Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!

SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

Carl Zeiss Jena 80-200 F4 Sonnar vs Vivitar Kiron
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 10:09 am    Post subject: Carl Zeiss Jena 80-200 F4 Sonnar vs Vivitar Kiron Reply with quote

Hallo!

I am a newcomer here and am very happy to find such a forum with loads of information about MF lenses. In short my story is connected to the hunt for a decent tele lens for my A6300. After many trials and errors with adapters such as LA-ea3/4 and decent but pricey A lenses I know that the only tele lens I want to have is native SEL70-200F4. As for now I need to put some money aside, but before I collect it I want to enjoy some tele work. So I decided to enter M42 world again after 13 years of break.

Upon reading this forum and seeing many samples I decided to buy CZJ 80-200F4 but as a possible buckup I am able to get Vivitar Kiron 70-210 3.5. CZJ 80-200 with M42 is pretty rare.

Correct me if am wrong, but CZJ seems to much sharper than Kiron, should be since it is twice as much in $ Wink


PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 9:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi and welcome to the fórum..

CZJ in M42 are quite rare... if you can get one for good price go for it as it may hold great value in future. I tried the contax sonnar 80-200 which was very good, but ended my choice towards canon fd 80-200 L because have a better set of lenses on fd mount.
I can recommend both contax and fd L. Each can be bought for less than 200eur if we are not in an hurry.


The vivitar is more afordable (60eur) and is good overall lens on a budget. I still keep my copy in use times to times...


PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 11:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got a Vivitar 80-200 f4 in Pentax PK mount, had it a very long time and like it a lot, it got a lot of use on my Pentax K10. But it's a lens that I would sell, it's very good but I have got better 80-200's that I use on my Sony A6000. Such as the Yashica ML 80-200 f4 which is very under rated. It's one of those lenses that "just does the job". It's not a remarkable lens, it's just very good in a quiet understated way.
And don't forget there's always the fast and sharp Tokina AT-X SD 80-200 f2.8 that can often be found for far less that it's actually worth.


PostPosted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lloydy wrote:
I've got a Vivitar 80-200 f4 in Pentax PK mount, had it a very long time and like it a lot, it got a lot of use on my Pentax K10. But it's a lens that I would sell, it's very good but I have got better 80-200's that I use on my Sony A6000. Such as the Yashica ML 80-200 f4 which is very under rated. It's one of those lenses that "just does the job". It's not a remarkable lens, it's just very good in a quiet understated way.
And don't forget there's always the fast and sharp Tokina AT-X SD 80-200 f2.8 that can often be found for far less that it's actually worth.


As far as the price range Tokina seems to be 3 upto 4 times more expensive than CZJ VS 80-200. According to some reviews it is not a great lens. Next week I am going to explore CZJ and will post some results. In the price range of 150 USD there is no contender for CZJ


PostPosted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SO here it comes:

It is difficult to focus at 80, since focus peaking seems to be confusing. But at 200 it is way better.
Here is the 80mm view. I thought my focus is at the balcony. It was not - instead I captured the part of a tree

@F8

Here is another story of CZJ! Wide open suffers from CA @4



but when stopped to F8 works great.



Very good and comfortable lens as far as MF. The ring for ZOOM and FOCUS is just brilliant. I wonder if I ever am going to switch to native F4 for A6300. Maybe Wink


PostPosted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Your Kiron-made Vivitar 70-210/3.5 is the Series 1, correct? If so, this was Vivitar's first version of their Series 1 70-210 and it is actually a highly regarded lens. It is big and heavy, but very good.

And as long as we're on the general topic of 80-200's, I gotta mention the Tamron 80-200mm f/2.8 LD. It is big and heavy, but it is an amazingly sharp optic, rivaling the famed Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 ED in performance. Not especially cheap, but if you shop around you can find one for a decent price. I bought my copy from KEH in BGN condition for $250. KEH rates their gear very conservatively. Mine was BGN because the zoom collar slipped very slightly. Geez, big deal!


PostPosted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 3:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

While I have no experience with the CZJ, I do own a Vivitar (Kiron), and it is indeed quite good. As cooltouch mentioned, the thing quite bulky, but I like it a lot for portraits - neutral color and smooth bokeh. Personally I don't see any problem with sharpness, please also check Ken Rockwel's comments. One down point I noticed, is that there is quite a noticeable amount of vignetting while wide open. But of course, it's correctable in LR or PS.