Not quite as sharp or distortion-free as the Tamron SP 70-210 f3.5 and of course, not in the same league as the Zeiss 70-210 VS Macro, this lens is a very fair performer, especially in low light. It was state of the art in the 1970s and has aged well, with good overall sharpness at all focal lengths at f/8. Vivitar Series 1 70-210 mm f/ 2.8-4 VMC - fast multicoated telephoto zoom lens for a 35mm SLR with popular mounts of 70-80s.
Vivitar 28-105mm F/2.8-3.8 Series 1 Macro Zoom Lens for Minolta MD Manual Focus SLR Cameras. On the other hand, if I was going on a trip with a film camera I would have no qualms about packing the lens, if I had space in my bag. Vivitar Series 1 VMC Macro Focusing Auto Zoom 70-210mm 70-210 mm 1:3.5 3.5 - Minolta MD. Sadly that's not an option at the moment. The colours are relatively flat, but that can be fixed with Photoshop, and also by going on holiday to Italy*, where the weather is a lot nicer. The macro shots don't count, because the background is completely out of focus, and the outdoors images were mostly taken at f/8 or at long focus distances. The ability to take macro photos of things is mitigated by the difficulty of focusing accurately (you essentially have to set the lens to a certain distance and then rock back and forth on your heels). Precisely focusing and zooming with a pushy-pully telephoto zoom isn't much fun. Mine is a PK lens, which I used for most of the images on this page with the cheapest Pentax film body I could find, an SF7:ĭoes the 70-210mm f/3.5 make any sense nowadays? It's very big and heavy, so you really have to want to carry it around. On a Micro Four-Thirds camera the 70-210mm f/3.5 would be an awkward 140-220mm.
Pentax PK and Nikon AI lenses don't have to be adapted for use with modern Pentax and Nikon digital SLRs M42 and Olympus OM can easily be adapted for the Canon EF mount Minolta, Canon FD, and Konica AR can only be adapted for mirrorless cameras. It was available for a wide range of different lens mounts.
They're all physically well-made, still surprisingly sharp by modern standards, although the colours tend to be muted, perhaps a consequence of old-fashioned coatings.īack in the 1970s the 70-210mm f/3.5 was appealing because it was "ten wider" at both ends than typical first-party 80-200mm f/4.5 zooms, plus it was a stop faster and could focus very closely. In the past I've used the Series 1 200mm f/3, the 28-90mm f/2.8-3.5, and the Mark Two version of the 70-210mm f/3.5. Bucherer is a by-appointment watch dealer, so I imagine they were better-positioned to ride out the pandemic than e.g. NB I wrote this post in March 2020 - I write everything way before it gets published - but a year later the world is much as it was back then. Why all the bicycles? Partially because they're there, partially because they're flat.