AICOSET-P 200mm f3.5

[Mike805]

Hi All,

First time poster here, I thought I'd do a quick write-up on this interesting little lens I got off The Bay. I already own a "Dollonds 135mm f3.5 and think this is made by the same manufacturer, I've also seen it branded as a Vivitar. When it arrived, the package was making a horrible "metal on glass" rattling noise, and upon opening it I found the front barrel had become loose and the glass was rattling about. A quick clean and tightening of the three screws and it was good to go.

It has an 18 bladed preset aperture, on my copy this is very loose so I just use the aperture ring a bit like a video lens i.e. no click stops.

A few pictures of the lens:





WO (f/3.5):



f/22 :



I've only taken it on a couple of test outings so far, it does seem to lack contrast, but nothing PP cannot fix. It does seem quite sharp to me though, and one thing I have found is that when shooting into the sun, there's hardly any flare that I can see. It handles this very well with no hood on.

Any comments welcome, especially if you have or know who made these series of lenses. I'll post some of my test shots next.

PS Please could somebody quote my post in case the pictures don't show up?

[blotafton]

[Mike805]

All these were shot on a 40D @ ISO800, handheld, focus just using viewfinder so they might be a tiny bit out. Just had medium contrast curve applied, no sharpening.

The obligatory bokeh shot



[img]
http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/20153/8941_IMG_8231_ex_sm_1.jpg[/img]







Now I'm no flare expert but it does seem to cope very well?



Overall I'm very impressed, I think I'll be taking this out in favour of the Pentacon 300.

[Lloydy]

I have that 200 with the Dollonds name, and its one of my favourite lenses. Possibly Tokina.

[Lloydy]

I did a topic about my Dollonds here -

http://forum.mflenses.com/dollonds-s-200mm-f3-5-t61966,highlight,%2Bdollonds.html

but all the pictures have gone in the last site crash. I'll post some here to add to your excellent pic's. It's a great lens and worth a topic.

another topic about this lens -

http://forum.mflenses.com/vivitar-200mm-f3-5-t30327.html




.

[blotafton]

I like the dog image!

[MartinCrabtree]

I like #5.

[mo]

The colors come across as very natural,I love the flare shot.

[Mike805]

Cheers all, I was lucky with the lighting on those shots, it was a case of, fix the lens and by that time, make the most of the "Golden Hour" The sunset one was (I think) something rediculous like F/22, 1/8000s, and -2 EV.

I do like finding these rare cheap lenses and they can often throw up a good surprise.

I'll try to post some more "scientific" test shots when I get the chance at different apertures, any suggestions on what to look for?

Sharpness - Tripod, Live view focus on a wall/building/infinity scene (guess the latter needs a very clear day)?
Bokeh - I'll try to look for near subject with cluttered background with highlights
Aberations - Tree branches always good?

All I've noticed so far is that at wider apertures, nearer OOF high contrast areas have a green fringe and farther OOF have a red fringe (or the other way round), but it's not looked too distracting, certainly no bright blue fringing round windows etc. yet.

[Pancolart]

Also fits here (upward blades, Vivitar 1.8/85mm): http://forum.mflenses.com/mistery-lenses-collection-t23606.html

[luisalegria]

Looks the same as the Vivitar preset 200/3.5
Including the distinctive flanged aperture blades.
Thats quite a unique feature, which I think pretty much establishes the origin on this series.

Its not Tokina, as no known Tokina made preset had any aperture mechanism like that.
AFAIK the most likely origin is Kino/Kiron. Not certain of course, and since all these lenses are from before the Vivitar serial number system era we can't use Vivitar serial numbers for an ID.

[Lloydy]

I took the Dollonds 200 3.5 out today and went to use it and the front end was loose, which has happened before because there are three of the tiniest grub screws holding the front on. So I tightened them up when I got home and went to the churchyard for a quick test.
Most shot at f4, it's not the best wide open. I could be used at 3.5 but 4 and 5.6 are best. The church tower is 5.6 These's some CA but that could be PP'd away
No PP except slight levels on a couple of pictures.









I remember Louis has pointed out before that this is a Kino / Kiron lens rather than Tokina, and whoever made it - I like it.

[Mike805]

Nice pics, I like the bokeh this lens can produce. Like the lighting on #4.