Some of those old Vivitar lens were very good: I still occasionally use a Vivitar 135/1.9, which was excellent as a portrait lens on film, and does well on digital too.
I'll have to visit more op-shops and garage sales here in Oz, there might well be some similar bargains to be had! John Coyle Brisbane, Australia -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Collin Brendemuehl Sent: Sunday, 20 May 2012 10:10 PM To: pdml Subject: A neat lens: old Vivi 28-85 Went to some garage sales on Friday afternoon. Picked up a neat old Vivitar 28-85/3.5-4.5 macro zoom. Old thing from the 80s. Came with a nice black Program Plus. So I took it out and tested it against my A50/2.8 macro. These shots are hand-held, so they clearly do not reflect the quality of a serious comparison. But the macro results from the Vivi were very impressive. Full image (vivi shot) reduced to 1K horiz. http://brendemuehl.net/images/v2885/bbp1f_1k.jpg Actual center of image: A50/2.8 http://brendemuehl.net/images/v2885/bbp1c.jpg Vivitar http://brendemuehl.net/images/v2885/bbv1c.jpg This is one of those lenses that required minor surgery. It had that large shroud around the aperture arm that hits the PZ pins. Just a quick snip with the dikes and it's gone. And a bit of black marker for flare reduction and all is well. Sincerely, Collin Brendemuehl "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" -- Jim Elliott -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
