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Kiron 28-105mm
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 6:55 pm    Post subject: Kiron 28-105mm Reply with quote

Things are so bad. This is the first lens I've bought in a month and a half. Sad

But importantly, this lens was also on my lens "bucket list". I've been looking for a copy for close to two years!! Shocked

On background, this is a Kiron lens so available mounts are limited and all are fixed. I needed a PK mount to have any chance of using the lens on my Sigma SD14 camera body, and even with PK such use will come only after some (albeit minor) modification of the mount. I kept seeing the lens in all the other mounts, especially Minolta, worthless to me.

So the other day when I saw what I wanted here

Click here to see on Ebay

I decided to take a chance despite the obvious negatives. I gave them an offer of US$15, which was accepted. US$15 is low for this lens, especially with shipping being free.

Today the lens arrived and it's smile city. It's a beautiful lens in virtually new condition!! With the lens listed as being only in "good" condition, this seller clearly subscribes to the addage: "Under promise and over deliver"!!

I've wanted this lens for so long; feel really fortunate to have stumbled onto such a nice, collectable, copy. Very Happy


PostPosted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 7:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow congrats on the buy! Good luck with the mods and hope to see some photos!

I've always been curious about the Kiron 28-105 after having had good experiences with their 28-85 zoom lens.


PostPosted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

FotoPete wrote:
Wow congrats on the buy! Good luck with the mods and hope to see some photos!

I've always been curious about the Kiron 28-105 after having had good experiences with their 28-85 zoom lens.


Hey, thanks!!

I enjoyed your mention of the Kiron 28-85 which, it seems to me, must be a better lens than the one I just bought since the zoom ratio is smaller. But I had a problem:

I was not able to remember if I own a Kiron 28-85. I own too many lenses now to be able to remember them all. So off I went to my lists and . . . guess what . . . I DO own a Kiron 28-85 lens! So it's good to hear your positive report. However:

My copy of the 28-85 has the KAR mount. Sad

There's no way now to remember why I bought the 28-85 in KAR. It must have been really inexpensive, since it works for me only on my m4/3 (Oly E-PL1) camera body.

With today's success on the subject lens, perhaps I should consider trying to locate a second 28-85, but this time in PK!! Wink

Course best for either lens would be m42, but Kiron are stinkers about that.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,

I had Kiron 28-85 some time ago in PK mount but it was almost completely useless. I thought that my copy was damaged somehow because image was soft even at f/5.6, reasonably sharp at f/8 but compared to Tamron SP 01A 35-80mm it was very weak. Softness was comparable when setting Tamron ~f/3.5-4 while Kiron at f/5.6-8.

I'm curious about this one however and it is on my 'look for' list as well, but prices for PK mount I saw were around £50 which is too much in my opinion. I'm curious about performance of this lens especially because "KironKid" always speaks very well about it.
However if I remember correctly he wrote several times that he still prefers Vivitar Series 1 28-90mm over this Kiron 28-105mm.
I have Viv S1 28-90 and it's great performer, wonder if Kiron would be better/similar/worst to well known Viv S1 Smile.

Mateusz

Edit:
I've just found a few photos taken with Kiron 28-85mm when selling it. I've attached link in my auction with full-size photos for buyer to judge by himself/herself. The guy who bought it was satisfied with this lens.

The lens behave pretty ok on close focus, but at distant shots it was terrible showing astonishing amount of CA and lack of sharpness. Surprisingly it was a lot better at the long end then at short end.

Here's link to my "for sell" Flickr account: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjV3PNod
And below a few direct links to full sized images:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/106659705@N05/13292892423/sizes/o/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/106659705@N05/13293139054/sizes/o/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/106659705@N05/13292662785/sizes/o/
Close distant shots:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/106659705@N05/13293150284/sizes/o/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/106659705@N05/13292845583/sizes/o/