What Are the Best and Worst of Vivitar and Series 1 Lenses?

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4058 Location: Charleston

Anyone that has paid attention would know that I am a fan of Series 1 lenses, although I do not have as many as others here. Since I do not have a single manual zoom in my collection of lenses, I can only comment on the primes, but not likely to say anything I have not said before. I have 2.5/90, 2.3/135, and 3/200. While the 2/28 and 2.8/28 Close Focus lenses by Komine are not labeled as Series 1, I think they easily could have been. I have them both.

A few words about the blue/purple fringing. I only see minimal CA from the 90mm and only in the extremes where it would be expected. The 135mm and 200mm do suffer from it, but I found a remarkable difference when I upgraded my camera to the NEX-5N. In many cases I no longer experience CA and when I do, it is much less apparent than with the older sensor of my Sony A200. I also find it easily corrected, so it became a non issue with me, especially given the overall image quality of the lenses.

The 2.5/90 will get my vote for the best of the three I have. It seems insanely sharp and is quite so even at f/2.5. I rarely use it with the 1:1 optical adapter, probably because I rarely do macro photography. I do appreciate its standard macro mode and use it for close up photography. Whether shooting close or far, the lens performs wonderfully. The build quality is extraordinary.

The 2.3/135 is also very sharp from wide open, although you better have good focusing skills with such a narrow depth of field. Focusing is quite close for a lens of this focal length, which makes it very useful for flowers and butterflies. Again, the build quality is excellent.

The 3/200 was the first one I purchased. I was initially struck by the blue fringing and I was equally disappointed with the wide open performance. I had a hard time hitting the focus perfectly until I had plenty of practice. With that practice came much better results, including less CA, but the wide open performance was still lacking. I found that I could only get acceptable wide open results in subdued lighting. I should mention that this was all with my older A200. When I started using the NEX-5N there was a remarkable difference; even more so than with the 135mm. With the change of sensor, suddenly wide open pictures were crisp in any lighting. It was revealing just how much difference was made by the camera. The 200mm has been my most used of the three lenses and the lens that has produced the largest number of favorite shots. Granted, much of the photography that I do - for instance, sea birds - requires the longer focal length. I rate the lens very good with sharpness and bokeh, has close minimum focus, and like the others, it is built very well.

Should I stumble upon any of the other S1 primes at good prices, I won't hesitate to buy. I may even be tempted to purchase the 3rd version, Komine 70-210 zoom.

I will offer pictures from the three lenses, all at wide open. Maybe some I have not already shared.

S1 2.5/90

S1 2.3/135

S1 3/200

kenetik · Joined: 02 Mar 2014 Posts: 521

Beautiful shots as always, Woodrim. I wish I could produce that kind of art with the Series 1s. I have several series 1 lenses now, and agree with almost all of what was said before. As for the dogs of the bunch, I don't know there really were any bad lenses in the original lineup. I guess if you paid a ton for a 35-85 new back in the day and were disappointed, you might disagree. But even that lens, while unremarkable at the desired 2.8 aperture, isn't a bad lens, I've seen some amazing output from that one.

The only lens I have labeled Series 1 that isn't very good or fun to use is the 70-210 2.8-4 Cosina version. It's a shame because the copy I have looks brand new.

I also think the Komine 2 and 2.8 Close Focus lenses could have been Series 1, they're excellent. In fact, IMO almost everything Komine made for Vivitar could have been Series 1. I have a 100-200 Viv/komine which is outstanding, the 400/5.6 is the best manual long lens I have used.

I saw the 35 1.9 mentioned earlier, people forget that wasn't a Series 1.

Edit: I'm interested in what people think of the 28-105 Viv/Kiron. I love the 28-90. You don't hear nearly as much mention of it's slightly bigger brother.

eeec · Joined: 16 Jun 2013 Posts: 45 Location: Edmonton, Canada

Besides reiterating that the 90/2.5 is one of the finest lenses ever made, I'll comment on a non-Series-1 Vivitar: the 75-205mm f/3.8. I like it as much as either of the 70-210 Series-1's that I've had (versions 2 and 3). It can be snatched on eBay for $25, is built like a tank, is super-sharp, and handles great. Almost 30 years of using it and I've never been let down.

The 28-90mm that's been mentioned is also a great lens, though I've had two that the apertures have gone bad on.

bruzzo · Joined: 05 Jul 2012 Posts: 153

A very interesting topic indeed! A nice thread to read to get my weekend started with a few of these excellent Vivitar lenses that I have after being forgotten for awhile.

I have not tried all the Vivitar series 1 lenses, so it's hard to actually say which is the best. But I guess I will go with the one that I use the most for this discussion.

