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 28-90mm f/2.8-3.5 at the show and shine
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 10:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nice samples.

I also got this lens. The aperture does not close on Sony Nex, but the lens has FD mount, so I have a chance to adjust the diaphragm approximately with Open-Close ring of the FD-Nex adapter.

I like the way the lens catches colours. There is smth I can't completely grasp in the lens' character. It's crisp and sharp overall, in good light it does not seem to have a colour or sepia cast, as some of you mentioned. There is just a bit of smth which makes the rendering filmic and slightly disturbing at the same time. I did not have a chance to make bokeh test, shooting mostly streets and cityscapes. Samples exposed by invisible look gorgeous.

Adding some of my samples to the thread:

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2022 8:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Impressive performance for a vintage lens!


PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
alex ph wrote:
Nice samples.

I also got this lens. The aperture does not close on Sony Nex, but the lens has FD mount, so I have a chance to adjust the diaphragm approximately with Open-Close ring of the FD-Nex adapter.

I like the way the lens catches colours. There is smth I can't completely grasp in the lens' character. It's crisp and sharp overall, in good light it does not seem to have a colour or sepia cast, as some of you mentioned. There is just a bit of smth which makes the rendering filmic and slightly disturbing at the same time. I did not have a chance to make bokeh test, shooting mostly streets and cityscapes. Samples exposed by invisible look gorgeous.

Adding some of my samples to the thread:



Congratulations to everyone on your images.
This is a stellar lens for sure.
It has been a mainstay of my travel kit for a long time.
On my last trip I left it at home and took the Vario-Sonnar 28-85 f3.3-4 instead.
While the Zeiss is a good lens, it is not as good as the Komine made Vivitar in my opinion.
It was a touch slower, significantly bulkier and slightly heavier, had only full aperture stops as opposed to the Vivitar's half stops - and gave no difference in performance via image quality that I could see in real world use.
On top of that the Vivitar lenses can still be purchased relatively cheaply.
A great lens
Tom


PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Oldhand wrote:
Congratulations to everyone on your images.
This is a stellar lens for sure.
It has been a mainstay of my travel kit for a long time.
On my last trip I left it at home and took the Vario-Sonnar 28-85 f3.3-4 instead.
While the Zeiss is a good lens, it is not as good as the Komine made Vivitar in my opinion.
It was a touch slower, significantly bulkier and slightly heavier, had only full aperture stops as opposed to the Vivitar's half stops - and gave no difference in performance via image quality that I could see in real world use.
On top of that the Vivitar lenses can still be purchased relatively cheaply.
A great lens
Tom


How does the flare performance at 28mm compare? To me this is a big weakness of the VS, tif the Vivitar is less prone to flare I might get one.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 12:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
bp_reid wrote:
Oldhand wrote:
Congratulations to everyone on your images.
This is a stellar lens for sure.
It has been a mainstay of my travel kit for a long time.
On my last trip I left it at home and took the Vario-Sonnar 28-85 f3.3-4 instead.
While the Zeiss is a good lens, it is not as good as the Komine made Vivitar in my opinion.
It was a touch slower, significantly bulkier and slightly heavier, had only full aperture stops as opposed to the Vivitar's half stops - and gave no difference in performance via image quality that I could see in real world use.
On top of that the Vivitar lenses can still be purchased relatively cheaply.
A great lens
Tom


How does the flare performance at 28mm compare? To me this is a big weakness of the VS, tif the Vivitar is less prone to flare I might get one.


The Vivitar is well coated and I haven't had any issues with flare, but I usually try to avoid it so haven't done any testing as such.
Flare wasn't a problem for me with either it or the Zeiss lens
Tom


PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 2:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have the following sample of flare at the 28mm end. I did not search for it more than that, but it does not seem to be a big issue, as Tom says.



How badly the VS flares?


PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 2:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I think I localized the light disturbing feeling I get with this lens. It has a deep FOV at relatively large apertures starting from a relatively short focus distance. This means when I shoot an object at a distance of 2-3 meters, with a diaphragm closed to around f4 or f5.6, the whole frame is in focus. I am more accustomed to primes experience where the contrast between in-focus to OOF is more palpable.

With this Vivitar it looks like that

#1 Focused on the persons sitting on the building steps, the pigeon is not precisely in-focus, but neither too fuzzy.


#2 Focused at infinity, the leaves of the nearest trees are also in-focus.


As I told, I can only control the aperture approximately, with Close-Open ring of the FD-Nex adapter. Maybe, this is just an effect of my underestimation, and the aperture is closed indeed up to f8-f11 when I thought to put it at f4-f5.6.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 3:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
alex ph wrote:

As I told, I can only control the aperture approximately, with Close-Open ring of the FD-Nex adapter. Maybe, this is just an effect of my underestimation, and the aperture is closed indeed up to f8-f11 when I thought to put it at f4-f5.6.


If you start from wide open and see how shutter speed evolves you can deduct your current f-stop.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Good idea, thank you!


PostPosted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 10:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
One more image at f/5.6.



I've shot quite a bit with this lens since I made the original post. I find it sensational in every aspect except for the vignetting which, in some cases, is still very apparent at f/5.6 or f/8.


PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2022 9:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks great!


PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2023 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
This is my first try-out of the Vivitar Series 1, 28-90mm VMC, 2.6-3.5 Macro-focusing on my A7r3, ISO 160, f11, bright overcast. I didn't note the FL but it was clearly towards the shorter end.

The car is a rarity: MGR-V8 Red (most were green in UK) https://www.mgownersclub.co.uk/mg-guides/rv8

The stereo pair shows a bit of motion blur in one frame.





Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
Goto page Previous  1, 2
Page 2 of 2