| Author: | | Otis Memorial Pentaxian Registered: March, 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Posts: 42,007
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 22, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Capable, Close focus, price and availability | | Cons: | At its price point...none | |
My Lens K02 in the Great Vivitar Bestiary
Plus points to consider:
In actual use:
In the field with a Pentax dSLR, the usual practices/tricks for stop-down metering with a Pentax-K/M mount lens apply. With 35mm film there are no hidden gotcha's other than maybe the small form factor. I use this lens on both film and APS-C digital.
APS-C Examples:
35mm Film Examples
 | | | | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2019 Posts: 12
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 29, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $28.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Cost, Sharpness, Construction | | Cons: | None (for a manual focus lens of this era) | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K1000
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My copy is Komine (28xxxxx) Close Focus PKA version marketed as an RL Edition (basically 7 year warranty rather than the usual five... kind of a moot point now). It's a great manual focus lens for this era.
It's a bit soft wide open but really quite sharp as you stop down. Here's two examples, both shot with a k1000 and Kodak Gold 200 film.
For this long exposure of a highway overpass, I had the lens stopped all the way down to f16. You can see 6 pointed sun stars on some of the brighter street lamps. Looking at the lines from the roads, you can see the distortion is pretty minimal.
For this night street shot, I was shooting handheld, so it was wide open at f2.8 at 1/30s. The slight blur around people was due to movement and the slower shutter speed. However, looking at the buildings, they're not bad even wide open.
In sum, I paid less than $30 for the lens and it's easily one of my favorites. A great deal, definitely worth picking up if you see one.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: July, 2016 Location: Southern Indiana Posts: 39
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 13, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $35.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, solid, lightweight | | Cons: | some flaring (which is a pro for my use), manual | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K5
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My first PK/A lens, and I love it. Results are sharp, no visible CA, some flaring (see below) but for my use this is a bonus and gives it character.
Solidly built, fast and smooth action, aperture control and other modes work beautifully in my K5, though I tend to prefer manual settings. Works well in dark and daylight, and I suspect this’ll be my go-to manual lens for some time.
Ridiculously affordable, and worth every penny. From other reviews, the PK/A is version to get, and I concur.
    | | | | | Inactive Account Registered: November, 2009 Location: Sofia Posts: 3
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 5, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Solid build, Close focus, sharpness, CA control | | Cons: | a little soft at F2.8 | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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This is my favorite lens.Sharp,good colours and bokeh.A little soft wide open,but for me it's not a problem.I agree with stillshunter - "A-version is simply GOLD"!
 | | | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: April, 2010 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Posts: 813
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 11, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $55.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Solid build, Close focus, sharpness, CA control, IQ | | Cons: | Lens hood mandatory, a little soft at edges when wide open | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 9
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According to the Bestiary mine is the K02 version (Komine).
It's a solid 9.
IQ is not as good as K28/3.5, same as A28/2.8 and maybe a smidge better than FA28/2.8 AL.
A lens hood will help increase contrast, and reduce sun glare.
The close focus ability can open the door for some real fun close-up wide shots - especially portraits. I call it the Pinocchio effect. 
At F4 and beyond, sharpness and detail is very good.
A great walk-around lens (if you really like an all manual lens).
Jack.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2009 Location: Southern Tablelands NSW Posts: 406
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 30, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $90.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp and Light A-version is simply GOLD. | | Cons: | I sold it!!!! STUPIDO!!!! | |
I have suffered LBA for some time, but this is the lens that started off my Seller's Remorse. I scored a mint A-version of this lens and sold it on. Big mistake!!! In the unceasing search for funds to hunt down the best glass, sometimes you should just hold onto some. The grass is not always greener.
The build quality of the Vivitar 28mm f2.8 CF is equal to most Pentax native 'M' lenses and the results in my limited testing far exceeds them. I compared this on a test card against the M50/1.7. The Viv outperformed the 50/1.7 from f2.8 to f8....after that they were neck and neck....though the Viv appeared to control CA much better even at smaller apertures. The Viv is far sharper and exhibited far better contrast to the M50/1.7. The Viv is lighter and the rings had a far more confident feel.
