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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

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Vivitar Series 1 Macro 105mm f2.5
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 12:56 am
Post subject: Vivitar Series 1 Macro 105mm f2.5
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 12:56 am
Post subject: Vivitar Series 1 Macro 105mm f2.5
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Pictures taken with the Vivitar Series 1 Macro 105mm f2.5 lens and Nikon D600 camera. Flowers aperture setting were f4, or 5.6. The landscape one was f8.







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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:26 pm
Post subject: Few more from the lens...
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:26 pm
Post subject: Few more from the lens...
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Few more from the Vivitar Series 1 Macro 105mm f2.5 lens and Nikon D600 camera. #5 had been trimmed, #6 slightly enhanced contrast, all others remain un-PPed.







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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 8:28 am
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 8:28 am
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If I'm not mistaken this is the same lens with Kiron 105/2.8 and can be found under different brands: Lester Dine, Rollei, Vivitar, Soligor ... I have a Kiron version and I find it sharp at 2.8 and very sharp an f/8. My copy shows some green/purple CA at large apertures getting better when closing down. I like it a lot, but I don't have constant results using it yet.


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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 8:43 am
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 8:43 am
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Wonderful, I have the Kiron version of it....


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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 9:27 am
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 9:27 am
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kds315* wrote:
Wonderful, I have the Kiron version of it....


Klaus I remember that you have an interest in specialized lenses and wanted to ask you how do you find the Kiron as a macro lens eventually vs the tamron 90/2.5 or other in the same league - leaving apart the voigtlanter 125/2.5 Smile ? Do you have a favorite one ?
Tnx


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Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 8:21 pm
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Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 8:21 pm
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With this lens i got strange behavior in camera when at F8 all white balance was working fine, when i switched to F2.5 WB become way off, wonder why.

F8


F2.5


Its not obvious when looking in the thread, but if you open image in tabs and switch between them you can see different color cast on F2.5 and overall it looks so vintage guess due to vignetting...


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Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 3:19 am
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 3:19 am
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Auto White Balance. Likely due to more sky in frame...


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Posted: Mon May 25, 2026 7:45 am
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2026 7:45 am
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https://www.dpreview.com/forums/threads/can-someone-explain-lens-cast-by-aperture-to-me.4534001/

Stopping down reduces the contribution of rays that go through the outer edges of the lens elements. They are usually less "APO" so an unwanted color shift will happen at wide open compared to stopped down.


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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2026 9:28 pm
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2026 9:28 pm
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Ernst Dinkla wrote:
stopped down.
I cant step down since i use aperture wide open for creative purposes.


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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2026 6:49 am
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2026 6:49 am
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NiceDays wrote:
Ernst Dinkla wrote:
stopped down.
I cant step down since i use aperture wide open for creative purposes.


Color cast is easily correctable in post processing, so shouldn't be a real problem.


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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2026 9:29 am
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2026 9:29 am
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If it is more wavelength-dependent vignetting then the remedy becomes more complicated, a radial color correction could solve it though. In general the stopped down image will be more color correct, the wide open one less and more scene info will be lost. The quality of a picture is a different thing that has less to do with all this technical analysing.


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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2026 12:56 pm
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2026 12:56 pm
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Beautiful samples from a great lens!
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