topic Re: Vivitar 500mm lens on Amazon.com in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Vivitar 500mm lens on Amazon.com

Drachirryz — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:20:09 GMT

Does this lens work with an EOS Rebel T5?

http://www.amazon.com/Vivitar-Telephoto-Teleconverter-Digital-Cameras/dp/B00UG4MJ54/ref=sr_1_15/180-2777046-4029003?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1452412542&sr=1-15&keywords=canon+compatible+lenses

Re: Vivitar 500mm lens on Amazon.com

kvbarkley — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:31:23 GMT

To some definition of "work" You definitely get what you pay for.

Note that you will have to manually focus it.

I would not bother.

Re: Vivitar 500mm lens on Amazon.com

Waddizzle — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 01:32:12 GMT

Save your money, and buy an "L: Series lens.. When it comes to camera lenses, you will get what you pay for.

Re: Vivitar 500mm lens on Amazon.com

Waddizzle — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 17:40:11 GMT

That lens has one review, 3 out of 5 stars. What should that tell you? I will tell you. The lens requires a robust tripod, with a robust head for best results. Remember, it is not a fast lens, so it will also require well lit subjects. The full moon is more than well lit.

I had a lens, Vivitar 650-1300mm f/8 that was very similar to that lens, and passed it along to one of my sons The image quality is comparable to the Series 1 Vivitar 75-210mm F2.8-4.0 lens that I bought in the 1980s. The lens had great image quality in its' day, but it is mediocre today.

The body construction of the two lenses are similar. The lens has a zoom locking ring that twists, which affects the horizontal orientation of your camera. You wil find yourself using two hands to tighten the zoom locking ring: one hand to turn the ring while the other holds your camera level.

Since it is a fully manual lens, you will be forced use a tripod, not unless you have four LONG arms, two to zoom and two to focus. You will find yourself using the rear LCD screen to focus in LiveView mode. However, because of the long focal length, you find that the tripod foot transmits vibrations and resonances, which will make focusing difficult. The image on the LCD screen will jump around as if you were witnessing an earthquake, which is why you will need a VERY robust tripod/head setup.

You will capture better images of the moon using the 70-300mm kit lens and cropping them. Using the Vivitar doubler will only magnify the chromatic distortion of any lens that you use it on, as well introducing some of its' own. If you are shooting the moon, then you will not notice the vignetting from either the 500mm lens or the doubler.

However, the Vivitar 500mm lens is a good tool to learn on. It is just simply not a keeper. The lighthouse looks pretty good until you zoom in on it, where you can see the purple fringing of chromatic distortion.

Re: Vivitar 500mm lens on Amazon.com

ebiggs1 — Sun, 21 Feb 2016 09:52:09 GMT

"Does this lens work with an EOS Rebel T5?"

It actually does. If you don't care about AF. Plus you will need to set the aperture. This is just one of a series of cheap lenses made and distributed under several various brands. They paint some white and some black. They are all basically the same. For around a hundred to $150 bucks, why not? You might get a good one. You might not. Get it, play with it, have some fun and move on. People spend that much on a concert or ball game ticket.

It is a little absurd to say get a Canon "L" as that 500mm lens is nine grand!

Re: Vivitar 500mm lens on Amazon.com

Waddizzle — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 19:19:09 GMT

"It is a little absurd to say get a Canon "L" as that 500mm lens is nine grand!"

Since you put it that way, you're right. I was actually thinkiing of a less expensive solution, like the EF 400 f/5.6L USM, with an extender. The Vivitar has a fixed aperture, BTW. It's that cheap.

Re: Vivitar 500mm lens on Amazon.com

MikeSowsun — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 01:16:49 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:
"It is a little absurd to say get a Canon "L" as that 500mm lens is nine grand!"

Since you put it that way, you're right. I was actually thinkiing of a less expensive solution, like the EF 400 f/5.6L USM, with an extender. The Vivitar has a fixed aperture, BTW. It's that cheap.

That 500mm f/8 lens is actually made by Samyang in Korea and has also been sold under many other names. (Opteka, Bower, Kalimar, Phoenix, Rokinon, Quantaray, Vivitar, Bell & Howell, Falcon, Walimex, etc)

It is not a fixed aperture lens. It is called a "Preset" lens where you focus wide open and then stop it down to take the photo.

It is wide open at f/8 and also has stops at f/11 f/16 f/22 and f/32. In order to get good photos from this lens it is best to stop it down to f/11 or f/16. A sturdy tripod, lots of light, high ISO, and fast shutter speeds all contribute to getting decent photos.

I find a deep screw-in 67mm lens hood also helps with contrast.

Here is a link where you can see some examples of photos made with this lens: Samyang 500mm f/8 Preset lens

Re: Vivitar 500mm lens on Amazon.com

ebiggs1 — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 13:57:57 GMT

" It is called a "Preset" lens where you focus wide open and then stop it down to take the photo."

Which has to be done manually as does every other operation with this lens.