Vivitar 135mm M42 - is it worth it?

This is my second thread today, sorry if I'm posting too much.

Any way, I noticed that there's some dirt cheap M42 lenses out there that can be used on 35mm cameras with an even cheaper adapter, on some of them the exposure meter might even work, and considering the adapter option they might even be used as a multi brand lens (almost like the Cokin P system).

And so I can get a Vivitar 135mm 2.8 M42 lens for about 35 dollars, and the mount for 5 - but does it deliver the prime lens quality? I don't expect it to be better then the Nikons own 135mm, but could it outperform a 700 dollar zoom lens like the Nikon 70-300 VR being a prime lens with a much larger aperture?

m42 lenses on a nikon won't focus at infinity without an optical adapter that degrades image quality.

take the optic out and it is adapted with a slight extension tube effect.

35 dollars seems a little high for an m42 vivitar. Does it include shipping?

Will you be shooting color or black and white? Is this lens multicoated, or single coated?

a 135mm prime is easy to design and you can get outstanding images with one.

They are plentiful. I think you could find one in a native mount for your camera and skip the adapter.

I don't think comparing the latest techno-nikon to a 30 year old vivitar is a fair comparison.

It's like comparing a 20 year old jameson whiskey, to a 6 year old jack daniels. They both get you drunk, but it is the subtleties that define the jameson and make it a quality beverage.

Vivtar never manufactured lenses themselves. Rather, manufacture was always contracted out to other firms, but the designs were all Vivitar. Some were very good. None were truly awful. For a little bit of info about Vivitar Series 1 lenses, see here

Sounds like this might be one of the Vivitar preset T-mount lenses. You can recognize it as such if it has 2 aperture control rings. One ring will have click stop and the other will rotate freely. Set the aperture you want with the ring having the click stops. Use the freely rotating ring to fully open the aperture for focusing and composing, then close it down to the pre-selected aperture before firing the shutter. It's not as convenient as having an aperture mechanism that stops down automatically before the shutter fires, but it is a workable solution that afforded some decent glass at budget prices. Of course, full aperture metering is not available with this arrangement; but most cameras will allow stop down metering. The biggest objection I have with lenses of this sort is that the viewfinder will go very dim when you stop the lens down to shooting aperture.

Do I think it will outperform the Nikkor zoom with VR? No, I don't. Despite my general dislike for zoom lenses, there are many years of R&D between the Vivitar lens you are contemplating and a modern Nikkor lens. If the camera body supports the VR feature of the Nikkor zoom, that's an added feature that will put you way ahead of the game. If the body does not support the VR feature, then it is a useless addition and will afford no additional advantage.

Then I guess it's just a waste of money since I already have the 70-300 VR, I'll soon get an adapter to use my Mamiya 200 2.8 Apo as well, just thought it'd be fun to try a prime between the 85 and the 200.

I have a vivitar 135 2.8 M42 mount lens. honestly I'm not impressed with it at all. at 2.8 it suffers from heavy chromatic abberation and is very soft. doesn't CA doesn't start to go away till around f4 and yet the sharpness doesn't really get there till about f8 and even then it wasn't that sharp when adapted to my XSI.

I get better performance out of the 18-55 IS kit lens taht came with my XSI and when compared to my cheap 55-250 zoom the vivitar lens just really sucks.

think I only paid 10 for mine also.

Top-Cat said:

Then I guess it's just a waste of money since I already have the 70-300 VR, I'll soon get an adapter to use my Mamiya 200 2.8 Apo as well, just thought it'd be fun to try a prime between the 85 and the 200.

Click to expand...

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If you are bound and determined to have a 135 2.8, you should be able to find a Viv in Nikon mount for that price--which I consider excessive no matter what the mount.

Yes, that's my conclusion as well, maybe it would be fun for a full frame DSLR, but I'll stick to the 85, 70-300 and the 200 2.8 + adapter. I'll probably get a 105 macro sometime so that'll fill some of the gap as well.

If you are bound and determined to own an M-42 mount 135, I have a rebadged Ricoh 135/2.8 in the APUG classifieds. $40 buys it and a 50/2.0 and a Sears(Ricoh) body to play with.

Rick