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03/02/2006 12:13:07 PM · #1 |
My bud at work just handed me a Vivitar 100mm f/3.5 prime, newish, never shot through, clean as heck. Says 60 bucks and it's mine.
Has anyone had any issues with this lens?
I popped it on my 20D and it seems to work a quite nicely. Not the quietest thing that I ever heard, but hey its a macro...Nice detail and nice, smooth background.
Ambient morning light, 1/640sec, F/3.5, pattern metered, with 1:1 matched macro adapter. Figurine head is a little smaller than my thumb for reference.
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03/02/2006 12:19:59 PM · #2 |
I have the AF version of this lens. It is very sharp, and the bokeh is surprisingly pleasing. The buld quality is crappy, but I think that, with proper care, it can last a very long time. One other thing that attracted me to it is that it is very light - just over 200 grams (as a trade-off for poor build quality, I guess): this means that it stays in my camera bag all the time without adding too much weight. AF is noisy and on the slow side.
I have only had the lens for a week now, though, but have put it through some brick wall testing yesterday, and was quite pleased with the results.
I had posted my initial impressions and a couple of test shots in this thread:
//forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1030&message=17340506
For $60 I would not hesitate to grab it.
Message edited by author 2006-03-02 12:21:00. |
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03/02/2006 12:25:10 PM · #3 |
If you don't like it you can send it to me :) Pliz?
Yeah that's not very helpful. I've used it once on my friend's 350D and fell in love with it. Of course it was only for an hour, but still.
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03/02/2006 12:57:43 PM · #4 |
vivitar use to be prety good now i think they are wal-marts store brand. and not even made in the same factory they were in the 70s and 80s. so i would stay far far away they don't have a good even half god optical quolity and i have know idea (nor do i even want to know) the quolity of their internal parts motor drive and such.
_bran(just my advice and input)do_
edit- i am still, however, very fond of their older manual focus lenses and you can pick those up at some nice prices in antique stores and older camera shops. those lenses were usaly ok and had a 3rd party glass in them i'm not sure who made it (and i maybe wrong about that but i do remember hearing it somewhere)
anyhow i have an old 200mm fixed with a macro focus on it. that is a great lense and if i'm ot misstaken it really pretty fast 3.5 or maybe even lower (sincde its fixed) but any of the auto lenses i would not trust.
Message edited by author 2006-03-02 13:02:11.
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03/02/2006 12:59:05 PM · #5 |
Honestly, for $60, what's not to like? The optical quality seems pretty darn good, as macros usually are; you have a 1:1 macro lens for very cheap.
You're unlikely to really care about the AF noise or performance for macro... you'll be setting the magnification and moving the camera to focus most of the time.
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03/02/2006 03:05:10 PM · #6 |
| Here is a review of the lens @ Nikonians. the lens is marketed under several names with several different camera mounts. Looks decent for the $$ new, but a real deal @ $60. |
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