Vivitar 400mm Questions

[cooltouch]

I spotted a Vivitar 400mm on Goodwill a couple days ago. The auction just closed, but I decided not to bid on it because I was unsure of the mount. But it got me to thinking, and I took a look on eBay to see what else I could find out.

There was an early 400mm f/5.6 preset T-mount with metal focusing ring and a 5-digit serial number. At some later point there was another 400mm f/5.6, this one with the S/N 28... -- so Komine -- that appears to have a dedicated mount. One I saw had a Nikon AI mount, so that would date this lens to the late 70s or perhaps a bit later? And then I saw another 400mm, f/6.3 with a S/N of 37... -- so Tokina. This one also looks like an earlier lens, with a metal focusing ring. This one has the bright lines on the focusing ring edges and a removable mount -- either TX or T-4, I can't tell the difference. So it looks like, of the three, the Komine made 400mm is the most recent design.

I'm thinking that the Komine and Tokina made ones are probably pretty good, whereas the older T-mount one is just okay? I've owned a two-piece 600mm Vivitar that looked somewhat similar to the preset 400mm, came in a case that required the lens be broken down, and it was just okay optically.

So, just wondering if any of y'all have experience with these lenses, and what your opinion of them is?

[Big Dawg]

I have these 2 right now...
Vivitar TX 400mm f/5.6



Vivitar pre-set 400mm f/5.6







As you can see from the photos the 400mm pre-set lens is not THAT bad...

I've not used the TX enough to know how good it really is...I've got photos from it somewhere but cannot find them right now.

[cooltouch]

Actually not that bad at all! Nice lookinng bokeh, huh. Thanks for the examples, BD. Your TX is a later model than the one I saw on eBay cuz of its rubber sleeved focusing ring.

Can I assume your TX is a Tokina and your preset lens has a 5-digit s/n? Any idea who built these earlier 5-digit lenses?

[Big Dawg]

[PBFACTS]

[Boomer Depp]

I have both lenses as part of my Vivitar collection...but use Nikkor and Canon 400mm lenses that have better IQ,so they're just part of a collection....the TX 400 requires stopping down to f11 to get just barely decent IQ,I had three of these Tokina built TX's at one point and the IQ varied on all of them,choose the best and sold the others....just recently sold the last one to a fellow on POTN cheap $75 after doing a CLA of the lens along with a 1.5x for his 50D.

[cooltouch]

Hey Boomer, which Nikon and Canon 400mm's do you prefer? Do any of them cost less than, say, a 5-year-old used car?

[Boomer Depp]

Had the Nikkor 400mm f3.5 ED-IF for quite a few years and great on film....once I went digital,the lens was OK wide open with negligible CA,but the more you stopped this lens down,the more CA crept in...sold it for a little over $1200 and bought the Canon EF 400mm f5.6 L for a little over $1000.

Also bought a almost mint Roland Elliott CPU'd Nikkor 400 f5.6 ED non IF ....a little about this lens from it's inception as the Nikkor 400mm f5.6 PC which became the Nikkor 400mm f5.6 ED here....http://photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/009lqN....much less then a used car for 500 clams + or -....paid $522.55 which I felt was more then reasonable for a CPU'd lens.

The Canon EF 400mm f5.6 L was designed in '93 and because it's quite good optically is still in production....here are nine pages of reviews...http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=42
BTW....less then the price of a five year old used car.... depending on the used car of course.

[Pancolart]

Vignetting due to long hood. 5DmkII.

[ManualFocus-G]

Wow, there's some pop there! Which 400mm lens is that?

[Pancolart]

[David]

I have a similar lens as Pancolart and, to avoid lauding it in a second thread in the same folder, here is a link to a post about it:

http://forum.mflenses.com/which-400-500-mm-to-get-t55192,start,30.html

It's great and well worth the money. I have the TX mount version, which I STRONGLY recommend it. Mine differs from Pancolarts in that I have the 1:6.3, I think. From f8 to f16 it's fabulously sharp.

Strong recommendation on this lens from me, but noting also that there's a WIDE disparity in build quality between Vivitar 400mm lenses. Some are truly dogs, or so I've read.

[gaeger]

Hi there: I have had the Vivitar and Soligor versions of the 400mm f6.3 T4 mount lens. I found it to be just OK, but nothing spectacular. CA was a problem. Here are three examples, the first in pale sunlight, the others in cloudy conditions (the last is a 100 percent crop of the second).







These were taken from a monopod. I think because this is a physically long and fairly light lens, I could have benefitted from a sturdy tripod.