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Vivitar 28-210 N/AI-S


julian_espiritu

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Does the N stands for Nikon and it is an AI-S lens not Non AI-S?

I am not familiar with Vivitar lenses and I would like to use this lens on my Nikon FE2. I know that Non AI lenses can not be used in the FE2.

Also how does this very wide zoom range lens perform compared to other brands of similar range?

Julian

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I'm pretty sure I had one of those, but I can't remember if it had a N in the name. Anyway, probably pretty much the same lens. It fit fine on my FE2, but had pretty bad vignetting on both ends of the zoom. I sold it on Ebay for 50 bucks and got a 50mm 1.8. I'd reather have quality (sharpness and fast lens) than quantity (lots of focal ranges).
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According to my research Vivitar never made a non-AI zoom in that focal range. They use the "N" designation routinely on their Nikon compatible lenses. I don't know what it represents, but all the Vivitars I've owned or handled were AI or, more often, AI-S types.

 

And by most accounts Vivitar's superzoom was the worst performer of every superzoom in the approximately 28-200 or so focal range.

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Thank you very much guys for helping me determine what kind of Vivitar lens the N/AI-S is. I will try to use it with my FE2 and see what kind of pictures I will get.This is a very nice forum and I will try to contribute whenever there is a question or topic that I am familiar with.
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  • 1 month later...
  • 13 years later...

Hey guys! I know this thread is kind of old and is not directly related to my question but i think you are very knowledged about Vivitar andmaybe you can help me.

I want to buy a 28mm F 2.8 and i wonder if it could be compatible with my Nikon D5000 (F mount). The vendor doesn't know ANYTHING about photography but provided a picture of the box which i attached. Thanks in advanced for your help.

 

lente-para-camara-nikon-macro-D_NQ_NP_785501-MLV28317989612_102018-F.thumb.jpg.e326abe03767fd10042f2bb620d71601.jpg

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Because the D5000 has no AI follower, and will not meter at all with any manual lens, all Nikon manual lenses are compatible with it, so it doesn't actually matter. I have used pre-AI lenses on the D3200, and they work fine. The manual warns not to, but it is inaccurate. Any low-end Nikon without an AI follower, will, if its minimum aperture switch operates up and down rather than sideways (and that includes all D3x00 and 5x00 family), take a pre-AI lens.

 

I'd be very surprised, anyway. if the lens in the box shown is not AIS, as Vivitar was pretty quick to adopt AI and AIS when they came out, and would not have designated AIS on the box otherwise. Don't pay too much for this, as such lenses are pretty common, though the Vivitar may be decent. 1:5x is far from macro, too.

 

Just be prepared for the fact that no manual lens will interact with the meter on a D5000, and you can only use it in M mode. Meter by guesswork, external meter, or post-shot with the histogram.

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It's a bargain bin-end for £9.99.

 

- That much!?

I might take it as a gift if I needed a(nother) project. I bet the iris is seized with oil and the whole lens needs a good CLA. Only to end up with a 3rd rate and slow 28mm manual-focus lens that doesn't even meter on my camera?

 

Please!

 

BTW, it says Ai-S, and 'for/pour Nikon' right on the box. Not that it matters much.

Edited by rodeo_joe|1
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I think I saw one of these in a local bargain bin for $5.00. At any rate one much like it. You could have my contemporaneous Quantaray for less. It looked good in the store, and was nice and compact, but optically third rate. The 28/3.5 preAI Nikkor got for $6.00 is much much better, and I'd bet the D5000's kit lens is sharper.
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Don't Ai-S lenses have the minimum aperture post required to operate the D5000 switch?

 

Never used such a combination, but is there no way to get metering with an Ai-S lens and a D5xxx/D3xxx?

 

Hot melt glue is wonderful stuff, in the absence of a 3D printer!

Edited by rodeo_joe|1
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- Hmmm, that sounds like a deliberate crippling of low-end models.

 

It's "crippling" in that it removes the relatively expensive and delicate aperture follower mechanism around the lens mount. I don't object to this - one of my grudges against Canon was that my Eos 300D was crippled in firmware purely to simplify the interface and differentiate it from the more expensive 10D (I have a third-party firmware hack that re-enables most of the features). I believe Canon have generally not done this more recently, but Nikon have generally - and I won't say always - only removed features that would actually cost money to insert. This most notably applies to the AI follower ring and AF screwdriver motor, and I suppose to pentaprisms. There are some features limited by lack of external buttons and dials, and the newness of the processing chip, both of which also cost money, too.

 

On the other hand, I could argue that the lack of losslessly uncompressed raw on the D3x00 and D5x00 series (and any 14-bit readout from the D3x00s) is deliberate crippling. :-)

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