| Latest Review Posted | Vivitar Series 1 24-70mm F3.8-4.8
Very nice lens indeed, combying good sharpness and usability with that magic "film style". I bought it without any serious expectations, attracted by low price (90$) and convenient focal range for crop. The Vivitar 24-70 Series 1 works good even with 16 Mp matrix of K-01, and it is razor sharp on K10D. I can say that this rare Vivitar is far better than any 18-55 kit lens in terms of sharpness and "3D effect". Macro 1:5 is not a true macro, but a useful close-up option with nice picture and bokeh.
Very good contrast. Rich colors (color rendition is slightly cold, so you'd better shoot in RAW).
Barrel distortion is slightly visible at 24mm, but correction in Capture One is easy and almost non-destructive for composition.
REMEMBER: you should focus very precisely to make sharp photos even if aperture is stopped down to 8. But if you do it, the sharpness is very good.
The lens is build like a tank. It was designed in 80th by Cosina as a professional zoom and costed about 500$! The focusing/zooming rubber ring is very handy. The length changes very slightly when zooming (almost inner zooming). Bokeh is OK due to 8-bladed aperture, but not outstanding. At 5.6 or 8 a visible octagonal flare can occure in opposite light. On the other hand, I didn't find any probems with aberrations. Strong blue CA may occure only in very contrast light.
Now it is my most used walk-around manual zoom! :)
Some hi-res examples from K-01 (without any sharping, just DNG t... |
