Fellow Olympians (sounds like I´m adressing an OS team),
A friend of mine has an OM-40 and the usual Zuiko 35-70/3.5-4.5 zoom. She also
has the Vivitar 70-210/3.5 tele zoom which I have found to be very sharp and
easy to use, although it is quite large and heavy compared to the lightweights
of today. I´ve also found the close focus function to work reasonable well.
Sometime in the future I´ll possibly make a serious bid on this body/lens
combination (not the 35-70 zoom though).
Now I heard that there is two versions of the Vivitar 70-210/3.5 lens. I guess
the later version superseeded the earlier in the production run. How do you
tell the difference between them and is there any change in optical quality?
Can there be any problems with this lens when used in program mode on an OM-2SP
(I think there is a warning in the OM-2SP manual for non-Zuiko zoom lenses when
program mode is used)? I don´t think my friend has had any problems with her
lens though on the OM-40.
Also I would like to hear any comments on how this Vivitar zoom compares to the
Zuiko 65-200/4 zoom and if possible also the new lightweight Zuiko
70-210/4.5-5.6 (the one that was released with OM-2000). Which one would be the
best buy? I guess even used the Zuiko 65-200/4 is the most expensive, while the
other two would be about the same price. About 10 years ago I once had the
opportunity to buy a used 65-200/4 for 1200 SKR (about 150 USD), but at that
time I was quite happy with my 75-150/4 (which I ain´t today) and I thought it
was too much. Today (if there is any at all) they are priced at 2000 SKR (ca
251 USD) or more. Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Per Nordenberg
Sweden
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