Vivitar f1.9/35mm test shots.

[Drack]

A few weeks ago I`ve won an auction on the bay for a nice Canon AE-1 set among which was this little gem of a lens. It, of course came in a Canon FD mount, but luckily I had just received an adapter to my NX20 and today I took the lens out for a spin. The day was very nice so all shots were taken a ISO 200.

My first impression of the was that it was rather big. I know that it`s an f1.9, but most wide angle lenses that I had/have a way smaller and lighter than this one. Don`t take me the wrong way, it feels great in your hands. Focus is nice and smooth. The lens has a very shallow DOF, but I had no problems focusing with it, even if the NX20 does not have FP.

Optically I found the lens to be a nice surprise. At wide open the lens is super soft. There are a lot of purple fringing and some CA visible in the pics, but the the subjects have a nice dreamy look. When you stop the lens down to f2.8 all changes and the lens becomes, in my mind sharp. Go down to f5.6-8 and you have razor sharp images with just a tiny decrease in bokeh, which is amazing. I did notice that corners of the image tend to be considerably less sharp at all f stops. Also the lens is quite prone to flare so a hood would be nice.

All in all the lens does have a nice character, but is it worth paying 200$ I`m not quite convinced. I did compare it to my newly received Samsung NX f2/30mm and found them to be very different. The NX is sharp all the way, the Vivitar is not. Vivitar has a dreamy look and an outstanding bokeh , whereas NX bokeh does not have as much charm.

Anyway, enough of my blabbering. Here are some of the shot`s I was able to do.

Around f5.6


Wide open at ~ 60-70cm away.


Wide open at ~ 40cm away


Around f8


Wide open. This pic shows the dreamy look I had in mind.


This one was either f4 or f8 I can`t remember

[Drack]

A few pics showing the flare, which was quite easy to get.

At wide open. The sun was facing ~ 70 degrees right and you can see some minor flaring.


I`ve stopped the lens to f 5.6 and changed the angle of the sun by merely 5 degrees and this is what I get:

[Drack]

These 2 pics show the difference between the vivitar and nx f2/30mm. Both shots were wide open .

First the NX:


And the vivitar:

[Drack]

I will alto try and use this lens in dimmer light to see how well does the softness of the f1.9 mach the warm light. For now, the lens looks like a keeper. I`ll be sure to try it out on portraits as well.

[bernhardas]

Edited

[kds315*]

I have never been a friend of overexposed washed out images, this lens can do much better (I have it)!

And btw. it is not the light, it is the correct exposure...

[Lloydy]

I like those pictures, they will PP beautifully and show the capability of the lens. Yesterday I bought the brother lens, in poor condition, the 28 / 1.9. Today I cleaned slight fungus, stopped the focussing ring from rattling about and repaired the aperture mechanism!
I got to try it for an hour or so late this afternoon, and I am very impressed. These 1.9 Vivitars come with a good reputation, It's looking like they deserve it.