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Vivitar Macro 70-210mm F4.5-5.6 Review RSS Feed

Vivitar Macro 70-210mm F4.5-5.6

Sharpness 
 8.0
Aberrations 
 8.0
Bokeh 
 6.0
Handling 
 8.8
Value 
 8.0
Reviews Views Date of last review
8 51,407 Mon September 12, 2022
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Recommended By Average Price Average User Rating
75% of reviewers $35.43 6.86
Vivitar Macro 70-210mm F4.5-5.6
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Description:
The later vivitars are generally not as well regarded as the Series 1 and other Vivitars from the1970's . This TP is a compact lens that has the A setting, much smaller and slower than the series 1 70-210 lenses. One touch design. 09xxx serials indicates this is a cosina made lens.

Specs: see pic of original manual in the review by Kupernikos.
Mount Type: Pentax KA
Price History:



Add Review of Vivitar Macro 70-210mm F4.5-5.6
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New Member

Registered: November, 2013
Posts: 14

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: September 2, 2014 Recommended | Price: $25.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: very sharp high contrast
Cons: nothing
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 10    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 9    Value: 10    Camera Used: k-x,k200d,sfx.mz-5,mz50,z-20p   

My item has high contrast, very high sharpness, for macro with macro tubes, too, and a very good color rendition
very content with it
nearly no CA's

there are s u r e l y 2 different types of this lens: 11/8 of plastic housing and 12/8 constructuion of metal. the better one is the 12/8 elements (I've both!)

One achromatic lens more in opical construction has made here a big difference.

This is the evaluation of the better one

ps. the better version is made of glass and metal, it is heavier, - the simpler one with one achromate lens less version is made of plastic and light.


One difference more: the better one has blue color painting for MACRO-inscripure, the cheaper one in orange color . May be that color have been changed for different countries ?

My best macro photos with tis lens, achromatic focal reductor and macro ring at f 11
   
New Member

Registered: February, 2012
Posts: 3

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: April 17, 2012 Recommended | Price: $45.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: price,
Cons: max aperture f4
Sharpness: 7    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 7    Handling: 7    Value: 7   

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marie_montreal/6940070288/in/photostream
   
New Member

Registered: February, 2019
Posts: 15
Review Date: September 12, 2022 Not Recommended | Price: $15.00 | Rating: 4 

 
Pros: Small and light
Cons: Image quality
Sharpness: 6    Aberrations: 5    Bokeh: 3    Handling: 10    Value: 5    Camera Used: Sony Mirrorless   

It's almost half the size of the Pentax "A" series equivalent with macro, much easier to use and it's so much lighter. I wasn't really convinced that such a small thing with such a huge zoom range would be good. I was proven correct. 52mm filter size marks it off against the respected Vivitar "Series 1" range.

My lens was in good and very clean condition with very little "zoom dust" inside. Mint externally. Perfect glass inside and out. It looked new and never used. 0973**** serial number.

F5.6 was poor and very soft in the central 50% area at 80mm 100mm 135mm and 210mm. F11 was good and closer to sharpness at the same points but still poor at 210mm. F22 was good and pretty sharp at 80mm and 100mm, excellent at 135mm and dropping to only good at 210mm. Colours were lacking and contrast was weak across the board. This left me thinking just when would I use this lens; such thinking making me dwell upon the mint condition of this lens. I'd rather use my Pentax M 135mm lens and crop. Probably the worst medium range zoom I've ever used.
   
New Member

Registered: January, 2017
Posts: 19
Review Date: October 8, 2019 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: N/A 

 
Pros: Handling, size, overall quality
Cons:

Once again it has been proved that Vivitars are underrated, even completely overlooked by photographers. I've had this brand new lens for a while and as I had no adapter to it, I tried to sell it online for 50€. Within a year there were not even one interested buyer! So I bought myself an adapter that arrived yesterday. Today I made the first "test drive" and I'm as happy with it as with every other Vivitar of mine. It works flawlessly, is compact and feels reasonably sharp with vintage feel, like vignetting with full frame.
The lens is dated 1988, thus being the last manual lenses before AF lenses rushed on markets.
Full metal construction (except rubber grip) and joy to handle. The light power is modest but on the other hand bright tele-zooms are big and heavy and I rather use this kind of zooms.

   
New Member

Registered: April, 2019
Posts: 6
Review Date: April 15, 2019 Recommended | Price: $3.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Sharp, no CA, smooth focusring
Cons: Harsh bokeh, slow
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 10    Bokeh: 5    Handling: 9    Value: 10    Camera Used: Sony A3000   

I have another copy of this lens allthough it looks different, with a different focusring and some other minor differences. I found it this afternoon while in a thrift shop, it was part of a package for which I paid 12,50- EUR (about $14 as at this moment) in total, 1 Canon Canonette, this Vivitar 70-210, a Canon remote chord and a Sony 0.5x wideangle lens.

