Great series of vintage glass reviews - recall the last 1970's when Series 1 from Vivitar really meant something - the brand was damaged as the 1980's progressed and Vivitar switched to cheaper suppliers, Hoya and Kino (Kiron) going on to make their own brands for a while.
Agreed! The early generation of the Series 1 was cutting edge. Thankfully I’ve been able to find good copies for these reviews. Even though they are not perfect they have that vintage look that I love. Thanks for watching!
Thank you! These are fun to make. I can see how that can be true. Finding them or finding them in good condition isn't as easy as they used to be. How do you like using your "bokina"?
Beautiful review as always.👌 I do own modern and vintage primes and zooms, but for some reason always end up shooting with vintage zoom lenses. It's funny to me because they are considered "the worst" of those options, but I do really like the look and feel they render. they weirdly remind me of vintage anamorphic lenses, even tho they are completely different, maybe it's because they both are "softer" and usually have more glass elements than normal primes and that gives it that "less Crystal clear pro mist filter look". Idk, I like it. :)
I couldn't of expressed it better myself. All of the character with lots of focal length, so I find myself using them a lot. If your looking for vintage style this is a practical way to go and the only negative is that they gather less light. So just knowing when to use them is half the battle. And the rendition is just...cool :) Thank you for watching!
I recently acquired one of these beautiful old lenses on eBay that was listed as fix/repair or parts and for £30 UK = $35. I just stiped, cleaned, then rebuilt it, and it's working great. It's even pretty sharp on the big sensor of my D850, but I'll probably use it on my D700 and my Nikon film SLR'S.
What a great find! These lenses because of their age just need a little love. I used it for personal projects and really liked the image coming out of it. Thank you for watching!
I've got it in FD mount and the aperture seem stuck wide open. I read that you can easily unscrew the lens in 2 parts for aperture acess, is it true in your experience?
@@cLaunMH Hello! $90 at an auction. My opinion has not changed. Even with Sony’s 28-50 f2.8 the character is unique with this lens. Once you get used to the focal length, which feels strange at first, you end up leaving this lens on your camera because of its versatility. I hope this helps. Thanks for watching!
@@studiotrejo3047 the Sony also happens to be, you know, a grand :D That is helpful, I was just trying to get a sanity check on pricing because even sold item histories on sites like ebay are rather empty and there aren't a lot of those in the market. Caught one for 55€ now, not sold on the focal range yet but I am a huge fan of the 40mm focal length (love the Konica AR 40mm 1.8, might be interesting for your channel, absolute bargain, incredibly small, sharp, fast) with the only downside being that indoors it tends to be too tight. Thanks for your reply and the content, keep it up!
Hey Trejo! Fantastic video! I actually went out and ordered myself one after coming across your video a few weeks ago and waiting for a good deal online. I just had a quick question, I had ordered the lens along with a clear pass-through adapter similar to the one you're using. And I'm using those two in combination with my Canon C70 (S35 sensor). And it doesn't seem to focus as all. There's a single spot in focus around 30cm away from the lens but adjusting the focus ring doesn't change this at all. I noticed online there's two different versions of adapters, with one offering and inbuilt glass element that "corrects infinity focusing" but I'm also not sure that's what's going on here. It could also be that I have a faulty model, in that case I had wanted to reach out so I know whether or not to return the lens. Would really appreciate you 2 cents on this and anyone who has had a similar experience! Thanks again, Casey :)
Hello Casey! Thank you for watching! Typically the clear pass through adapters or "dumb adapters" work perfectly fine to achieve the flange distance necessary to achieve infinity focus from your camera to the lens adapted. So you would not need the glass unless you wanted something like a focal reducer to use the entire circle of the lens and not just the cropped part because of the super 35 sensor of your C70. Great kit by the way. In either case, if you have the correct adapter, which it sounds like you do, then I would say the problem is with the lens not focusing. I say this because if the adapter was not allowing you to hit infinity you would still be able to change focus from from more than the 30 cm mark in front of the camera. The focus should shift. One thing I would do to check is turn the zoom ring to 40mm, turn the focus from infinity to min. focus and see, does the housing of the front element (its the cylindrical metal part that is raised on the front of the lens) move away and return as you do this. It should move forward and back as it does at this time stamp from my video 1:55. If it does not then the lens needs some sort of repair. I hope this takes the mystery out. Let me know what your results are.
Great series of vintage glass reviews - recall the last 1970's when Series 1 from Vivitar really meant something - the brand was damaged as the 1980's progressed and Vivitar switched to cheaper suppliers, Hoya and Kino (Kiron) going on to make their own brands for a while.
Agreed! The early generation of the Series 1 was cutting edge. Thankfully I’ve been able to find good copies for these reviews. Even though they are not perfect they have that vintage look that I love. Thanks for watching!
