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

Vivitar Series 1 24-48mm
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 12:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
'Fat boy' Vivitar and the Soligor CD 24-45 / 3.5-4.5 Macro. The Soligor isn't a bad lens, but it's not in the same league as the Vivitar



PostPosted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have a Sun that is 24-40mm with a constant f/3.5 aperture. I bought it as part of a Canon FD outfit. The mount was loose and I partially dismantled it -- and I've just never gotten it put back together -- and now I don't know where the rest of the mount is. The previous owner of the lens said it was so good, it never came off his Canon A-1. I need to find the rest of its mount, cuz that makes three 24-4x lenses I own and I should test them against each other, especially since my Sun garnered such high praise from its previous owner.

I just checked US eBay and they have one with a rather high price -- $151. It's located in the UK.
Click here to see on Ebay

For that amount of $$ I can buy a Nikon 25-50. I wonder if it's really worth that much? However, it's actually cheaper than the prices I'm finding for the Vivitar and Tamron 24-48s.


PostPosted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have a couple of the Hoya 25mm-42mm lenses. Nice lenses. I have always liked short zooms.

I actually bought a copy of the Vivitar Series 1 short zoom lens, which is the subject here, in PK at a favorable price (circa US$45 if I recall). It arrived in pristine shape but with oil all over the aperture, to where the aperture would not function. I returned the lens, receiving a full refund because, unlike cooltouch, I was not smart enough to know how to clean away that oil. Sad

I could kick myself because I had not paid much for a very nice lens . . . except for that darn oil. I realize now I should have worked harder in an effort to eradicate the oil.

Kiron lenses in general, though, are too often annoying "oil wells". They need either to be refrigerated or the helical cleaned completely of that old volatile lube and re-lubed with Helimax XP.

And look with that much oil on the aperture you have to figure some has settled out as well on the glass of the lens. Can you say "haze"? Bottom line that Kiron lube is REALLY a PITA!


PostPosted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The Hoya 25-42 is a Tokina.

There is a very common and cheap Sigma UC 24-50 AF lens that is surprisingly good and tiny, I have one for EOS and one for Sony/Minolta A, a handy little item for those times when you just want to point and shoot and not drag a large lens around. Tends to cost next to nothing secondhand.

The Kobori 24-70 is good too, also seen as a Tefnon and a few other brands, it's very sharp and well corrected, definitely worth having as it's another dirt cheap lens.


PostPosted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 3:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
On the topic of 24-someithing lenses, I have experience with another one that I've ended up liking very much. It is the Tamron 24-70 Aspherical -- the early one that was selling new back in the mid-90s. I bought one new in January 1994, to take on a trip to Taiwan with my wife and daughter. My wife is from Taiwan, so it ended up being a pretty cool experience and I came away with a bunch of slides. I was using a friend's EOS 650 and that Tamron never came off it for the entire trip. I posted a thread about the trip, including dupes of some of the slides, here:
http://forum.mflenses.com/taiwan-on-fujichrome-100-t74950,highlight,%2Btaiwan.html

Anyway, this particular Tamron often shows up on eBay for cheap. In fact, here's an example in Nikon mount:
Click here to see on Ebay

I've always liked this lens. Being aspherical, it is well corrected for CAs. It can be used quite easily in manual focus mode, if desired. A really good deal for a 24-something zoom, methinks.

guardian wrote:

I actually bought a copy of the Vivitar Series 1 short zoom lens, which is the subject here, in PK at a favorable price (circa US$45 if I recall). It arrived in pristine shape but with oil all over the aperture, to where the aperture would not function. I returned the lens, receiving a full refund because, unlike cooltouch, I was not smart enough to know how to clean away that oil. Sad

I could kick myself because I had not paid much for a very nice lens . . . except for that darn oil. I realize now I should have worked harder in an effort to eradicate the oil.


Hey Guardian,

I'll outline the procedure I used. Very simple. Perhaps too simple, and the reason why the oiliness reoccurs. The rear group of the Vivitar 24-48 has a couple of spanner slots. So I unscrew the group with the spanner. As I recall, I didn't have to dismantle any part of the mount. Hmmm . . . I'm not too sure on that point -- it's been several years. Anyway, once the group is removed, the aperture iris is exposed. So what I did was just clean the blades with them remaining in situ until they were clean. I used naphtha and Q-tip cotton swabs, then finished things off by cleaning the rear surface of the element in front of the iris with lens cleaner and tissue. Then I just reassembled and finito. Problem was, within a few months, the blades would get recontaminated. So to do it right, the lens probably needs to be torn down completely. But fixing the oiliness on the blades the way I do it is such a quick process that I just think, well I'll spend another 15 minutes or so to clean the blades and I'll be good to go again -- for a while. Instead of having to deal with the tedium of dismantling that S1 lens.


PostPosted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 4:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you, cooltouch. Much appreciated. Too late for me, though, I'm afraid.

However, I think your explanation will help anyone who owns this Vivitar S1. They all will become oily sooner or later IMO. It's what they do.


