Kiron is the lens brand name of Kino Precision (now defunct). Kino
Precision started life as a manufacturer of lenses for other companies.
Those that had a design house but no manufacturing house such as Vivitar.
They existed very quietly for a number of years before finally venturing
to produce their own designs (and some supposedly pirated designs from
the likes of Vivitar) under their own Kiron name.
But Kiron lenses were premium lenses. When bought new they were very
expensive. Most Kirons did not compete with OEM lenses on the basis of
price but on speed and optical performance. They were more like
Vivitar's Series 1 line. Today, nobody knows who they are or were and
the lenses sell for a song. Most have exceptional optical performance
for the day.
If you own a Zuiko 70-150 I urge you to try the equivalent Kiron 70-150
f/4. Assuming you don't mind a one-touch zoom you might not go back.
Just make sure you get one that's pristine and also includes the
plastic, reversible hood and soft leather case which can be hard to find
otherwise. You can probably get one for $30 if you're patient.
But when buying Kiron (or any Japanese lens of the era) watch out for
the dreaded zoom creep on one-touch zooms and sticky diaphragms.
They're related. The reason the zoom is creeping is reduced viscosity
of the helicoid and zoom mechanism grease. The reason the diaphragm is
sticking is that the helicoid grease has turned to oil and is flowing
onto the apertuere blades.
Chuck Norcutt
Jeff Keller wrote:
> Good evening Mike,
>
> I've never owned a Kiron other than the 105 macro which I haven't tested
> yet. I believe Chuck Norcutt liked and used Kiron lenses. I think that Kiron
> made an f2 wide angle lens that when it shows up sells in the $50 to $75
> range. I would recommend you send an email to Chuck asking him if he knows
> anything about the various Kirons. Chuck is the only one that I think has
> regularly talked about different Kirons. Of course Moose is always promoting
> his Kiron 105mm macro. I think AG Schnoze or someone made some comments
> about Kiron color rendition years ago (slightly cooler than Zuikos?). The
> vague impression that I've picked up is that the Kirons were typically a
> good buy. I never got the impression that they offered anything the Zuikos
> didn't offer except a lower price. Keep in mind you can probably buy a Zuiko
> 28/3.5 for $30. Even the 28/2.8 seems to be sold for down around $50 from
> time to time.
>
> -jeff
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: usher99@xxxxxxx
> Reply-To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
> To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [OM] Kiron 28mm f2.8 for OM---worth getting for very little?
> Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2006 21:38:27 -0400
>
>
> Hi,
> A judge in my wife's office is selling his OM gear. Not much of marked
> interest, though he has the above lens in 9-9+ condition. It is only
> slightly wider than my nl range zoom. The only thing I found out about it so
> far is that it can focus down to about 1 ft. Wonder how it is? Is this at
> least a Fangette? Thanks,
> Mike
>
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