And ironically, the one I use the most that is Vivitar is the Vivitar 28/2 "Close Focus" by komine. Yes it's not a series 1 but I think it's worth a mention as anktonio and Woodrim did already in this thread. Great little lens with much versatility for everyday use, great on both FF and APSC.

The second I find myself use most is the Bokeh King "Bokina" 90/2.5 Macro. I heard the S1 105/2.5 is also of very high quality that rivals the Bokina. I haven't tried the 105/2.5 so I would go with the Bokina but I'm sure it's a great lens too based on the samples I saw.

Third one I use most I think is a draw: the 28-90/2.8-3.5 and the 70-210/3.5 (2nd Tokina version) since I often bring both of them together. Both provide pretty close focusing capability, and I like these zoom ranges a lot. However, these zoom ranges are quite competitive and you can find many alternatives with these kinds of ranges. Eg. I would consider the Tamron 19AH 70-210/3.5 optically superior to the Vivitar S1 Tokina 70-210/3.5, but the Vivitar is a lot smaller and lighter so I think is a fair trade off to the optical quality of the 19AH, and also worth a mention is that it has less purple fringing in F3.5 than the Tamron imo at least in my copy. The 28-90 is imo a good lens for video as well. Relatively large aperture compared to conventional 28-105 / 28-135 range gives it an edge to other alternatives.

But I think I'll take my Vivitar 200/3 and 135/2.3 out to give it a spin this weekend as many here have reminded me about these two lenses. Neither of them had much usage since I find myself choosing the more modern Sigma 70-200/2.8 than the 200/3, and the Soligor 100/2 rather than the 135/2.3. Hopefully I'll shoot some nice pictures with these two lenses this weekend Smile

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Oldhand · Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:26 am Post subject:

I hope that the topic for this thread hasn't been misunderstood.
I was not suggesting that a single lens was the best of the Vivitars, or a single lens the worst.
What I imagined was that there would be commentary on the Vivitar lenses that were the known to be excellent. Clearly these lenses would be more useful and desirable than those Vivitars which were poor performers.
Anyhoo I'll nominate the Vivitar 70-210 f3.5 from Kiron - even though there is quite a following for the Komine version. Strangely, there seems to be lots of positive words written about the Komine but very few images are ever posted. The best that I have seen are usually of Kiron origin.
Here are a few quick snaps from my S1 Kiron 70-210/3.5 - all taken at f3.5 and strangely without me noticing it - with the lens in macro mode. Embarassed

OH

RAART · Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:38 am Post subject:

@bruzzo - I have S1 70-210mm zoom (Kiron) in Nikon mount and also 19AH and my S1 zoom wipes the floor with 19AH. Maybe it is my copy of 19AH while other Tamron 03A is also better than 19AH in terms of sharpness and CA. It speaks for the quality of Series 1... I love my Kiron zoom and never will part with it.

@woodrim - Amazing series of pictures... for my m4/3 Oly I went for Konica but I see that could be easy also S1 primes...

RAART · Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 6:00 am Post subject:

tao · Expire: 2015-03-12

I know that the OP as well as everyone on this thread was thinking about the "true" vintage S1. However lately there has been resurrected S1's available in some markets. These were mostly rebranded Samyang so they should be pretty good. Anyhow, some exceptions were known. There were a Japanese-made Vivitar Series 1 55/1.2, which I believe was made by Cosina, and a Chinese-made Vivitar Series 1 85/1.8 of unknown origin.

BTW, I like my 90/2.5 macro.

bernhardas · Expire: 2017-05-23

Oldhand

I really like the bird pictures, but the last one could be straight out of Angry Birds Very Happy

Oldhand · Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 8:11 am Post subject:

hifisapi · Joined: 25 Sep 2012 Posts: 941 Location: USA

for a very short while I had a Vivitar Series 1 100-500 5.6-8 lens that was nothing special at all.
I promptly got rid of it.

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4058 Location: Charleston

Thanks to all for the comments.

It was helpful for me to go back and read the post title again. I first read it as Series 1 lenses, but now see that it is for all Vivitar lenses. I've already spoken about the 28mm Close Focus models. Now I'll mention my other experiences, although only two. My first Vivitar lens, and one I still have, was a 3.5/200 Komine which I purchased in the early to mid-'70s. Although at the time I had no other lens for comparison, it served me well throughout the film years - or I should say, decades. It is a good lens, but not up to the S1 3/200. My only other experience is a 2.8/135 Komine which I thought was quite good, but having the S1 2.3/135 and Tair-11, it did not get much use. I sold it to a friend.

