Sears 80-200/f4 a big surprise

[revers]

I pulled out a Sears 80-200/f4 out of the cupboard that I have had for over a year & never used, since I had a Vivitar Series 1 v2 70-210/f3.5 that I did use. Just for fun I tested them against each other this morning fully expecting the Sears to fall far short of the Vivitar. I shot both lenses @ f5.6 & 80 & 200mm mounted on a tripod. Focus is on the bark of the tree next to the bench.


1. Viv. @ 80mm





2. Sears @ 80mm





3. Viv. @200mm





4. Sears @ 200mm





5. Viv. @200mm crop





6. Sears @ 200mm crop





The shots are OOC converted to jpeg & re-sized only.

The two lenses are surprisingly close in IQ but the Vivitar shows bad CA on the edge of the bench compared to the Sears in the crops. However, the Viv. has more vivid colour.

[hoanpham]

i would go for the sears
it's easier to bump colors in PP than correcting CA/PF.

now I want to pull out my 5 zooms in this range and do some test.
it had been long time since i touch the zooms

[Excalibur]

erm that has put the cat amongst the pigeons......the pigeons being the Vivitar series 1 owners

[poilu]

for me the Sears have better resolution, much less CA, better bokeh, better contrast, better details in shadows...
Sears colors are colder than Viv but not a disadvantage

[Pancolart]

Is Sears RMC Tokina?

[Attila]

Sears was a good selection of lenses I had 135mm f2.8 prime it was good even at wide open, I am not surprise at all on your results Ron.

Please take a look on title and next time post like Lens or camera name + something ! Reason why I ask it, this page will quickly move to big mass and nobody will find it as 'Big Surprise' Google and inner search both look title first to provide more relevant result as possible.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Sears wins hands down for me too.

Which version of the Viv do you have Ron? I had a mint copy of the V2 made by Tokina, I found it to be a good lens, very well built, I just sold it as I have a few zooms of that range and I never use em. I didn't notice the level of CA your Viv shows, so I'm betting you have the V1 made by Komine.

[revers]

[revers]

Ian, Vivitar Series 1 v2 (Tokina) 70-210/f3.5, 710gms.

[revers]

There has been a feral cat hanging about our place for a few months that @ first would take off in terror if we stepped outside. We have been putting food out for it & it no longer runs off when we go outside but rather watches us from a distance & comes to the food when we go back inside. This morning I was on my way to fetch the paper & spotted "Ginger" watching me.

Sears 80-200/f4 @ 200, hand held, 1/60s, f5.6.

[klr_oldlens]

I have unintentionally picked up 3 different Sears 80-200mm f4 lenses in a m42, nikon, and canon fd mount. I took the nikon-mount and m42-mount out for some testing. The nikon-mount looks very similar to the one in the forum pic with made in Korea, model no 202. 737-050, and serial number 84????????. The m42 mount is made in Korea, model no 202. 737-010, and serial number 937???. It seems on very preliminary testing that the m42 is much better. Has anyone else tested diff models of the Sears 80-200mm? I'll post back once I get a more thorough round of tests.

[Gardener]

My experience with many cheap zooms is that short end produces reasonably good images at shorter distances, and long end - at longer distances, but they are not uniformly good throughout the range.