[seeker]

Hi,

This is my first post.

A few days ago, I won a Vivitar Series 1 28-90mm f/2.8-3.5 (Komine-made) on an eBay auction after reading nice things about it here and other online forums. This would be my very first fully manual lens, and I intend to use it as both a walkabout lens and a lens to learn about photography (as a hobby) with my K100D. While I know how to do the manual metering with the K100D (by pressing the AE-L button), I do have several, basic questions about how to use the lens, which I hope experts here would be able to help with:

1. I read somewhere that this lens is a push-pull design? What does this mean and how does it related to zooming and focusing?
2. Is it possible to focus-lock the lens? That is, can you recompose the frame after focusing on a subject?
3. How do you do macro photography with the lens? Do (or can) you use the "macro" setting on the K100D?
4. When using a manual lens on the K100D, I often read that you can use the depth-of-field information (via the optical preview setting). What does this mean?

My apologies for so many questions, and I haven't received the lens yet! I'd greatly appreciate any help you may be able to provide for these questions and any other tips and insights.

Thanks.

--HS

[FotoPete]

Oh man, this lens is gorgeous. Very sharp at all apertures. I paid almost $100 for it and I haven't looked back since.

Ok first, if you haven't done so already.

Menu > Custom Setting > FI with S lens > Select "Availiable" (FI=focus indicator)
Menu > Custom Setting > Using aperture ring > Select "Permitted"

To take a photo, yea you got it right. Press the AE-L to stopdown meter first.

1. "push pull" refers to the zoom mechanism. The focus ring turns to focus, slides up and down to vary the focal length. You pull it towards yourself to zoom out, push out to zoom in.

2. No. The focus will change as you change the zoom. Only with two touch (one ring focus, one ring zoom) lenses can you zoom and still keep focus.

3. Macro for this lens just means that it can focus closer than a typical lens but is not a 'true' macro lens. You'll find it to be fairly sufficient for close ups.

4. actually this setting lets you stop down the lens to check depth of field. If you want to do a portrait, is the background sufficiently blurred, the bokeh nice?...etc

[Rolly]

1. "push pull" refers to the zoom mechanism. The focus ring turns to focus, slides up and down to vary the focal length. You pull it towards yourself to zoom out, push out to zoom in.

Not on any of my lenses! They all 'zoom-in' i.e. increase the image size, as you draw the ring towards you.

2. No. The focus will change as you change the zoom. Only with two touch (one ring focus, one ring zoom) lenses can you zoom and still keep focus.

Again, not on any of mine. Zooming-in (Large image) to focus and then re-composing is an accepted practice for focus accuracy. Just don't twist the ring!

[FotoPete]

Not on any of my lenses! They all 'zoom-in' i.e. increase the image size, as you draw the ring towards you.

You were saying? :P

(Tokina SD 70-210/4-5.6 vs. Vivitar 70-205/3.8)

Again, not on any of mine. Zooming-in (Large image) to focus and then re-composing is an accepted practice for focus accuracy. Just don't twist the ring!

=[Vivitar Series One 28-90/2.8-3.5]=

How do you use the zoom in method to check focus if the focus scale varies with the focal length? (Note the curved white and green lines on the lens) Believe me I know it is fairly common with many two-ring/two-touch lenses and even some one touch lenses, but not in this case.

[Rolly]

As I said...."Not on any of my lenses."
Intending to indicate that your generalisation was not applicable to all lenses. Just as you have shown in the photo of the two lenses side by side.

[FotoPete]

Oh I was just refering to the original poster's questions with respect to the Vivitar 28-90.

[Rolly]

It's a pity that I didn't read it properly in that context.

[seeker]

Thank you for the quick response!

Oh man, this lens is gorgeous. Very sharp at all apertures. I paid almost $100 for it and I haven't looked back since.

So did I, and was hoping I didn't overpay for it. Guess I didn't!

2. No. The focus will change as you change the zoom. Only with two touch (one ring focus, one ring zoom) lenses can you zoom and still keep focus.

Do you still lose focus when you simply recompose the frame without changing the zoom? I was thinking of a situation where I put the subject in the middle of the frame, focus on the subject, and then move the subject to the side of the frame without zooming in or out.

3. Macro for this lens just means that it can focus closer than a typical lens but is not a 'true' macro lens. You'll find it to be fairly sufficient for close ups.

So I don't use the "macro" setting on the camera to do the macro shots? That makes it simpler


Thanks again, and I so look forward to playing with the lens! Glad to hear that it's sharp at all apertures, as I don't like to use the flash and take a lot of shots indoors.

--HS

[roy]

a number of these zooms, vivitar, kiron were vari-focus lenses. meaning focus was lost when going from one MM to another. my vivitar(kiron) 28-85 is one of these lenses. so is my S1 28-105 and my kiron 28-105. i'm pretty sure your's is too. the vivitar(kiron) 28-90 is suppose to be a little sharper than the 28-85. it's a really fine lens thru out it's range.

[FotoPete]

Wow, I always thought the Kiron 28-85mm 2.8-3.8 "StovePipe" was sharper!

Thank you for the quick response!

So did I, and was hoping I didn't overpay for it. Guess I didn't!

Personally my budget has kept each and every single purchase (camera aside) below $100CAN save for the Sigma 24-135 which was a tad more at $150CAN. But interms of image quality, I'm sure this can easily lay waste to many of the more 'coveted' autozoom offerings from other companies (Canon and Nikon is a good example given their very high cost premiums.) I had a couple Nikon users including a D200 shooter revel about how sharp the Vivitar was so I guess I'm not alone in that thought.

Do you still lose focus when you simply recompose the frame without changing the zoom? I was thinking of a situation where I put the subject in the middle of the frame, focus on the subject, and then move the subject to the side of the frame without zooming in or out.

I've done it before at parties and large gatherings and I don't quite notice it. Technically you shouldn't really. Think of your focal length as the 'radius'. If you focus for 2m metres/6.6 feet, then everyone in your picture that's standing on the 'circle' will be in focus. So in others words, you should still keep focus because the distance between you and the person you want to take a photo of remains unchanged.

Thanks again, and I so look forward to playing with the lens! Glad to hear that it's sharp at all apertures, as I don't like to use the flash and take a lot of shots indoors.

Sometimes you'll need the flash though because indoors doesn't always offer adequate light even for a 2.8 aperture, but if you do it right, the photos are still every bit as good as shooting in availiable light if not better. I use a manual flash so I gotta literally almost guess and check at the settings.

[seeker]

Thank you all for the great info.!

[roy]

Wow, I always thought the Kiron 28-85mm 2.8-3.8 "StovePipe" was sharper!


..

itmay be as i haven't got the 28-90. i know the 28-85 is a great lens. a great guy sent it to me for the shipping cost of 5usd. he said he was not using it.

[FotoPete]

itmay be as i haven't got the 28-90. i know the 28-85 is a great lens. a great guy sent it to me for the shipping cost of 5usd. he said he was not using it.

So jealous..

[osv]

i don't know if the lense in question was made by kiron, but check for oil on the shutter blades if it was... on the vivitar primes, you can look for a serial number starting with 22 to see if it was made by kiron, perhaps the same thing applies to the zooms?

if you like that manual focus glass, look for some tamron sp adaptall-2 lenses.

EDIT: oops, i just saw that your lense was made by komine... oh well :-/

[FotoPete]

Komine's pretty good too and probably is just as good as Kiron. I heard people say that the Vivitar S1 70-210/2.8-4.0 is sharper that the Vivitar S1 70-210/3.5 by Kiron.