Site Supporter Registered: May, 2015 Location: Hampshire Posts: 892 | | Review Date: June 10, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Cheap "A" zoom to 300mm, reasonable close focus | | Cons: | Ricoh pin, not the fastest. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 9
Camera Used: K-5
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This lens may not be the best option for a 4x zoom to 300mm but mine was cheap enough to buy and sell on with little loss if I did not like it.
The Iris has 9 blades, the lens is not too heavy to carry around and it has an "A" contact. For 25 bucks I also got a zoom that focusses down to less than 6 feet at 300mm, takes a hood that I already use and is not as eager to zoom out to maximum FL when holding it face down as some I own. I believe this is Cosina made, serial number begins with (9).
The Ricoh pin does catch in the screw drive aperture but is rounded and has not caused me any problem getting the lens off.
All that is left is to comment on the lens performance.
Acceptably sharp for a zoom at this price.
Seems reasonably easy to focus correctly.
Colours and contrast also reasonable, but maybe not as much contrast as I might like in images.
Some PF but not as much as some of my other legacy lenses....or my Tamron 70-300mm DI LD macro.
I prefer my Tamron SP 60-300mm with P-KA adapter slightly as it has slightly wider apertures and much better MFD (or macro if you like) ability. But that combination will cost easily twice as much as this Vivitar and weigh a lot more.
I recommend this as an option if someone would like to try this FL zoom, there may be something cheaper 2nd hand but better? Probably not.
I would rate it as better than my Tamron 70-300mm DI LD at 300mm apart from the lack of autofocus and "macro" ability.
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Forum Member Registered: October, 2007 Location: Fort Worth, TX Posts: 78 | | Review Date: May 15, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 6 |
| Pros: | inexpensive, decent quality throughout range | | Cons: | clean hand-held shots hard at full extension, sometimes low contrast, low microcontrast | |
o 8ft min focusing distance
o NOT internal focusing; front element rotates
Unlike my old-version Tamron 70-300mm, this one is absolutely useable beyond ~220mm, much better than I expected. In my own unqualified opinion, I'd say you get equal quality throughout the zoom range. However, at full extension you're looking at 9 or so inches of lens, so w/o a tripod, good luck getting clean exposures even in good sunlight. It's not heavy, just cumbersome.
This lens seems to give a slight shift to green to images. It also overexposes in the center, or vignettes around the edges --- whichever is the appropriate way to say that. A long hood would definitely help to give better contrast. Images aren't the sharpest with this lens, but there also isn't much "purple fringe" to speak of, if any at all. As is, images taken with the lens have a vintage look to them (to me), which I guess means sharp-enough-for-a-decent-picture-but-nothing-spectacular.
Interesting discovery: on my K20D, I am able to adjust the aperture to 2.4, and the camera in AV mode will expose accordingly(!). Not exactly sure what is going on there. I will post samples when I get a chance.
Not great overall, but good. If you can find for cheap and are looking to fill that focal range, go for it.
low contrast in the center
no purple fringing (and this is at or near wide-open)
lovely when stopped down
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