Vivitar/Tokina T4 "Sharp Version" - Puffery or Not

[guardian]

To be clear, I'm not suggesting anyone bid on this:

Click here to see on Ebay

I surely would not. Instead, I'm interested to learn if this seller is onto something or is merely full of hype and prunes!

You see, I already own this lens except (judging by the serial number) in a later version. My lens is a 24mm f2.8 Vivitar (Tokina code 37) T4 lens in very nice shape.

Is this seller merely hyping has lens with all his praise, or he correct that his apparently early Vivitar/Tokina version is sharper than my somewhat later version? Both are Tokina lenses after all.

[iangreenhalgh1]

A beat up old Vivitar like that is worth more like 7.50 than 75USD.

I had the later Tokina 2.8/24, it's a good lens, better than the Sigma and Cosina 2.8/24s and I thought better than the Cimko 2.8/24 too.

None of them are in the same league as a Konica or Nikon 2.8/24 though and you can find those cheap with patience, the Canon FD, Minolta, Olympus OM and Yashica ML 24s are all great too and a lot better than the cheap third party 24s.

If I had to pick one of the cheap third party 24s, it would be the later model Tokina, which is also seen as a Hoya HMC.

Vivitars are a real gamble, take the 2.8/28 Close Focus, some copies are great, some are good and many are just okay. I've had three, one was good, one was okay and one was awful. QC was probably spotty to begin with and being a budget item, they probably weren't looked after very well, so it's always 'buyer beware' with Vivitar.

[cooltouch]

Another good 3rd party 24 which can be found at this price or less (I paid $40 for mine in mint condition on eBay) is the Tamron 24/2.5. I did a comparison between it and my Nikkor 24/2.8 on an APS-C digital (thus no meaningful corner comparisons could be done) and the Tamron was every bit as sharp as the Nikkor, if not just a bit sharper. Now, I know Tokina makes great lenses, but this 24 is a beat-up unknown to me, whereas I know the Tamron is an excellent lens.

[iangreenhalgh1]

[guardian]

Sorry for any confusion and/or lack of clarity in my OP.

What I'm really trying to learn is related to the seller's VERSION of this lens, not to the lens he is selling in particular (which I agree is a bit tatty).

He appears to be making claims for the sharpness of his early version; claims I doubt.

My gut feel is that, among all Vivitar T4 24mm, f2.8 lenses having code 37 (i.e., Tokina), there is not much difference in sharpness regardless version early or later. But I was reaching out to learn if others agree with my gut feel.

I own a later version of this Vivitar T4, code 37, etc., so I'm hoping my version is just as sharp a lens as the earlier version this fellow is selling.

[cooltouch]

Are there any differences in physical appearance between the early and late T4s, or are you just having to go by serial numbers. IOW, got any pix of yours handy? That way, if ever I run across one, I'll know which is which.

[iangreenhalgh1]

To be honest, it's not even worth questioning something a seller on ebay claims, I've seen so many outright obvious lies by ebay sellers that I wouldn't listen to anything they say now.