Vivitar lenses
Mar 7, 2014 15:27:19 #
I was looking into purchasing la new lens for my Nikon camera and I came across the Vivitar. I noticed that they are very affordable compared to the Nikon brand. Is the Vivitar brand worth buying? What's your opinion regarding the Vivitar ?
Mar 7, 2014 15:37:34 #
1Georgie wrote:
I was looking into purchasing la new lens for my Nikon camera and I came across the Vivitar. I noticed that they are very affordable compared to the Nikon brand. Is the Vivitar brand worth buying? What's your opinion regarding the Vivitar ?
First of all what type of lens are you looking for?
In general Vivitar lenses nowadays are of mediocre quality...hence the low price.
Most of their stuff gets mounted on an already existing lens to achieve something similar to a wide-angle or tele lens and the quality of the photos is absolutely horrible.
They also sell rebranded Samyang lenses which are not so bad but completely manual...no focus or aperture information. You have to be also careful what you buy because some of them only come in T-mount and you have to buy an adapter for your brand of camera seperately.
Mar 7, 2014 15:46:27 #
You get what you pay for, these lenses are not-for-prime-time. As you grow into photography they will become residents in your junk collection.
Mar 7, 2014 15:54:23 #
Mar 7, 2014 16:13:40 #
There were a few good Vivitar lenses made in the past.
The Series 1 105 2.5 macro was a great one.
I have one of those and still use it.
I believe it was made by Kiron.
Vivitar also marketed a pretty decent 70-210 lens back in the '70's.
They aren't the same company they used to be.
Sigma and Tamron have surpassed them as third party lenses.
The Series 1 105 2.5 macro was a great one.
I have one of those and still use it.
I believe it was made by Kiron.
Vivitar also marketed a pretty decent 70-210 lens back in the '70's.
They aren't the same company they used to be.
Sigma and Tamron have surpassed them as third party lenses.
Mar 7, 2014 16:33:32 #
Mar 7, 2014 16:35:53 #
mickley
Loc: Schenectady NY
GoofyNewfie wrote:
There were a few good Vivitar lenses made in the past.
The Series 1 105 2.5 macro was a great one.
I have one of those and still use it.
I believe it was made by Kiron.
Vivitar also marketed a pretty decent 70-210 lens back in the '70's.
They aren't the same company they used to be.
Sigma and Tamron have surpassed them as third party lenses.
The Series 1 105 2.5 macro was a great one.
I have one of those and still use it.
I believe it was made by Kiron.
Vivitar also marketed a pretty decent 70-210 lens back in the '70's.
They aren't the same company they used to be.
Sigma and Tamron have surpassed them as third party lenses.
Newfie: Kiron used to make some nice lenses, especially wide angle. Wonder what happened to them? Tokina, who made some great lenses, is now pretty much a wide-angle lens manufacturer, too. Too bad -- I loved their 35-200 lens on my old Canon T90.
The Series 1 Vivitars, as you said, had pretty good reps. But today, as you mention, they are not the same. Heck, I even saw a Vivitar rotary shaver today. Knock-off on a Norelco.
My favorite bargain lens, though, was a Spiratone ultra W.A. 17mm back in the mid-1970s was pretty special.
Mar 7, 2014 16:36:53 #
GoofyNewfie wrote:
There were a few good Vivitar lenses made in the past.
The Series 1 105 2.5 macro was a great one.
I have one of those and still use it.
I believe it was made by Kiron.
Vivitar also marketed a pretty decent 70-210 lens back in the '70's.
They aren't the same company they used to be.
Sigma and Tamron have surpassed them as third party lenses.
The Series 1 105 2.5 macro was a great one.
I have one of those and still use it.
I believe it was made by Kiron.
Vivitar also marketed a pretty decent 70-210 lens back in the '70's.
They aren't the same company they used to be.
Sigma and Tamron have surpassed them as third party lenses.
I still have the 28-90mm 2.8 and 70-210 2.8 Series-1 in Canon FD mount and they are well made and very sharp.
Mar 7, 2014 16:44:22 #
SteveR wrote:
Vivitar...talk about a blast from the past!!!
Yep. At the paper I worked for, we all had Vivitar 292 flashes at one point.
One of the better automatic (pre- TTL) flashes of that time.
Mar 7, 2014 16:48:57 #
Vivatar was a 3rd party lens maker that made 3rd party lenses mostly in the 70's and 80's and their lenses were not too bad. I would suggest you look them up on Whikapedia . Their prime lenses were quite good. Their zooms not so good but that could be said for most zooms of the day. The Series 1 lenses are quite good. You are lucky to shoot Nikon and they will work on your camera. Just a few with auto focus. Depending on your camera you may or may not be able to have auto metering. Some models will meter in aperture priority. If you are new at working with your camera in manual this will give you a chance to learn. They are lenses that you will just have to work harder to get your pictures. Some of them go for next to nothing and I would go for it if the one you are looking at is a prime lens. - Dave
Mar 7, 2014 17:04:57 #
GoofyNewfie wrote:
Yep. At the paper I worked for, we all had Vivitar 292 flashes at one point.
One of the better automatic (pre- TTL) flashes of that time.
One of the better automatic (pre- TTL) flashes of that time.
I still use an old Vivitar 5200 flash as a remote unit. When I bought it in the early 80's it was very advanced. TTL/automatic & manual settings, a tilt/zoom head, 118 ft max guide number and (very unusual for the time) an LCD Panel for the settings.
Mar 8, 2014 07:44:50 #
1Georgie wrote:
I was looking into purchasing la new lens for my Nikon camera and I came across the Vivitar. I noticed that they are very affordable compared to the Nikon brand. Is the Vivitar brand worth buying? What's your opinion regarding the Vivitar ?
Vivitar and Soligor were big names in lenses back in the 1970's. Look elsewhere for a decent lens today.
Mar 8, 2014 08:34:58 #
wingclui44
Loc: CT USA
jimq wrote:
You get what you pay for, these lenses are not-for-prime-time. As you grow into photography they will become residents in your junk collection.
Not quite as you said! The older Vivitar with MF are good not the new one on today's market! I have the 70-210mm F3.5 MF Series-1; the 28-90mm F2.8-3.5 MF series-1 and the 100mm F2.8 MF macro. using them on my D200 and the new Df.
Mar 8, 2014 08:35:20 #
1Georgie wrote:
I was looking into purchasing la new lens for my Nikon camera and I came across the Vivitar. I noticed that they are very affordable compared to the Nikon brand. Is the Vivitar brand worth buying? What's your opinion regarding the Vivitar ?
Back in the late eighties I purchased a couple of Vivitar Series 1 lenses for my Canon T90's (28-105 and 70-210) and they were very highly regarded back then, being comparable to Canon's own lenses, they were faster too. I don't have much experience with them of late but from what I've read, the quality of both the build and glass has fallen. Google the specific lens you are thinking about, I'm sure there must be some reviews somewhere.
Mar 8, 2014 11:19:18 #
the vivitar of today is not the same company. it is now owned by Samyang of south korea. others are correct in the film days vivitar made some nice lenses, but really was known for their flash guns. google the lens you are interested in and see what reviews say.
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