I highly recommend this lens for anyone who wants a utilitarian 28mm walk-around. My only advice is:
1. see if you can't hunt down an A-version, just for added utility, and
2, DON"T SELL IT!!!! (Caveat: or if you do then do so TO ME!)
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2007 Posts: 8,237
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 7, 2008 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, small, close focus | | Cons: | none | |
Excellent unheralded performer. Very sharp, even wide open. Close focus + native sharpness means incredible resolution for fine detail available up close. Love this little guy.
Taken with this lens:
 | | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2019 Posts: 15 | | Review Date: July 23, 2021 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | It takes nice images | | Cons: | Too hyped up and difficult to service | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 10
Value: 8
Camera Used: Numerous
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You'll notice that many people are pushing this lens without really concerning themselves with variables between many "Komine" versions starting with 28+++++ across the years. You'll also find that there are numerous non-28+++++ versions that make your choices even more difficult to make accurately. Let's just focus on the 28++++ versions. Read the link in the introduction and do some realistic homework from the blog link there. You may well get confused and simply let your enthusiasm make a random choice before buying.
The only really weak point of the 28+++++ Komine lens - as well as others in the Vivitar brand range - is that it is ridiculously difficult to take apart and clean out as it's from the late 20th Century when a lot of lenses were partly glued together. It's even awkward to get just the front glass out to clean out any condensation marks or fungus.
The 28+++++ version is often seen for sale with "close focus" around the rim of the lens being one of the best 28++++ versions. This basically offers as macro facility that is pretty good and so it jacks up the price for that writing on the lens front.
I checked the image quality to a Pentax f2.8 28mm lens (avoiding the weaker shorter barrel version), a Pentacon 30mm, a Takumar 28mm lens, a Zeiss Flektogon 35mm lens. All were in mint condition. It equalled the Pentax 28mm and the Pentacon; giving almost identical results. It didn't equal the others, giving softer images at infinity across the f-stop range. It gave it's best at f5.6 to f11 with fairly good edges fairly close to on par with central image sharpness. Outside of that range it was fair-to-good but nothing to get excited about. Of course, you can always make things better in software editing, as many people do without announcing it.
All in all the 28+++++ lens will take some good pictures, and some very good ones if you play with software editing.
| | | | | | | | Review Date: July 28, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $23.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Price-Performance-Close Focus | | Cons: | Will flare in direct light | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K01
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This is for the "K05" variant (see link in description above)
Everything you could want in a low-cost lens. I even used it on my Q7 where it looked good wide-open. No purple fringing, good contrast. Shooting into the sun I did manage to get some flaring, as to be expected for a 40 year old lens design.
Sample shot at f8:
 | | | | | New Member Registered: July, 2015 Posts: 1 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2012 Posts: 506 | | Review Date: May 7, 2016 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Close focus, colours on Pentax, good for extension tubes, 49mm filters for legacy Pentaxians. | | Cons: | Best used only for close up and macro. Just OK with landscapes. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K30
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My first review here. Mine is the MC screw version and kiron version serial number starting 28........
I bought this as part of a job lot and this was the only useful item and luckily justified the purchase of the other garbage 
In quick comparison to a Pentax-A 28mm prime for general purpose mines didn't handle as well or match it for infinity photography such as landscapes. It was also more prone to flare however if you read what it says on the front of the lens, "Close Focus", and use it for that purpose you will be well pleased and especially with the Bokeh but only for close up purposes again.
The photo below is with approx 50mm of extension tubes, all being manual with no facility for the camera to stop down the lens means focusing to-and-fro at f16 (max aperture on this lens). It is very difficult to achieve exacting critical focus with this method, and to get the greenfly (just behind critical focus), grass blade and front section of nectar in one plane was a tall order hand held.
