Vivitar 2.8/90 Macro in Minolta MC

[Peter S.]

Hi there follow camera (& lens) collectors,

I hunted down one of these famous Vivitar MF macro lenses.
It is 2.8/90, which was the successor to the other famous
2.5/90 macro.

As You might guess from my post in the Sights of Seasons Past
section (cameracollector.proboards30.com/index.cgi?board=past&action=display&thread=1160666614)
I do like macro photography, and so besides the Tokina AT-X 2.5/90
I hunted down the various Minolta macro lenses, too. Btw, there
is a nice review on the Tokina macro lens on dpreview, see:
forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=13056277

But this nice (and later) Vivitar has one benefit over the others:
It focusses down to 1:1 scale without an extension tube. The
lens gets larger and larger as You turn the focus ring beyond
what one might believe.

It did cost me 50€ (incl. shipment), what I explain to myself, that
the seller (an Ebay selling agent) did label it as portrait telephoto -
what it might be, too, but of course is not the unique feature of
the lens.

Here's a picture I ripped of Ebay (I think, I can do this, as I am the
buyer of the lens, besides I asked for their permission). The lens is
in a very good shape with only minimal marks on the edges of the
the focus ring. The glass is perfect.







A lucky find! I am pretty curious, whether it will win the Tokina's
palce in my photo bag.

Best regards
Peter S.

[John Parry]

Hi Peter S.

I've just been running a test roll through an XG-M and SRT101 with a Vivitar 28 - 85 MC. Looks great through the viewfinder, but having said that, I don't have a magnifier eyepiece for the Minoltas, so anything could come out.

90mm - an interesting FL. Should make a lovely portrait lens, and it'll be interesting to see what the macro can do.

Regards - John

ps Remembering to switch the SRT off is a real pain!!

[GeneW]

Peter, that's a pretty one! Let us know how it compares.

Gene

[Peter S.]

John,
You might use the DOF preview button to switch it off. I saw I wiring diagram once, and it is really in series with the on-off-switch. Doing so, it should be sufficient, to switch the bottom switch only on on morning and off on evening.

Btw, my best roll of film ever I did take with the SR-T 101 - I love that camera for the slow way, it is operated. It improves the quality of my pictures greatly. I totaly fail in using the Canon EOS-D30 from the department I work. I borrow it from time to time to do the photographs for my Evil-Bay auctions. I took maybe 200 pictures using it, and there were only _one_ good shot.
I'm not a mature enough photographer to take advantage of a point&shoot.

Gene,
I'll do so. I am pretty well equiped in the short tele range (maybe in some others, too ;-) ). I can do a test againt those MD Rokkors 1.7/85, 2/85 and MC Rokkor 2.5/100. The different Minolta and Tokina zooms I already tested (albeit at 50mm) were way behind the primes, with the single exception of the 3.5/35-70. But those days I didn't have the MD 3.4-4.5/35-135. I hope, that this were a good one too.
I did one test some time ago, in order to compare the Tokina AT-X 2.5/90 vs. the Minolta MD Macro Rokkor 4/100 (which is known to be one of Minolta's sharpest lenses, if not the sharpest off all): I weren't able to find any difference in sharpness. There are only two issues of the Tokina macro: first it got a little cooler color rendition than the Rokkors. For real macro work, this is no big issue, since macro photography tends be unusual at all, and on one doesn't expect a exact color - quite contrary to landscape or portrait. The second issue, is that the Tokina macro doesn't like strong backlight. On the other hand, if one concentrates on finding a suited background, then the creaminess of the background is on par with the Rokkors.

If there is interest, I can post some pictures, showing the performance and the limitations of the Tokina macro. For the new Vivtar macro I need maybe two or three weeks.

Best regards
Peter

[doubs43]

Peter, I have the same lens in M42 mount and took the following images with it a few weeks ago. I think you'll like it. My serial number begins with "72" while yours begins with "28". Yours was made by Komine, according to a list on the Cameraquest site.







Walker

[byuphoto]

I have only heard of the 2.8 never seeing one. I do have the original 2 piece Vivitar 90mm f2.5 and it is one sharp lens. Congrats on the find and postsome photos,