Vivitar 19mm f:3.8

[Farside]

I've had this for a while in Nikon fit, but never got around to getting the adapter for EOS, so had only conducted a hold-on test of this so far and it seemed ok.
When I discovered that Nikon mount lenses would fit on Pentaxes, if not fully, I tested this on the K10D and was underwhelmed by the corner/edge performance. On a FF it would be even worse, I assume.
All pics simply levels set and unsharpened to see what is what.

@f:5.6


@f:5.6



The lack of hood really shows up here... nasty veiling flare on the top left.
@f:5.6


@f:3.8


100% crop of tap


I will hang on to this and find out more about its characteristics, for I think it will be necessary to use it @f:8 at least for acceptable results.

[Screamin Scott]

Most of the photos have a rather large dynamic range which is hard to capture, so subject matter comes into play here. The last 2 photos are much better than the first ones as they cover less range than the first ones.. I have this lens & I get quite acceptable results when being careful of compositions...Plus, it's a lot more affordable than the other lenses in it's focal length. So unless you are wanting to use it for paid shoots, it's results are more than acceptable

[Laurence]

It seems to be very very acceptable, especially in light of its price.

And, of course, the sharpness in the corners alone, is only ONE factor towards making a nice image. Just the fact that this is an affordable very-wide lens makes up for a lot! And remember, there is the potential for awesome images from ANY lens, where all the little details make up the whole of the compositon.

A FINE lens to have in your camera bag!

[YureW]

I have this lens, in C/Y mount, and sometimes i got good photos with it. But now I don't use it anymore: replaced by Nikkor 20/3.5 AIS and by Arsat 20/2.8.
I have no good reason to put it in my backpack: the Nikkor is sharp and contrasted, the Arsat is only slightly better (IMHO) than the Vivitar, but is a 2.8.

[luisalegria]

I have one of these and it works fairly well. It is the best bargain superwide around, whatever is wrong with it, its better than the alternatives.

There really is a flare problem though.

[Farside]

It definitely needs a hood, that's for sure. I think it's worth carrying about, if for no other reason than it's the only one of this size I have that fits the Pentax. It might prove its worth on interior shots, yet.
The images above were just quick and dirty camera jpegs, not raws, just to see what it was like, so there's room for improvement.

[NikonD]

yes, it flares massively... sharpness on my sample is good exception is upper right corner it seems it's slightly decentered... it's noticable till f5,6 at f8 the blur is almost gone

on the other hand I got it cheap, it's small... nice lens