I was also suprised by how comparatively bad the Komine was wide open. It just goes to show that Vivitar lenses are a bit of a lottery, as I have other Komine made Vivitar primes that are very good wide open (28mm f/2 for example)

It's interesting to see how the colour rendering varies; the lighting conditions were pretty consistent but the camera was set to auto white balance so it really shows how the camera+lens renders colours, as opposed to comparing the lenses directly. It's interesting to see the colours from the Tamron are close to the FA*24. I'm really impressed with the Tamron; I have found that I really need to pixel peep to spot the difference between it and some of the primes.

After 2 years of LBA and a couple of recent low eBay bids which I didn't expect to win, I've inadvertantly assembled a collection of the following 24mm primes.

Vivitar 24mm f/2 (Komine)
Vivitar 24mm f/2 (Kiron)
Sigma 24mm f/2.8 (Super wide 2)
SMC Pentax 24mm f/2.8
Pentax FA*24 f/2 (low eBay bid!)

I had a couple of minutes yesterday and did a few quick comparison shots and comapared them agains my Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 at 24mm. They all fared pretty well, but for me, the surprise was the Kiron. It is contrastier wide open than the FA*; I think that the Pentax is better when stopped down and has nicer colours, but I prefer the bokeh of the Kiron and for 15-20% the price of the FA*, it's amazingly good.

The shots below are JPEGs straight out of my K-5, cropped or resized with Mogrify, but no other PP. They were shot on a tripod, using teh 2 second timer and focussed with live view.

Wide open (I know this isn't really a fair test, but was intended mainly to compare OOF rendering)

Komine 24/2


Kiron 24/2


Sigma 24/2.8


K24/2.8 (apologies for the shadow in this one)


FA*24


Tamron 17-50



Wide open crops (100% crops from the above)

Komine 24/2


Kiron 24/2


Sigma 24/2.8


K24/2.8 (apologies for the shadow in this one)


FA*24


Tamron 17-50



Same shot at f/8

Komine 24/2


Kiron 24/2


Sigma 24/2.8


K24/2.8


FA*24


Tamron 17-50



100% crops at f/8

Komine 24/2


Kiron 24/2


Sigma 24/2.8


K24/2.8


FA*24


Tamron 17-50



Landscape at f/8

Komine 24/2


Kiron 24/2


Sigma 24/2.8


K24/2.8


FA*24


Tamron 17-50 (NB I think the AF intervened on this one, so it is out of focus)




Landscape at f/8 (100% crop)

Komine 24/2


Kiron 24/2


Sigma 24/2.8


K24/2.8


FA*24


Tamron 17-50 (NB I think the AF intervened on this one, so it is out of focus)

PM replied - still available.

£210 delivered (RMSD in the UK)?

They're really nice - I've got one. Sharp, excellent contrast and nice bokeh (and a much closer minimum focus distance than most 135mm lenses).

If you want a 135mm prime, I don't think you'll do better without spending a lot more (if it's in good shape optically). It's not as well built as Pentax lenses from the same era, though.

I've got one with loads of fungus if it piques your apetite. Yours for the cost of postage...

Bump - open to reasonable offers

Bump - open to reasonable offers

Quick bump - still available and open to reasonable offers.

My K-5 is slightly better exposure-wise than my K-m was with M42 lenses, although not perfect. I had assumed that it was to do with the fact that the cameras only supports spot metering on anything less sophisticated than a PK/A mount lens.

Anyway, I find that using the 'green button' to get in the right exposure range and then fine tuning the shutter speed using the histogram review is manageable enough for me when shooting with my M42 lenses (and that correct exposure is among the less significant issues with some of my results!).