Monday, January 21, 2013

Vivitar 24mm f2.8 Auto-Wide Angle TX mount

Of all the interchangeable mounts I have used, the Vivitar TX mount is the hardest to use. In fact, I despise this mount. I only have a few lenses in this mount, and luckily, I have enough mounts for each lens that I don't have to keep changing them, which saves me a lot of frustration. The Vivitar 24mm f2.8 Auto-Wide Angle is my latest addition to the TX mount.  This lens is almost identical to the Vivitar 28mm f2.8 TX mount, which I looked at here. Both lenses are about the same size without the mount, and share the same filter thread size. Both lenses were made by Tokina (Serial starts with 37).

One thing becomes apparent is the very poor flare resistance. With light coming from the side, flare quickly reduces contrast and makes the picture look washed out.  Effective multi-coating is one advantage modern lenses have over the old lenses.  Other than the flare issue, this lens performs quick nicely.  Distortion is well controlled, and sharpness is quite good, but lacking the "bite" (micro contrast) of the best (expensive) lenses have. At f8, the edges on APS-C is quite respectable and shows good sharpness.  No, it's not as sharp as the center, but not many low cost lenses are.  It's definitely not a soft lens, especially with some post processing, the pictures exhibit good colour and sharpness.

A 24mm lens provides a comfortable 35mm field of view on the NEX cameras, and this Vivitar lens is a good choice for its low cost, but decent optical quality.


Vivitar 24mm & 28mm f2.8 with different mounts (M42/MD). Click for larger.

Vivitar 24mm & 28mm f2.8 without mounts. Click for larger.

Public Library - NEX-6 & Vivitar 24mm f2.8 TX mount. Click to enlarge.

Flare Test - NEX-6 & Vivitar 24mm f2.8 TX mount. Click to enlarge.

First Nation Art - NEX-6 & Vivitar 24mm f2.8 TX mount. Click to enlarge.

Church - NEX-6 & Vivitar 24mm f2.8 TX mount.


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3 comments:

  1. Emmanuel DiazJanuary 22, 2013 at 12:32 AM

    thanks for the insights. well taken from someone who has 29 lenses (counting primes only) in the 23mm-29mm focal length.

    prices for the 24mm focal length in the used market seems to have risen slowly and steadily over the past few months. i attribute it to the success of the fuji x-series which comes with the 24mm prime...

    got some tx lenses still in the mail... will keep your ideas on tx-mount lenses when i (can) try with my wife's nex.

    regards.

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    Replies
    1. Lens BubbleJanuary 22, 2013 at 11:45 AM

      Emmanuel, you know what I have better than me, seriously! I have stopped counting my lenses. Just use them at random. I guess I am lucky that I sometimes get the opportunities to buy old lenses very cheaply. For this 24mm f2.8 TX lens, it was under $10, and it was not more for the 28mm version. Toronto has a very large concentration of camera gears both old and new, and that's why more chances of getting some stuff cheaper. I don't even go out of my way to look for lenses any more and only buy them when I encounter them.

      I find 24mm on NEX is quite comfortably wide. Wider lenses are tough to use effectively. Do let me know how your TX lenses perform.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2018 at 9:51 PM

    Would you know where I can find information on the following Vivitar lens? Thanks!: Vivitar 24mm f1:2.8 K/AR 58mm AUTO WIDE-ANGLE NO. 37731417

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