I did not expect much from this lens but it totally took me by surprise. After I got home I took some testshots mounted on a Sony A3000 and I noticed immediately it was sharp enough wide open while CA/Purple fringing was as good as absent. I took it outside as well, had to crank up ISO cause of the failing light, but even then wide open it was sharp enough to enjoy it.

Its weakness is the bokeh which is pretty horrible in my opinion but overal its a great vintage lens. The only thing I still have to figure out is how to get it into Macro-Mode as there isnt any special knob or button or anything, perhaps someone can tell me after seeing these pictures.

p.s.
Also took a few with the lens stopped down to f/8 and f/11 during the morning hours which makes it just as sharp as any Canon L prime I owned, the performance of this cheap optics is totally unbelievable, even at about 70+ meters away I can still read the small characters on car number plates while aberations are non existing.

Some shots of the lens itself






These first testshots are at f/5.6












From this afternoon, pictures shot at f/8 (Sony A3000 at 400 ISO)


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Detail crop
   
Loyal Site Supporter

Registered: March, 2007
Location: Toowoomba, Queensland
Posts: 23,920
Review Date: July 24, 2010 Not Recommended | Price: $30.00 | Rating: 5 

 
Pros: Good quality images
Cons: Zoom creep, plasticky build, difficult to fine focus

This was an acquired lens within a film SLR package I got to go travelling with.
The lens performed reasonably well stopped down and when not going close focus. Otherwise the lens seemed to suffer from poor sharpness and low contrast.

Nevertheless, it did an OK job for me in various settings - it was slow, but it performed OK in optimal settings (not that often where I was).

There are just so many other options out there for a telezoom, even MF, so I'd hesitate to recommend this one amongst what's available in the same range.
   
Veteran Member

Registered: July, 2010
Posts: 2,395
Review Date: July 22, 2010 Recommended | Price: $30.00 | Rating: 6 

 
Pros: pretty sharp, good colours/contrast, little CA
Cons: zoom creep, slow, aperature ring is not the best quality

I wanted a cheap lens to take pictures during nature walks.

This lens is a massive bargain and seemed to outperform all of the other lenses I tried at the outlet (cleaning out manual focus lenses). It is also slower than the other lenses I tried, including a vivitar 70-210 f 4.5, and a soligor C/D 80-200 f 4.

I don't know if this lens is outperforming them because of a defect in those lenses, or because this one is just a good performer, but it is great for the money. In good light it took better pictures than either contender.

The aperture ring on my lens is broken and needs to be taped into the A setting. Lens creeps. Otherwise, it feels very solid.

Some CA (but much less than the others mentioned). This lens is not particularly sharp, but takes very nice pictures when you don't pixel peep. Bokeh is nice, but not stellar. For someone who wants to try out telephoto photography, this is a good deal. For someone who requires telephotography, this lens is not the correct tool: the correct tool will cost 10 times as much.

Obviously the max f stop of 5.6 has it's limitations but for the price this lens does everything I want and this lens can often be bought for the cost of 2 dinners.

(edit)

I rated this lens 6 out of 10, because it is obviously not going to perform better than a 300-600 dollar alternative. If you want something that will give you excellent pictures (8, 9, 10 out of 10) then you will have to pay for it. You will have to pay 10 times the amount to get twice the performance. Keep that in mind.

For next to nothing, reasonable performance is what you should expect out of this lens.
   
Pentaxian

Registered: March, 2008
Location: Quebec city, Canada
Posts: 9,352
Review Date: June 7, 2009 Recommended | Price: $100.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Small, good enough IQ, A setting
Cons: Zoom creep

I got this lens in a package that I purchased for another lens. I ran some tests with it and it's surprinsingly good even wide open. No visible distorsion and vigneting, evenly sharp across the frame, good colours. Metering seems a bit uneven in difficult situations.

My copy is in great shape, without visible damage. the body is mostly plastic but the mount is metal. the aperture ring does not feel as nice as those found on Pentax A lenses but it will stay in the auto position at all times anyway.

The lens extends when zooming and focusing, and my copy can exhibit zoom creep (to be expected, I guess, with such a design, after many years). Focusing is easier than I would have expected, even though the handling of the zoom/focus ring doesn't feel as nice as with my series 1 equivalent.

In short, a surprisingly good lens that I would probably use more if I didn't have a faster series 1.
Add Review of Vivitar Macro 70-210mm F4.5-5.6



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