Lens Bubbles: Vivitar 35mm f1.9

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Vivitar 35mm f1.9 - A Second Look

I think this Vivitar 35mm f1.9 deserves more credit than it receives. Many people who search for the Vivitar wide angle would usually look at the Cult-Classic: the 28mm f1.9. A few years back, I shot the Vivitar 35mm f1.9 on the Canon 5D full frame without a hood, and the image quality was only so so. Contrast was not very good. Today, I put a very long hood (the one used on a Minolta MC 135mm f3.5) on the same lens and the result is quite different. Not really sure if it has anything to do with the sensor or the hood, but the images are very nice. Sharp and has much more contrast than I remember having before from this lens.

The bokeh probably won't win any awards, but it's not really bad. It resembles bokeh from the 28mm f1.9. You can see another sample (second picture) of bokeh from this post I wrote couple years back. But, at f5.6 to f8, the lens is very sharp. Even at f1.9, the lens is usable in most situations, but not very contrasty at this apreture.

When I bought this lens, it wasn't very expensive, and is quite a common lens. I seem to pick one up once in a while at the photo show and now have three or four of them, of different mounts. If you come across one of these beauties (they are extremely well made), be sure to test it out.