Manual Lens Vivitar 24mm f2 (Kiron, Nikon F mount)

[Ad Dieleman]

I'm getting more and more frustrated that Zeiss nor Voigtländer (Cosina) make a nice MF 28mm for Sony E-mount (full-frame), so I'm thinking of getting a Zeiss Loxia 2.4/25 when a good deal comes along. To find out if that focal length works for me, I took the only 24mm I have, an old Vivitar 2/24 in Nikon F mount, out for a spin. Its serial number starts with 22 so Kiron supposedly is the manufacturer. As so often with Kiron lenses, the diaphragm leaves are oily, allowing the aperture to close down to around f/8. Even at f/8 image quality isn't all that great, but it works surprisingly well in B&W.

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[rayvonn]

I'm getting more and more frustrated that Zeiss nor Voigtländer (Cosina) make a nice MF 28mm for Sony E-mount (full-frame), so I'm thinking of getting a Zeiss Loxia 2.4/25 when a good deal comes along. To find out if that focal length works for me, I took the only 24mm I have, an old Vivitar 2/24 in Nikon F mount, out for a spin. Its serial number starts with 22 so Kiron supposedly is the manufacturer. As so often with Kiron lenses, the diaphragm leaves are oily, allowing the aperture to close down to around f/8. Even at f/8 image quality isn't all that great, but it works surprisingly well in B&W.

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So, out of interest, how do you feel about the 4mm difference? It's often said, on albeit wider angle lenses, that even 1mm difference is noticeable (apparently).

 

[Ad Dieleman]

So, out of interest, how do you feel about the 4mm difference? It's often said, on albeit wider angle lenses, that even 1mm difference is noticeable (apparently).

Indeed I feel the difference is significant: the perspective is wider of course, sort of feels like more breathing room and the difference between 28mm and 35/40mm is not huge, so I think 24/25mm vs. 35/40mm makes more sense. These days I'm experimenting with using the 4:3 aspect ratio as opposed to the default 3:2 because I like prints in 4:3 better than 3:2; for screen it's the other way around. Using 4:3 on a FF Sony effectively comes down to a crop factor of 1.08 so a 25mm lens would behave more like 27mm. Moreover, the Zeiss Loxia is said to have more like a 26mm focal length in reality, so that would mean 28mm-like in 4:3 aspect ratio. And indeed, a 28mm lens is too tight in 4:3 to my taste.

All this might seem to many like obsessing over a few mm in focal length, which it may well be. You have to know I'm quite sensitive to small variations in focal length: I like 50mm but 55mm, no thanks; 35mm and 40mm are both nice, but different, and I could go on. I really compose in the viewfinder/display, it rarely happens that I choose a really different crop later.

 

[rayvonn]

Indeed I feel the difference is significant: the perspective is wider of course, sort of feels like more breathing room and the difference between 28mm and 35/40mm is not huge, so I think 24/25mm vs. 35/40mm makes more sense. These days I'm experimenting with using the 4:3 aspect ratio as opposed to the default 3:2 because I like prints in 4:3 better than 3:2; for screen it's the other way around. Using 4:3 on a FF Sony effectively comes down to a crop factor of 1.08 so a 25mm lens would behave more like 27mm. Moreover, the Zeiss Loxia is said to have more like a 26mm focal length in reality, so that would mean 28mm-like in 4:3 aspect ratio. And indeed, a 28mm lens is too tight in 4:3 to my taste.

All this might seem to many like obsessing over a few mm in focal length, which it may well be. You have to know I'm quite sensitive to small variations in focal length: I like 50mm but 55mm, no thanks; 35mm and 40mm are both nice, but different, and I could go on. I really compose in the viewfinder/display, it rarely happens that I choose a really different crop later.

Not sure it’s obsessing - when the Tamron 15-30 was released it was better all round than the Nikkor 14-24 and much cheaper, but a lot of people couldn’t compromise that extra 1mm. It was relevant and counted to the extent of being a deal breaker.