| Latest Review Posted | Vivitar Series 1 Flat Field 90-180mm F4.5
The Vivitar Series 1 90-180mm/f4.5 Flat Field Macro lens is made by Kino (aka Kiron). It is a fully manual macro lens intended for dental/med lab work, not for shooting bugs at high magnifications. You can get 1:4 at the 90mm end and 1:2 at the 180mm end but it does this extremely well. Once you focus on a subject you can zoom to frame and shoot.
The build quality is almost identical to the famous Vivitar Series 1/Lester Dine 105mm/f2.5 Macro. It is heavy at 2.3 pounds but it has a tripod collar. As previously mentioned, the collar locking knob is small but it is adequate.
This is a manual lens with an aperture ring - remember those? Since we typically shoot macro at smaller apertures I don't find this a hindrance. It is also manually focused, which is suitable for macro work and also not a hindrance. It focuses easily; with a 180 degree turn of the focusing ring it is simple to focus accurately. This is not a fast lens at f4.5 but it is a constant 4.5 throughout its zoom range. It is an auto-aperture lens so the viewfinder remains wide open until you shoot so you'll be able to see adequately at small apertures.
This lens is said to match the sharpness of the Series1 105mm/f2.5 lens at the 105mm setting. I haven't tested that empirically against my 105mm but do find that this lens is sharp at all focal lengths within its range. Granted, it isn't superb wide open but we don't normally shoot macros wide open. When stopped down to f11 or so this lens takes beautiful, sharp ... |
