Vivitar bashing

[frenched]

I've never been much of a Vivitar fan but recently I picked up a 70-210 f/4.5 at a thrift shop for $15 USD. It's built by Kobori. Maybe I'm about to change my mind.

1/160 f/8 ISO 1600


1/125 f/4.5 ISO 200


So I've gone ahead and bought a Kino/Kiron Series 1 version. We'll see how that compares when it arrives.

I've got an eye on a version 3 Komine build as well. . .

[Oldhand]

It's hard to find a bad one in that range.
I am impressed with the Koboron images.
Congratulations
OH

[Nikonshooter]

I would like to see how it compares to the kiron built lens.

[Excalibur]

The forum jury is still deciding on Kobori built lenses, as there are a mixed bag of answers:-

http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic.php?t=58059

[buerokratiehasser]

Bashing Vivitar would be like bashing amazon. They have been largely relabel trade marks - the same lenses under Soligor, Magnicon, etc. etc. brands too, some quite good, some bunk.

Can you give us a photo of the lens, I would be curious as to whether it's the small-pipe design (though that is usually labeled 75-200) or something other.

[frenched]

Here are a couple iPhone shots of the Kobori version, sporting a silver Nikon-EOS adapter. At 52mm it looks like the small pipe design.




The Kino-made Series 1 70-210 will arrive Monday. I'll post some comparison pics then.

Interesting write-up on the history of the Series 1: http://blog.camera-wiki.org/2012/03/13/vivitar-historical-research-part-1/

[Lloydy]

That's one of the first MF lenses I ever bought, I've had some good images from that lens. I think it's a bit better than people often give it credit for.

[buerokratiehasser]

Looks more like Series 1 design than 75-200/4.5 area (yes i do have a "70-210"/4.5 in that style, maybe they relaxed the tolerances a bit for marketing?)
But wasnt that famous lens 70-210/3.5? Mhmhmm

[Attila]

Impressive, as Tom said difficult to find bad one in this range, enjoy your 'new' great lens.