Sounds to me like you have a lens with some impact damage. I've never
seen a Vivitar 28/2 but I have a Kiron 28/2 that appears to be new or
close to it. A gift from a friend with no OM mount camera. I've never
used it since it has a very sluggish diaphragm. Probably grease from
the helical. Mechanically, it's as solid and precise (maybe even more
so) as any Zuiko I own. Absolutely no play in the helical.
I'll throw it on the 5D later and test a few aperture settings against
my silver nose Zuiko 28/2.8. I haven't used the Zuiko 28 in years and
don't recall how it performs but I'll be surprised if the Kiron doesn't
win. Guess I ought to throw the Tokina 28-80 at 28 in there too just
for comparison's sake.
Chuck Norcutt
priit@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> I have a Vivitar 28/2 which appears to be suspiciously similar to the
> matching Kiron lens. Judging by pictures, the appearance is identical,
> except for the lettering. Also, my lens has a serial number starting with
> "22", which hints at being manufactured by Kino/Kiron - something I found
> from the OM-list archives.
>
> Now, I have two problems with this lens which I haven't seen mentioned
> elsewhere. I wonder if these issues are related to my particular specimen,
> as the Kiron seems to have a good reputation, would be great if anyone who
> owns the lens or has used one could shed some light on this.
>
> 1.) the performance is terrible at f/2. Yes, one would expect it to be so
> to some extent, and I have no scientific data to show, just my impression.
> But it looks to be beyond generally usable, and definitely worse than the
> other lenses I have, at any aperture. It improves when stopping down, but
> that sort of defeats the purpose of using the lens in favour of something
> slower.
>
> 2.) the mechanical quality is poor - not rigid enough. When attached to a
> body, the front part of lens has some slack, so that the projected image
> on the focusing screen moves when touching the lens (such as when
> focusing). I'm not a lens expert but this does not agree with my
> understanding of what "precision optics" means.
>
> TIA,
> priit.
>
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