Vivitar (Kobori) 28-85mm - Did I miss a good one?

[guardian]

I saw this "buy-it-now" auction earlier today in time to purchase the camera before the sale you see:

Click here to see on Ebay

I came here to research the lens, but found no real help. It's a 28-85mm, NOT the more popular 28-105mm.

It certainly looked like a nice lens but I didn't buy because I could not locate much data regarding this particular lens.

Anybody have any opinions on, experience with, the Vivitar 28-85mm?? I think it's actually made by Kobori.

Did I miss a good one?

I am having some second thoughts since I saw the camera first, declined a chance to buy, and then somebody else came in and grabbed it.

[iangreenhalgh1]

90+% of these old zooms are crap so I think you dodged a bullet. The Konica zooms are very good and they are so cheap there's no excuse to settle for an inferior third party one.

[Excalibur]

It's not a POS, just an ordinary zoom and nothing special.......on a film camera.


At 85mm, nice but not very sharp compared to my other lenses I've used....on this test scene.

[Pancolart]

[Phenix jc]

If you want that kind of range, You'd better look for a f 2.8-3.8, Vivitar or Kiron, it's the same, and (probably) one of the best.

[aoleg]

[iangreenhalgh1]

[Lloydy]

I've got maybe 5 or 6 Vivitar zooms that are the ordinary kind of zoom that was popular and cheap back in the day, and most are Kobori. But they are a mixed bag, the ones that people normally think should be slightly better, the constant aperture lenses, aren't necessarily the best. I've got a Vivitar / Kobori 28-200 3.5 / 5.3 that I swear is way sharper, and has less CA, than the Kiron Series 1 70-210 3.5.
But a Komine 35-70 3.5 constant ap' is decidedly average, although the specification is good and it is a big impressive looking lens - not that that counts for anything.
Vivitar sold so many zooms that it becomes confusing, especially when you factor in the different manufacturers. It makes it just about impossible to sort out the good, the bad and ugly.

[Excalibur]

[Lloydy]

Absolutely right, the lens I described as "Vivitar Komine 35-70 3.5 constant ap' is decidedly average" was once my favorite lens, it was the second manual focus lens I bought for my new Pentax K10, and I did get some good shots from it. The goalposts keep moving, and we fight to keep up!

[guardian]

Guys, thank you for your opinions, much appreciated. I guess, after reading them all I feel a little better . . . overall.

I really don't disagree with what anyone wrote. I do agree this camera/lens combo was a good value, which is what I was thinking when I first discovered the auction.

That said, I already have a (large) drawer full of old Konica film camera bodies, all bought for their (mostly Hexanon) lenses. So I guess I'm OK with having passed on this one. There are limits, and I need to start observing them a bit better.

This experience did instruct me concerning Kobori lenses. I own none of them and didn't know about them. I have the feeling Kobori lenses, generally speaking, are more or less on a par with Cosina in terms of optical quality.

[Oldhand]

I recently had a chance to compare briefly two different Vivitar 28-200 lenses. One was made by Kobori Serial No 77XXXXXX and the other by Cosina Serial No 09XXXXXX.
Of the two, the Cosina was lighter and operated with tighter tolerances. The Kobori was heavier, and may have seen more use in its life, as the operation showed a tiny amount of play in the zoom and focus function. Both have a 72mm front element.
They were very close together in performance showing similar contrast and sharpness.
Here are two images shot from a tripod at 200mm both at f8.

The first is the Kobori:



The second is the Cosina:



The main difference seems to be in bokeh.

Hope this helps
OH

[Pancolart]

28-85mm version for Nikon. I will make test shots soon:

[Lloydy]

We should start a topic on the various Vivitar, non Series 1, zooms and see if we can make sense of the huge range that is out there.

[iangreenhalgh1]

I don't see the point to be honest, how many of the very many are any good? I've tried 30 or 40 third party zooms and can only think of one or two I'd bother attaching to a camera again, so I think it would be worthwhile to list the good ones which would be a short, easy to maintain list compared to listing all of them which would be a huge catalogue of crap...

[DR.JUAN]

Zeiss and Leica zooms are very good ones.

Konica 4/70-150 is good too. It's cheap and with nice contrast and IQ. But slow for some places.

The vivitar 28/85 series 1 has a very good reputation in my country. It's expensive.

The prime lenses always have a plus. Some of them are very hard to beat.

[PBFACTS]

[mo]