Ray Moth <ray_moth@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>I'd welcome opinions on an acquisition I'm planning, for some time in
>the future. I want to change my current tele-zoom, a Vivitar 70-210mm,
>because I'm tired of its zoom-creep and the fact that its body rattles
>(I've tried peeling back the rubber grip to get at the screws
>underneath but they can't be tightened further).
>
>I'd like to stick to Zuiko lenses from now on. I'm aware that there are
>four Zuiko zooms roughly equivalent to my Vivitar, namely, the 50-250,
>65-200, 70-210 and 85-250. Any of these would cover my needs.
>Alternatively, I could buy a fixed lens of around 200mm (I already have
>50mm, 100mm and 35-70mm), if that would be a better choice.
>
>I would typically use the lens for selective cityscape / landscape
>pictures, zoo photos and the occasional candid (i.e. sneaky!) street
>portrait. I use only print film, so framing is not as critical for me
>as if I used slides. Compactness, light weight and low cost are
>important to me but so is quality. Does anyone have any suggestions,
>preferably based on experience of using Zuikos in this range?
To add to Tom's comments, the two lenses I've used of the ones you
mention are the 70-210 and the 85-250. I got the 70-210 recently
just for the reasons you mention: it's cheap, compact and very
lightweight. It also seems to score pretty well in Gary's tests,
although the pincushion distortion at the mid to long focal lengths
is noticable. However, if you're getting away from your Vivitar
because of zoom creep, then maybe the 70-210 isn't the best choice,
since at least mine has horrible zoom creep. I've considered taking
it apart to try and put a more viscous grease on, but haven't gotten
around to doing so. While it isn't as rugged as the other Zuikos
I've got, it doesn't feel all that bad to me, and overall I like
the lens, and for me at least, it's advantages in cost, size and
weight make up for the zoom creep. I'm going to take it on a
backpacking trip later this summer, so we'll see how it holds
up then :)
My dad has the 85-250, and as it is currently 1500 miles away from
me, I haven't used it recently. I remember liking it a lot, but it
is big and heavy compared to the 70-210. It's also a 2-touch, so
zoom creep isn't a problem. I haven't decided if I like 2-touch
zooms better than 1-touch, but for the kind of shooting you mention,
a 2-touch sounds like it would work just fine.
Mark Marr-Lyon.
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