenses.com/content/view/263/1/ almost done.
http://www.mflenses.com/gallery/v/japenese/vivitar/vivitar_400mm_f5_6/