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Vivitar Series One 70-210mm f3.5 Macro
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:40 pm    Post subject: Vivitar Series One 70-210mm f3.5 Macro Reply with quote

I just won a Vivitar Series One 70-210mm f3.5 Macro on fleabay for 32 pounds. Its the first edition, Kiron, one.
Very Happy


PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool! Large and heavy, but a quality lens!


PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Congratulations - that's a good price


PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had been tracking this lens for a while, seeing what they went for. This particular one was 'ships to uk only' but I mailed them and did the "British expat living abroad' sort of thing (you know, in case they were worried about dealing with foreigners Smile ) and they said yes,they could send it royal mail airsure for 15 quid.

Starting bid was 20 quid, there was a buy it now for 40. I had decided not to go beyond 40. There was a snipe at 6 seconds to go but I had a separate browser window ready to go to confirm a higher bid, was hitting refresh every two seconds, and sniped the sniper!

background on Vivitar Series 1 70-210


Last edited by ChrisLilley on Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:13 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent choice. It's every bit as good, if not better in some areas, than the SP 70-210.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not better in my opinion ,I rated higher both variant of Tamron SP 70-210mm lens,but this is only my opinion (very subjective and time to time changing) Smile


PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's an excellent lens - there are constant discussions about which version was the best and this is usually up near or at the top (main contender is the Komine version). Those Ser1 Vivs are pretty special even now.


patrickh


PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got both the 1st (Kiron in Nikon Pre-Ai) & 3rd editions (Komine variable aperture in Nikon Ais)and both give pro caliber results....A heavy lens but worth it...


PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Couple of shots from the weekend. It was bright and sunny, but also lots of glare on the sea, and rather windy. Photos link to larger sizes.


Cap d'Antibes (foreground) and the Esterel hills, photographed from Mt Boron, Nice.
Nikon D40, Vivitar Series 1 70-210 (Kiron) @ ISO 200, 1/1600s. Aperture unrecorded.



Snowy mountains peeking through as seen from Mt Boron, Nice.
Nikon D40, Vivitar Series 1 (Kiron) 70-210 f/3.5 @ ISO 200, 1/800s, 210mm, probably f/11. This is a 100% crop.

EDIT: turns out this is a full-width crop, my error.


Last edited by ChrisLilley on Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:43 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You'll like your new lens. I have one too. It's a good one. The attached snap was made with it.

Russ



PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's another snap made with that lens in "macro" mode.

Russ



PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ChrisLilley wrote:


Snowy mountains peeking through as seen from Mt Boron, Nice.
Nikon D40, Vivitar Series 1 (Kiron) 70-210 f/3.5 @ ISO 200, 1/800s, 210mm, probably f/11. This is a 100% crop.


if this is 100% crop, it is fantastic, and I would LOVE to see the whole frame. please, post it. (please, don't disapoint me that you meant it's 100% of the whole frame and not a crop)


PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

IvanJ wrote:

if this is 100% crop, it is fantastic, and I would LOVE to see the whole frame. please, post it. (please, don't disapoint me that you meant it's 100% of the whole frame and not a crop)


Ah, I checked back and sorry, its not a 100% crop after all. I had saved it out with -crop in the filename, which i usually do for 100% crops. Later when I uploaded it to flickr I assumed it was 100%.

But actually its a crop of top and bottom only. I have updated the flickr page.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is a real 100% crop. This is an uncompressed crop (16 bit PNG)



amusingly flickr completely falls over when making lower resolution jpegs of this

Razz


PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Russ wrote:
You'll like your new lens. I have one too. It's a good one. The attached snap was made with it.

Russ




I forgot to mention that this snap (woman picking flowers) was made on the old, crappy Ektachrome 200, from the mid 80's. I pushed it two stops to ASA 800 in order to break up the grain, used a diffusion filter, in an effort to get a "rennaisance painting" effect. Hopefully, that explains it's apparent lack of sharpness.

The attached snap below, was made on Ektachrome 200 @ 200, with the "Kiron" model, Viv S-1 70-210 glass.



Russ


PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Russ wrote:

I forgot to mention that this snap (woman picking flowers) was made on the old, crappy Ektachrome 200, from the mid 80's. I pushed it two stops to ASA 800 in order to break up the grain, used a diffusion filter, in an effort to get a "rennaisance painting" effect. Hopefully, that explains it's apparent lack of sharpness


Really glad you said that, since my initial reaction was "well, thats no great recommendation for what the lens can do"...

I do find some softness and lack of contrast in my shots, especially at the edges, even stopped down. I worry that (as Attila predicted) its not as good as my Nikkor 80-200 f/4.5 which would suck, if confirmed.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ChrisLilley wrote:
Russ wrote:

I forgot to mention that this snap (woman picking flowers) was made on the old, crappy Ektachrome 200, from the mid 80's. I pushed it two stops to ASA 800 in order to break up the grain, used a diffusion filter, in an effort to get a "rennaisance painting" effect. Hopefully, that explains it's apparent lack of sharpness


Really glad you said that, since my initial reaction was "well, thats no great recommendation for what the lens can do"...

I do find some softness and lack of contrast in my shots, especially at the edges, even stopped down. I worry that (as Attila predicted) its not as good as my Nikkor 80-200 f/4.5 which would suck, if confirmed.


No comparison. It'll blow away your Nikon version. I personally, like the second and third editions even more...

Russ


PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Either I have an infinity focus issue, or 'no comparison' turns out to be correct in the opposite way that Russ intended.



Both shots taken at ISO 200, 1/400s f/11 with a Nikon D40. Shots less than a minute apart.
These are 100% crops, shot RAW, saved as TIFF and then the two images combined and labelled in Photoshop. Result saved as PNG.

Left: Vivitar Series 1 (first edition, Kiron) 70-210 f/3.5. Right: Zoom-Nikkor 80-200 f/4.5 AI (second version).


PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nikkor looks lot better...


PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Attila wrote:
Nikkor looks lot better...


Yeah, there really is 'no comparison'. Build quality on the Viv is better and it has lasted better (the zoom and focus ring on the Nikkor flops all over the place) but the optics on the Nikkor clearly deliver better contrast and sharpness. These are center crops.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know one Kiron lens only what is better than Nikkor competitor that is Kiron 105mm f2.8 macro 1:1. Image quality is perhaps same than Nikkor 105mm but this lens has built in macro 1:1. Any other Kiron what I tested was a bit weaker than equivalent Nikkor lens.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:29 pm    Post subject: Some more tests Reply with quote

Some more comparisons. This is the base shot to show where cropped regions come from in the other tests. Shots were taken on a tripod and using a remote shutter release.



One lens is f/3.5 and the other f/4.5, so comparison at f/4 is not possible.
Vivitar on the left, Nikkor on the right.

f/5.6, 1/640s


f/8, 1/320s


f/11, 1/160s


So, what I see is - the Vivitar is soft af f/5.6, better at f/8, still a bit better at f/11. The Nikkor is already sharp at f/5.6, still sharp at f/8, and starting to soften a little (diffraction) at f/11. Also, the Nikkor at f/5.6 is sharper and has better contrast than the Vivitar at any setting.