Vivitar 20 3.8, which one to buy? Or 17mm maybe?

cgustav · Joined: 01 Jun 2014 Posts: 270 Location: Los Angeles

Hi there,

If I'm not mistaken there should be different versions of the Vivitar 20 3.8 around, some made by Cosina, some by Kiron (right?) and so forth...
Is there any of them which is worth buying?
Or, is there any better alternative?

Lens will be used on A6000 & Fuji X-T10.
Genre: Street Photography.
Budget: $120-180

Thanks for any info.

Edit: I could go wider, to a 17mm and thus I would have other choices:
Canon 17mm F/4 FD
Tokina 17mm F/3.5
Vivitar 17mm F/3.5
Tamron 17mm F/3.5

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Leaving sample variation aside -
I have or have had several Vivitar 19-21mm
Best is the Cosina made 19/3.8
It should be very nice on APS-C, as its worst fault is iffy corners.
You will pay less than $100 if you shop.
Its not a Zeiss, but its compact for a retrofocus lens.

Himself · Expire: 2013-05-30

I have Tokina and I had Tamron.
Tamron had the usual red/green fringe. Impossible to get rid of it.
Tokina has some but manageable.

Oldhand · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 1:36 am Post subject:

Within your budget you should also be able to find a Canon FD 20mm f2.8 SSC or FDn 20mm 2.8
In my opinion it is better than the Vivitar.
Cheers
OH

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Since you mentioned the Vivitar 17mm f/3.5 as a possibility, I figured I'd give that lens a Like 1 small

Mine is made by Tokina and it is a very sharp lens. It does show some barrel distortion, which can be corrected, so no big deal to me.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Ive shot some film with the Vivitar/Cosina 19/3.8 over the last few weeks, mounted on my Voigtlander R2 (yeah, the M-mount RF camera) and a Ricoh SLR, I should be posting on it soonish.
It is a very nice little package and the film SLR in PKA mount works very sweetly. Very very good for street photography I think.

TrueLoveOne · Expire: 2013-12-24

Both the 17mm Tokina (Vivitar 37xxx) and the Tamron are nice lenses, i have both and i couldn't part from either one.

I did have a Cosina 20mm which i sold quite quickly after a walk with it on an APS-C NEX camera.... could be sample variation but it was really bad, dull colors, not sharp at all and even on crop worse corners.
I haven't tried much 20mm lenses after this one, i now have a Minolta MD 2.8/20 which is very nice, so if that Canon fits the budget i'd go for that one instead of risking a bad copy of the Cosina/Vivitar 20.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

I really like the Tokina 17 on my Sony A6000, it's probably my favourite, and most useful lens.

I had a Sigma 16 / 2.8 Filtermatic Fisheye for a while, and hated it. The lens was sharp but the distortion was something I couldn't get used to, the Tokina is far better corrected for barrel distortion.

I haven't tried the other lenses mentioned.

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

KIRON 20mm is great lens. I'll prefer it over Cosina anytime.

cgustav · Joined: 01 Jun 2014 Posts: 270 Location: Los Angeles

Thank you all for the advice.

It seems there are some good choices.
I'll see what's available within the budget.

I've seen a Canon 17 f/4 for a decent price, perhaps there's a 20 as well, but considered this is for crop sensors probably the 17 would serve better my needs, though the 17 is not very fast (nonetheless most of the time I won't need a fast wide).

I'll look for samples, especially the Vivitar.
I have a 28 and I like it very much but lenses vary quite significantly, so I'll try to gather more info.