PostPosted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've had this lens in Olympus OM mount for years and never had an issue with oily blades. Maybe I'm just lucky!


PostPosted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 10:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
On the topic of 24-someithing lenses, I have experience with another one that I've ended up liking very much. It is the Tamron 24-70 Aspherical -- the early one that was selling new back in the mid-90s.
.


That's a great lens, I bought mine back in the 90's after yet another Canon kit lens fell apart and I've still got it on my EOS600. It would be interesting to try it on a digital EOS, it might be a surprise?

this was taken with the EOS600 and the Tamron 24-70, I think it was Fujichrome. It was certainly at the 24 end, and nearly impossible light and contrast - That was July and midday in Death Valley. There's quite a bit of distortion, but otherwise the lens did well.


PostPosted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 7:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
I bought one of these S1 24-48s shortly after I started buying back into Canon FD in 2009. Since then I've had to open it up twice to clean oil off the aperture blades, and the reason why I haven't used it again is because it's aperture blades are stuck once again. Sheesh. I must be doing something wrong -- or at least not to completion.

Anyway I've seen enough photos here that indicate to me just how good this lens is, so I have no excuse. I need to open it up again and this time thoroughly clean the aperture blades. About a year or so ago, I bought the Tamron 13A SP 24-48, and thankfully its aperture blades are working fine. I want to get my Vivitar working again so I can compare the two. True, the Vivitar has a constant f/3.8 aperture, and the Tamron's is variable, but it might as well be constant with a f/3.5-3.8 variability.

Anybody else compared these two lenses? Guess I need to get cracking on my Vivitar.


The Kiron made WA primes are very vulnerable to oil on blades--which is why I've avoided them. There's not enough time to work on lenses & do everything else: for example, shoot with them. I'd not heard this zoom was plagued by the Kiron-made-Achilles'-heel problem of oily blades but, now that you made this clear, I've scratched this lens off of my list. jt


PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
DigiChromeEd wrote:
I've had this lens in Olympus OM mount for years and never had an issue with oily blades. Maybe I'm just lucky!


Mine is also oil free in its aperture.
There are good copies around - ask the seller if there are issues before purchase.
Tom


PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 12:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Received mine on a Sunday no less, usps ? Anyway, I'm impressed with a pleasing roundness that has a sort of a angenieux 28-70esq quality about it if I had to compare rendering to anything more common ...and not a focal length/speed/sharp comparison, it intrigues me to explore it using B&W and that's where I'm going with it

Last edited by wildlight images on Sat Feb 17, 2018 3:51 pm; edited 4 times in total


PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've got one of these sitting around, fd mount with non operative aperture, thanks to cooltouch's stated method I'll have a tinker with it this weekend. Usually when I take a lens apart it ends in tears so wish me luck!


PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I haven’t used mine in quite some time. But it always delivered very good results.

Russ


PostPosted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I love a good Series 1 lens and the 24-48/3.8 is no exception. But I have made my way through 3 of these over the years and all of them suffered oily apertures. I have seen more on eBay being sold 'AS-IS' because the aperture was 'stuck open'. I also own the Tamron 24-48/3.5-3.8 and the Nikon 25-50/4. I have been meaning to run them head-to-head for some time also. I will say I love how compact the Tamron is and I really appreciate the ease of use with the Nikon. The vivitar's focusing ring, aperture ring, and zoom ring are all so close I do find I bump the wrong one from time to time...something that never seems to happen with the other lenses.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 11:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have both versions of the Tamron SP 20-40, f/2.7-3.5 AF lenses. VERY good results. In many cases, they outperform prime lenses in their focal range.

Russ


PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 2:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
This is my Tamron and I would'nt change for any other....



PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Russ wrote:
I have both versions of the Tamron SP 20-40, f/2.7-3.5 AF lenses. VERY good results. In many cases, they outperform prime lenses in their focal range.

Russ


Yep, I've got a Tamron 20-40 2.7 -3.5 af lens & am impressed. @ some focal lengths it outperforms some primes. It's only real weakness is @ 20mm, wide open, where borders are poor--but what else would one expect? It makes beautiful pics on my Fuji xe-1 too, where I can use it to manual focus because it has an A-ring & MF ergonomics, for an af lens, are very good.
jt


PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 12:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Focusthrow wrote:
Russ wrote:
I have both versions of the Tamron SP 20-40, f/2.7-3.5 AF lenses. VERY good results. In many cases, they outperform prime lenses in their focal range.

Russ


Yep, I've got a Tamron 20-40 2.7 -3.5 af lens & am impressed. @ some focal lengths it outperforms some primes. It's only real weakness is @ 20mm, wide open, where borders are poor--but what else would one expect? It makes beautiful pics on my Fuji xe-1 too, where I can use it to manual focus because it has an A-ring & MF ergonomics, for an af lens, are very good.
jt


I really like mine.
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
Goto page Previous  1, 2
Page 2 of 2