YEs, Kiron's are excellent and were quite expensive when new. Kiron was
a brand name from Kino Precision, a company formed by some ex-Nikon
employees. They were originally a large supplier to Vivitar (who
doesn't manufacture anything) and eventually decided to go it
themselves; orignally with the Panagor brand and later with Kiron. Note
that the "Kiron" name just happens to be an anagram of "Nikkor"... a
point not lost on Nikon execs.
As far as I know Kino Precision dropped the Kiron brand name about 1984.
The third party cult lens site:
<http://medfmt.8k.com/third/cult.html#kiron>
says that Kino Precision is still in existence but I don't think that's
been true for a long time.
Most people don't know how good Kirons are so the prices are relatively
low. The 80-200 f/4.5, though a good lens, is as common as dirt and
worth at most $30. Their other lenses are in much shorter supply and
bring higher prices. Most of the zooms suffer from zoom creep since the
damping grease has broken down in viscosity over the years. Some of
this may make its way onto the diaphragm and cause stickiness. This is
not unique to Kiron's though.
My most used lens of all is a Kiron 70-150 f/4. Sweet. Original case,
caps and hood and no damping grease problem. Took me a year of waiting
on the bay to find this one. My other one has a little ding on the
filter ring and no hood.
Chuck Norcutt
EBAYER wrote:
> Is Kiron really that good? Is KIRON still making lenses? Forgive my
> newbiness...I started an Oly Zuiko Yahoo group and someone offered to send
> me a Kirom OM mount zoom lens @ NO COST. I guess he didnt have any OM bodies
> for the lens.
>
>
> Thanks.
>
> - Ali
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of ClassicVW@xxxxxxx
> Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 10:26 AM
> To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [OM] Re: Kiron 105mm Macro
>
>
>
> Yes, good deal! You'll like that lens a lot. B&H lists one in 8+ condition
> for $169, but that's in their magazine ad, and they usually don't have any
> idea
> what I'm talking about whenever I've called them about a used item in the
> ads.
> I think they're just there 'for show' to let people know they have used
> gear.
>
> George S.
>
> lostkase@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>
>
>>Well since I couldn't figure out how to spell Tamron..oops.. I had a
>>episode
>>of mid life crisis, today is my birthday, and bought a Kiron 105mm macro.
>
> I
>
>>think I'll enjoy the 1 to 1 without wrestling the adapter tube I needed
>
> for
>
>>the Tamron. I picked it up for $120 tax inclusive so I feel pretty good
>>about it. Now I need to put a roll through it.
>>
>>Bob
>>
>
>
>
>
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