Playing With Lenses: February 2020

Thursday 27 February 2020

Surprisingly good: Vivitar 55mm 1:2.8 Auto

Cost: $14 (average cost: $40)

When I found this lens, I had very little expectations. I presumed it was from an obscure low budget Vivitar branded camera, and it probably is. And in contrast to the Vivitar 55mm 1:2.8 Macro, heralded to be a great lens, this one is hardly known and very little has been published about it.
However, according to the Vivitar numbering scheme, this seems to be a re-branded Cosina lens, also sold under Cosina itself, under the Ricoh brand.

What make this lens so special is that the aperture ring can go two directions. One direction for manual, and the other direction for automatic (on the right camera). On a digital camera, used completely manual, both aperture directions will work. but it sure is weird to see, and it does throw you off during operations.

Aside from that, it's a front element focusing system, resulting in a very smooth focus.

After the first few pictures, shot wide open at maximum aperture, my first reaction was that this was an awful lens, possibly the worst I ever tried. But when stopped down a few steps, it really blooms. Much sharper, nice colors and contrast. Every know and then the sharpness truly impressed me.

I actually had a lot more fun playing with this lens than I anticipated, and that is still the purpose for me. Not sure if I will use it again, but it's rare, and weird enough to keep it in the collection.

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 55mm

Maximum Aperture: F2.8
Minimum Aperture: F22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: M42
Optics: 4 elements in 4 groups
Blades: 5
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 90 cm (not in Macro mode)
Filter Size: 49mm
Weight: 175g
Length: 36mm
Production: unknown
Serial Number: 97400251

Made in: Japan

More information on: Vivitar Corporation
More information on: Cosino

Samples

1/160 sec - ISO320 - Handheld

1/400 sec - ISO500 - Handheld

1/250 sec - ISO500 - Handheld

1/400 sec - ISO500 - Handheld

1/320 sec - ISO500 - Handheld

1/100 sec - ISO500 - Handheld

1/160 sec - ISO1600 - Handheld

1/160 sec - ISO640 - Handheld

Wednesday 19 February 2020

Like a painting: Luxcon MC 3.5-4.5 28-80 Macro

Cost $24.99 (average cost unknown, but probably less)

Looks again like a lens made by Kobori. I was only able to find to one other Luxcon lens, so it's not the most common brand. This 28-80mm was probably also sold by the like of Soligar, Quantaray, Sigma, Vivtar, etc... and the Vivitar version allowed to find the original manufacturer, being Kobori. There is not much to find on Luxcon, and it was probably a smaller brand of a local camera shop.

I don't really like the look of this lens. It's shiny black, and that's not a patina I like for metal lenses, or any lens in general. It also looks like just a large tube. Working is smooth, but one the main problems is that the focus ring is huge, but the zoom ring is way to small. It was rather clumsy to work with as I always tended to use the wrong ring.

Let's talk about quality. Nice colors, and some sharpness in the middle. But my goodness, all sharpness is gone at the edge. It almost looks like paint smudges in the corner. Thanks to the bright colors, the pictures are not a total waste, but there are so many much better lenses out there for less or equal money.

MC stands for Multi Coated.

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 28-80mm

Maximum Aperture: F3.5-4.5
Minimum Aperture: F22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: MD
Optics: unknown
Blades: 6
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 100 cm (not in Macro mode)
Filter Size: 62mm
Weight: 454g
Length: 84-111mm
Production: unknown
Serial Number: 852276
Made in: Japan

More information on Luxcon
More information on Kobori

Samples:

1/800 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/400 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/500 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/2500 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/500 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

Sunday 16 February 2020

Blend like a blender: Vivitar 35-200mm 1:3.0-4.5 MC Macro Focussing Zoom

Cost: $24.99 (average cost $10)

This lens is a little of a mystery. For early Vivitar lenses, you can use the first 2 numbers of the serial number to determine the manufacturer. With the number 77, it seems to point to Kobori as the manufacturer. And possibly not good advertising for them, as the lens rather, well, sucks. The range of 35mm to 200mm is tempting, but technology was not ready yet at that time to provide good quality across such a range.

It was hard to get it sharp,, and even when sharp in the middle, it became very soft in the corners, with sometimes a lot of color aberration. Some editing in Lightroom could create nice colors, but without editing, the results were rather blend. I did try some macro shots, but nothing worthwhile showing (no good subjects on the shoot

It does look and feel like a good quality lens. Solid in weight and feel, with a full metal jacket. Operation is smooth, especially the focus and the zoom. No lens creep, and that is remarkable for a push'n pull lens of that age.

So in short... Good quality lens, but sadly enough not resulting in quality pictures. Good for an afternoon of fun, but not to be used for critical events.

MC stands for Multi Coated.

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 35mm
Maximum Aperture: F3.0-4.5
Minimum Aperture: F22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: PK-A
Optics: unknown
Blades: 6
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 180 cm (not in Macro mode)
Filter Size: 62mm
Weight: 728g
Length: 75-89mm
Production: unknown
Serial Number: 77514213
Made in: Japan

More information on: Vivitar Corporation

More information on: Kobori Manufacturing, Inc

Samples

1/200 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/500 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/160 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/160 sec - ISO640- Handheld

1/125 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/160 sec - ISO160 - Handheld

1/500 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/160 sec - ISO1250 - Handheld

Thursday 13 February 2020

Wide open: Canon Lens FD 50mm 1:1.8 S.C. (II)

Cost: $23.99 (average cost around $30)

This lens was first introduced when Canon released the F-1 camera body. Over the years, 4 versions of this lens was released, with this copy being the last version. This version is recognizable from the previous versions by a blank front, a lighter weight and a change from 6 aperture blades to only 5. The lesser weight was achieved by replacing some of the metal by plastic, and it shows. It's by far not as expensive looking as the 35mm FL lens I reviewed last week, but at least the aperture ring is in the right place.

Also the working is less smooth and feels more like plastic. I guess this is the age when manufacturers started changing to cheaper and lighter designs, resulting in less aesthetics of the lens itself.

In this copy, the aperture is broken, so I did all my samples wide open. That means the samples are likely not as sharp as they could be, especially closer to the edges. However, as the common statements on the internet seems to be that this lens was rather not sharp at the edge, it might just be the lens and not the wide aperture. In the middle its fairly sharp, but not a sharpness monster.

Colors are really nice, sometimes really giving that "look" of a classic lens.

S.C. stands for spectral coating. Earlier versions did not mention S.C but might actually still have had the coating. It was only after Pentax started doing marketing around their coating, that other manufacturers followed putting the designation on their lenses.

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 35mm
Maximum Aperture: F1.8
Minimum Aperture: F16
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: Canon FD
Optics: 6 elements, 4 groups
Blades: 5
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 60cm
Filter Size: 55mm
Weight: 198g
Length: 40-47mm
Production: 1976 - discontinued
Serial Number: 1591574
Made in: Japan

More information on Canon Inc.

Samples: