OM Fit Vivitar lenses - any good ?

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Tricky69

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I'm looking at a few vivitar lenses .

They are OM fit.
There is a 400 prime and a couple of small zooms and a couple of 2x converters.

I wanted to ask opinions on Vivitar as a brand / quality, before I go back and see if they are still there !

Many thanks for any help.

Rich
 
Vivitar lenses were made by a number of manufacturers...some were great and some average.

Many Vivitars can be identified by the first two digits in their serial number, see here:

http://www.cameraquest.com/VivLensManuf.htm

My personal experience is that Komine lenses are excellent, whilst the older Tokinas are great and the newer ones not so good (in some cases).

Best bet is find out who made what and Google them! mflenses.com is a great resource too :)
 
hmmm... thanks :)

trouble is, they are in a charity shop, waiting to be snapped up by someone who knows !

Maybe I should take a gamble and find out afterwards :shrug:

The prices are 'reasonable' if the lenses are too. but definitely not super cheap.

I'll look at the links provided and take some info with me in the morning.

Thanks again



anyone else ???
 
They never used to be!
 
Most of the early Vivitars (series 1) were very good, but quite a few of the later ones went downhill. My Vivitars are very good because I first checked the opinions of people on forums and google, but I'll try any Vivitar if I see it going for £6 or less ;)
 
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there were also the series 1 vivitar which were actually pretty decent.
 
The 70 - 210mm Vivitar series 1 lenses are excellent performers like others have said, but be aware that there are several versions of it all with their own advantages and disadvantages. This page here shows the first 5 versions (but like it says only bother with the 1st 3), the 3rd version by Komine tends to sell the most expensively at around £100 and the previous 2 around £50. If any of the lenses in the shop should happen to be one of them, and the price is good then get it, especially if its the 3rd version one:

http://www.robertstech.com/vivitar.htm

I have the original 1st version one by Kiron and the build quality is superb as is the image quality. I paid about £60 to get one from the states as I was unable to find one in good condition in M42 mount. It weighs a bit though!
 
Well, Thanks for all the replies.

I went back and took the chance.

I got this lot (pic for now, list in a min) for £50

OM_stuff.jpg


I guess I wont really know until I give them a run out, and see how they perform.
 
So ... the list.

Camera bag - Pullman. Plenty of pockets and pouches :)


Vivitar 400mm F5.6 No. 28901819 with 77mm skylight filter OM mount

Clubman - Zoom Slide duplicator, with 35mm and 110 neg holders. T-mount - with OM adapter

Ensinor MC Auto 28-80mm F3.5-4.5 Macro OM mount - in a jessops lens case

Super OZTECK II 35-150mm F3.5-4.5 with 58mm Hoya Skylight - OM mount

Vivitar MC Teleconverter 3x21 OM mount (what is the 21 bit ? ) in hard case

Vivitar 70-150 2x Matched Multiplier - OM mount

Olympus Flash - T32 , with tilt up flash lens. With pouch and manuals

PK to M42 adapter (which I was going to buy off ebay anyway :) )

Various cokin and other filters .
 
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***Vivitar MC Teleconverter 3x21 OM mount (what is the 21 bit ? ) in hard case***

ermm Could be the code for OM...one I have is 2X-23 for fuji mount
 
Thanks Brian. That seems to make sense (y)
 
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