On Tue, 17 Oct 2000, Aklan <atk@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Does anyone know anything about the optical quality of this lens.
> This is the older 3.8 model not the newer 3.5 model. I believe it
> was introduced in the late 1970/early 1980.
Looks like no one wanted to tackle this one. So, even though by
now this question is ancient history (sorry, I'm a slow reader of
the OLY list digests, which in the past 2-3 weeks read more like
"indigests" :-)), let me briefly comment on the above subject.
Optically, this chunky (77mm filter, 20 oz) 2-touch zoom was great:
excellent sharpness and contrast, well controlled distortion, etc.
However, almost every sample I've seen in the last 2-3 years, maybe
about half a dozen altogether, had some sort of mechanical problems:
typically -- bad (slow or frozen) diaphragms, rough zooming/focusing,
etc. Sorry, I don't remember who made this lens for Vivitar, maybe
Komaine?
AFAIK, there was no "newer 3.5 model". Aklan may be confusing it
with the much later Vivitar Series 1 24-70mm F3.5-4.5, a far more
compact lens which was also plagued with mechanical/reliability
problems, as well as with poor distortion control at the 24mm end.
Sadly, unlike other camera makers, OLY never bothered to design a
credible wide-angle zoom. In the past, I had high praise for the
excellent Yashica ML 28-50mm F3.5 zoom, and I'm now in the process
of experimenting/testing three manual focus 24-50mm F4 zooms -- by
Minolta, Pentax and Nikon (the latter is a 25-50mm).
"Wunderkinds with Wunderbricks" (aka WWW's :-)) have far more
enticing options, such as the AF Nikkor 24-120mm, or the newly
introduced Maxxum AF 24-105mm. Darn, I should retrofit one of my
OM bodies with a Nikon mount... NOT! :-) :-)
There are some decent aftermarket options for us, Zuiks/Zuikettes:
- Tamron SP 24-48mm F3.5-3.8
- Soligor C/D 24-45mm F3.5-4.5
- Sun 24-40mm F3.5 (aka Hoya HMC 25-42mm F3.5) - made by Tokina
- Tokina AT-X 24-40mm F2.8
Of these, the Soligor is a gem: compact, a very solid performer,
and the 1:3 macro at the 45mm end is quite useful.
Cheers,
/Gary Schloss.
schloss@xxxxxxxxxxx
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|