Another great review of a vintage beauty. Thanks for your hard work!
Thank you for watching! More to come. Cheers!
Good review as always, I bought a "bokina" after watching your previous videos. Good classical vivitar lens are hard to find outside USA these days.
Thank you! These are fun to make. I can see how that can be true. Finding them or finding them in good condition isn't as easy as they used to be. How do you like using your "bokina"?
@@studiotrejo3047 Well, I just got results from film lab. The images were not solid with my "Bokina", maybe it need some repair before further usage.
Beautiful review as always.👌 I do own modern and vintage primes and zooms, but for some reason always end up shooting with vintage zoom lenses. It's funny to me because they are considered "the worst" of those options, but I do really like the look and feel they render. they weirdly remind me of vintage anamorphic lenses, even tho they are completely different, maybe it's because they both are "softer" and usually have more glass elements than normal primes and that gives it that "less Crystal clear pro mist filter look". Idk, I like it. :)
I couldn't of expressed it better myself. All of the character with lots of focal length, so I find myself using them a lot. If your looking for vintage style this is a practical way to go and the only negative is that they gather less light. So just knowing when to use them is half the battle. And the rendition is just...cool :)
Thank you for watching!
I recently acquired one of these beautiful old lenses on eBay that was listed as fix/repair or parts and for £30 UK = $35. I just stiped, cleaned, then rebuilt it, and it's working great. It's even pretty sharp on the big sensor of my D850, but I'll probably use it on my D700 and my Nikon film SLR'S.
What a great find! These lenses because of their age just need a little love. I used it for personal projects and really liked the image coming out of it. Thank you for watching!
I've got it in FD mount and the aperture seem stuck wide open. I read that you can easily unscrew the lens in 2 parts for aperture acess, is it true in your experience?
Beautiful lens, what did you pay for it two years ago and has your opinion changed with time?
@@cLaunMH Hello! $90 at an auction. My opinion has not changed. Even with Sony’s 28-50 f2.8 the character is unique with this lens. Once you get used to the focal length, which feels strange at first, you end up leaving this lens on your camera because of its versatility.
I hope this helps. Thanks for watching!
@@studiotrejo3047 the Sony also happens to be, you know, a grand :D That is helpful, I was just trying to get a sanity check on pricing because even sold item histories on sites like ebay are rather empty and there aren't a lot of those in the market. Caught one for 55€ now, not sold on the focal range yet but I am a huge fan of the 40mm focal length (love the Konica AR 40mm 1.8, might be interesting for your channel, absolute bargain, incredibly small, sharp, fast) with the only downside being that indoors it tends to be too tight. Thanks for your reply and the content, keep it up!
Hey Trejo! Fantastic video! I actually went out and ordered myself one after coming across your video a few weeks ago and waiting for a good deal online.
I just had a quick question, I had ordered the lens along with a clear pass-through adapter similar to the one you're using. And I'm using those two in combination with my Canon C70 (S35 sensor). And it doesn't seem to focus as all. There's a single spot in focus around 30cm away from the lens but adjusting the focus ring doesn't change this at all.
I noticed online there's two different versions of adapters, with one offering and inbuilt glass element that "corrects infinity focusing" but I'm also not sure that's what's going on here. It could also be that I have a faulty model, in that case I had wanted to reach out so I know whether or not to return the lens.
Would really appreciate you 2 cents on this and anyone who has had a similar experience!
Thanks again,
Casey :)
Hello Casey! Thank you for watching! Typically the clear pass through adapters or "dumb adapters" work perfectly fine to achieve the flange distance necessary to achieve infinity focus from your camera to the lens adapted. So you would not need the glass unless you wanted something like a focal reducer to use the entire circle of the lens and not just the cropped part because of the super 35 sensor of your C70. Great kit by the way. In either case, if you have the correct adapter, which it sounds like you do, then I would say the problem is with the lens not focusing. I say this because if the adapter was not allowing you to hit infinity you would still be able to change focus from from more than the 30 cm mark in front of the camera. The focus should shift.
One thing I would do to check is turn the zoom ring to 40mm, turn the focus from infinity to min. focus and see, does the housing of the front element (its the cylindrical metal part that is raised on the front of the lens) move away and return as you do this. It should move forward and back as it does at this time stamp from my video 1:55. If it does not then the lens needs some sort of repair. I hope this takes the mystery out. Let me know what your results are.
Will this work on a full frame like Z8 or a7RV?
@@JohnJohn-fz6nt Hello! Great question. Yes with an adapter you can use this on full frame sensors and it looks great.
I have one but , my one is push and pull zoom
Interesting I don't remember seeing this particular lens and focal range in push pull. Is it also a 24-48mm?
@@studiotrejo3047 it's vivitar series 1, 28-50mm f3.5 😀