Check out the colours from this little gem straight from the K30 without any PP whatsoever.
1/250, f16, ISO 1600
 | | | | | Inactive Account Registered: November, 2015 Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland Posts: 4 | | Review Date: November 19, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $52.61
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | the bokeh, the bokeh and finally the bokeh | | Cons: | at f2.8 it's not as sharp as I'd like it to be. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: Cannon EOS 1000D
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 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: May, 2015 Location: Black Isle, Scotland Posts: 405 | | Review Date: July 31, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $60.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Close focus, half stop aperture ring, smooth focusing | | Cons: | Slight CA, long focus ring throw, slow, flare | |
I picked this up going by previous reviews and would - for the most part - agree with them. It's a good fit for APS-C as a normal lens, and with a nice close focusing ability (1:5 ratio on mine) is pretty versatile. By these virtues it was my lens of choice for most of my last holiday in France, though not as sharp or colourful as my Petri 50mm F2.0, nor of course having the range of my DA 18-55. I've used it to good success for close-up photos of butterflies and flowers, a bit further out for some environmental portraits, and also for a spot of landscape though I never really hit my stride there. Whilst it spent most of its time on the K-30, I also used it on an MX with Velvia 50 slide film, though the latter is yet to be developed.
The sharpness is pretty solid for the most part, though as has been mentioned previously it is noticeably soft wide open. Corner sharpness peaks at F5.6-8, whilst centre sharpness has a slightly wider range at F4-8. This is really to be expected. Vignetting is only really significant wide-open. Chromatic aberrations are often there, even when you're not trying to push the contrast. They're clean and small, so usually easy enough to tidy up in PP, but you can lose some sharpness if you don't look out for them.
The focus and aperture rings both work well, though I found the former to have longer throw than I would have liked. When you're trying to switch from distance work to something close that you've just spotted, you might end up missing it on occasion.
Something that bugged me about this lens, and I don't know if it's just my copy, but I could swear it's dark, as in I actually lose a stop with it. Example: I took a photo of a mountain at F8 with this lens, but felt that it really could have done with being a bit tighter so switched to my 50mm. When chimping that shot I found it to be overexposed where the Vivitar wasn't. I haven't done anything resembling a scientific test of this, so take this anecdote with a pinch of salt.
Overall I'd probably recommend this lens if you're looking for a relatively cheap normal prime for an APS-C body. It hasn't got any spectacular characteristics, but it does have a good focus range and sharpness. If you're so inclined, the out of focus effect can be quite fun to play with as well.
Sample images:
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: July, 2008 Location: t'North Posts: 166 | | Review Date: August 2, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Crisp, decent IQ, nice to use | | Cons: | over 30 variants and big price variations | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 9
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Picked up my little Vivitar 28mm a while ago as I was after a cheap manual focus 28mm to tinker with for Panoramas on digital. The ebay pic was fuzzy, I knew it was a Komine but was amazed to get a mint PKA for very little cash
According to the the Robin Parmar listing, my copy is:
A03 "Vivitar | 28MM 1:2.8 | MC | CLOSE FOCUS WIDE ANGLE | NO. 28xxxxxx | Ø49MM"
It's great. Really nice to use (just like a Pentax manual focus 'A') works well with my K10D and doesn't seem to have any metering issues. For panoramas and stitched images it works fine (I see no obvious vignetting f4 to f11) and it shows little distortion. It an ugly sort of fella though
Used as a straight 28mm on DSLR (so 42mm equiv) it is a little more limited for me as that isn't a focal length I find useful but it seems capable enough. Pixel peeping there is some CA (easy to fix) and it can be prone to flare outdoors so a hood is a must - being 49mm these are easy to come by, you might already have one
when the opportunity arises I will ad some pics here
| | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2013 Posts: 3 | | Review Date: March 16, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $45.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, close focus, k mount | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
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A good lens, cool is the close focus. K mount is a plus
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