Vivitar 35-200mm 1:3.0-4.5 MC Macro Focusing Zoom Lens (f/3.0-4.5)

Overall Rating:

The age of this made-in-Japan lens is 39 years. It was an inexpensive option so it has no low dispersion glass elements and no aspherical elements as this was manufactured before the time that aspherical elements were common. A design like this would benefit greatly from a few aspherical elements. This lens was manufactured by Kobori Japan.

This 8.6× zoom starts at the very popular 35mm and 50mm focal lengths and reaches all the way to 200mm. The "macro" function can only be entered at a focal length of 200mm and achieves a claimed magnification ratio of 0.2×.

Performance

First, a small amount of focus breathing is present which means a depth of field calculator may be used. Concerning sharpness, it is quite soft at all focal lengths wide-open and it doesn't improve much stopped down. It is at its worst at the 200mm focal length. The image starts to dull even more due to diffraction at around f/8. This lens has heavy vignetting wide open and stopped down some, too. It's so heavy that the lens exhibits a black circle not unlike what APS-C lenses do on full-frame. There is prominent color fringing. And distortion is well-controlled considering its zoom ratio.

Flaring & Ghosting

The lens does exhibit flaring and ghosting, not surprisingly.

Bokeh

This lens has so much LoCA that it can be used as a focusing aid. This hurts both the bokeh and color fringing score of this lens. The bokeh is "busy" particularly with the shorter focal lengths.

Infrared

Infrared photography shows no infrared hot-spots. This is probably due to the non-rounded, six-bladed diaphragm, which is a relatively low number of blades.

Construction

This lens is relatively compact for a f=35-200mm ultra-zoom (8.6× zoom ratio). For example, it is lighter and smaller than the Nikon Nikkor 80-200mm f/4.5 Ai lens which is only a 2.5× zoom. Because it is all metal, it is rather heavy at approximately 700 grams or one and a half pounds.

The size at f=35mm is significantly shorter than the size at f=200mm. Because it changes size as it is focused, it does not have internal focusing. The zoom DOES creep as the lens is pointed up or down. This is a minor annoyance. This is a varifocal zoom which means it changes focus as it is zoomed.

The 62mm filter threads DO ROTATE making use of a polarizer or graduated filter a challenge. If you set the focus and then need to screw a filter on be very careful not to modify the focus. With a focus throw of only 60°, it is easy to go too far in either direction when focusing.

The maximum aperture of f/3.0 is very odd and not at all standard.

MC stands for multicoated.

Conclusion

For film, it is probably fine, but for today's high resolution digital sensors it is not competent enough. It it not so flawed that, like the Holga f=60mm f/8 lens, its aberrations can be appreciated as artistic features.

Specifications

Images

Related links:

• Vivitar Lens Reviews
• All Lens Reviews