SonicScot · Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 3:31 pm Post subject:

I used to have the Vivitar 90/2.8 and it's little brother, the 55/2.8. Both macro lenses and both surprisingly good performers, worth every penny.

Then one day I got lucky, real lucky. I came across a Vivitar Series 1 90/2.5 at a knock-down price and my appreciation of lenses changed forever. This lens, the famed Bokina, would be the first thing I grabbed if my house was on fire. Next would be the Series 1 135/2.3, followed shortly by the Series 1 70-210/3.5 (Kiron version). Those lenses are just superb and I wouldn't part with any of them, not a chance.
I also have the Series 1 200/3, another excellent lens although I find it a tiny bit behind the others mentioned (could be my copy though).

I have plans to soon get my dirty paws on the Series 1 90-180/4.5 Flat Field macro. If what I've read is true, I expect it will join the ranks of 'things I'll grab first in a house fire'.

These are my most used lenses, I absolutely love them.

As mentioned, some can suffer from big dollops of purple CA, doesn't matter, these days it can be eradicated with one click.

I agree with everything Woodrim said, which is no surprise to some. It's no secret that we are Series 1 bro's, yo. Cool

eno789 · Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 159 Location: California

Out of the non-S1 Vivitar lenses, another stand out is the 135mm f/2.8 Close Focusing, it is Komine made, with 62mm filter thread, and no built in hood.

Some California wildflower (Douglas Irises, Yellow Flag Iris, Daisy, Indian Warriors) pictures taken with the 135mm close focusing

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4058 Location: Charleston

f8orbust · Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:00 pm Post subject:

Another vote for the 135 2.8 Close Focus. I use it as my main lens for both near and distant photography.

And the S1's (28-90-Komine and 28-105 Cosina) fill in the gaps where I need shorter focal lengths.

All three highly recommended

Phil P

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4058 Location: Charleston

For anyone interested, I have posted pictures from my Series 1 2.3/135 here:
http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic,p,1400243.html#1400243

drjs · Joined: 25 Feb 2013 Posts: 484 Location: USA

Vote number 4 for Vivitar 135 2.8 close focusing. It is difficult to find but well worth the effort.

SonicScot · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 10:30 am Post subject:

Oldhand · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:06 am Post subject:

texsport · Joined: 12 Feb 2013 Posts: 53

drjs · Joined: 25 Feb 2013 Posts: 484 Location: USA

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4058 Location: Charleston

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

I had the 70-210 Kiron lens until I bought the Komine version which I found to be a bit better. The 28-90 is a great walk around zoom as is the 35-85 as long as you don't mind/avoid the weird bokeh wide open at the wide end; it's really good from F4.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3777 Location: Switzerland

Here are three of the most iconic Series 1 Zoom / Varifocal lenses:

Left: Vivitar Series 1 VMC 2.8/35-85mm Varifocal (Kiron)
Middle: Vivitar Series 1 VMC 2.8-3.5/28-90mm (Komine)
Right: Vivitar Series 1 VMC 3.5/70-210mm (Kiron)

While nowadays the performance of these lenses may not be overwhelming, they were rather remarkable lenses when they hit the market around 1974 (2.8/35-80 and 3.5/70-210) or 1983 (2.8-3.5/28-90). Especially the 2.8/35-85mm has lots of "character", and it changes from from "soft but lots of detail" to "sharp from corner to corner" when going from f2.8 to f11.

I got my first sample of the Kiron Vivitar Series 1 VMC 3.5/70-210mm many years ago, but apart from test images I never have been really using it - which is a pity since the lens is very well made and feels rock solid. However my samples all either are slightly fogged or suffer badly from fungus, and up to now I was too lazy to overhaul them ...

The Series 1 VMC 2.8-3.5/28-90mm came nearly two years ago, and that one too didn't see much real world use, sadly. This one is a Komine made lens, and it feels slightly less robust than the earlier Kiron made lenses. Nevertheless the barrel is a joy to use (and to look at).

Finally the Series 1 VMC 2.8/35-85mm which I got yesterday from a local photo store! It is a pretty large and heavy fast normal zoom (well: a varifocal lens, to be precise) which reminds me to some extent of the Konica AR 2.8/35-100mm varifocal behemoth. The Vivitar 2.8/35-80mm, according to contemporary advertising, had its optics developped by American engineers, its mechanical construction was Japanese, and machining was done using German and Swiss machines, especially designed for that purpose:

"The mechanical motion of these three (zoom) groups is controlled by cams milled into sleeves. In order to achieve the extremely close tolerances specified by the Japanese mechanical engineers, the cams had to be machined on specially made, numerically controlled lathes designed and built in Germany and Switzerland".

Pretty interesting stuff Wink

S