Beer Can or Vivitar Series 1 70-210

[kberntsen]

Okay, so looks like the eBay going price for the Vivitar has now gone up to 125. At that price I feel like I should just pay the difference and the the Minolta 70-210 f/4. I kinda liked the extra stop or so I could get out of the Vivitar but for the price I feel like the Minolta becomes a better investment.

Any one else have some input on this?

[JimC]

Well, the beercan has a pretty good reputation, and is well liked. Most KM users praise it's colors.

It's abetter made lens, and resale value will probably be higher.

If you needed the extra stop on the wide end with a lens like the Vivitar, it could really come in handy, though.

As for Ebay pricing, I don't see any listings from CametaAuctions right now.

I see Henry's listing them for more (buy it now at 120 something) But, listing them and selling them are two different things.

Unless something's changed that I'm not aware of, you could probably call CametaAuctions and pick one up for $89.95 (and save them the Ebay listing fees).

The last listing I saw from them at $89.95 didn't even sell:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160045701263

[cope]

Ken, buy the Vivitar. I have a beercan, so we can get together at Pappas for BBQ and try out each others' lenses. By then I'll have some Ren Fest pictures to show you.

[kberntsen]

I caught Cameta posting one for 89 yesterday and did the buyit now.

I'll let you know when I get it in.

[cope]

Sounds like a plan.

[rduve]

kberntsen wrote:

I caught Cameta posting one for 89 yesterday and did the buyit now.

I'll let you know when I get it in.

I am curious how it works out for me. I am not very happy with mine. It produces fuzzy, off-color images in too many cases.

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"Rainer

[meanstreak]

rduve wrote:

kberntsen wrote:

I am curious how it works out for me. I am not very happy with mine. It produces fuzzy, off-color images in too many cases.

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"Rainer

RDUVE.... did you forget to take off your outdated Elton John rose colored prescription glasses again???? Try beer googles... you will see much clearer. :blah:

Just kidding.... I know how important color is to you.

[JimC]

rduve wrote:

It produces fuzzy, off-color images in too many cases.

I get some of that with mine, too. :-) Or, perhaps that had something to do with the shutter speed, lighting and WB. lol

[JimC]

rduve

In part, I decided to buy this lens based on your test shots with it (and some other shots I saw from two other Vivitar users).

http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/v...=84&page=1

From what I could see (and what you noticed, too), it's got a tendency to overexpose a tad. One user had some test shots comparing it with the beercan on another forum, and exposure tends to be a bit brighter with it using the same metering.

No big deal. A little Exposure Compensation should solve that.

I haven't had a chance to use mine much yet in daylight (I'm not much of a long lens shooter). But, it seems to do fine from what I can tell, except for a bit of CA at the edges in out of focus areas.

For the price, I can't complain, and AF seems to be very accurate with mine, as long as I do my part. lol

I don't own a cat. But, my brother-in-law does. So, here's the obligatory cat shot (quick snapshot on his back porch when I was visiting). Exposure Compensation was set to -2/3 stop, hand held at 1/50 second. When I get a chance, I'll take some people photos with it in daylight. :-)

[rduve]

JimC wrote:

rduve

In part, I decided to buy this lens based on your test shots with it (and some other shots I saw from two other Vivitar users).

http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/v...=84&page=1

From what I could see (and what you noticed, too), it's got a tendency to overexpose a tad. One user had some test shots comparing it with the beercan on another forum, and exposure tends to be a bit brighter with it using the same metering.

No big deal. A little Exposure Compensation should solve that.

I haven't had a chance to use mine much yet in daylight (I'm not much of a long lens shooter). But, it seems to do fine from what I can tell, except for a bit of CA at the edges in out of focus areas.

For the price, I can't complain, and AF seems to be very accurate with mine, as long as I do my part. lol

I don't own a cat. But, my brother-in-law does. So, here's the obligatory cat shot (quick snapshot on his back porch when I was visiting). Exposure Compensation was set to -2/3 stop, hand held at 1/50 second. When I get a chance, I'll take some people photos with it in daylight. :-)

That's a great shot of the cat. I am kind of torn on this lens. It seems like it works well in a "controlled environment", meaning when one has the time to set up properly for each shot, the subject isn't moving, etc. However, when I shoot my kids playing or such things, I get too many blurry, fuzzy, low-contrast, off color shots. When I switch back to my Tamron 28-300, it nails them.

I will do some comparisons this coming weekend. I want to make up my mind about this lens.

Rainer