Micro Nikkor 70-180 and Vivitar 90-180 flat field

[mervyn_wilmington]

<p>I'm thinking of buying a D7000. One reason is that my "old" manual lenses would meter with it.</p>

<p>One such lens is the Vivitar 90-180 - a superb performer in my opinion. Apart from being a manual lens, have any members been able to compare its performance with the Micro Nikkor 70-180?</p>

<p>Mervyn</p>

[walterh]

<p>Sorry no direct comparison. But since direct comparison may be rare I will say something about the Micro Nikkor 70-180 in case you do not know all about it yet.<br>

I got several macro lenses and this is the lens I use when I need to change the field of view rapidly. I often shoot small kitten and believe me these are quite fast. Not much luck with any prime lens. Not a real macro situation but the lens is still great to use in close range. It also does "OK" near ininity.<br>

When I can use a prime and use f-stops below f11 then I prefer a prime (e.g. 55mm AIS f3.5 or 2.8 Nikkor, 90mm Tamron, 105mm Kiron, 100mm Zeiss or 150mm Sigma - the well known top list) because the resolution is slightly better. At f11 or smaller aperture resolution drops down with all macro lenses so the difference will be small.<br>

This is on a D3, a body with higher resolution sensor like the D300s or D3x may be more diffraction limited in resolution.<br>

Bokeh of the Nikon zoom is good but the most spectacular is what you get from the Zeiss 100mm f2.0. For me one other good reason to get this lens.<br>

The contrast of the Nikkor zoom is not as good as the recent 105mm f2.8 VR but this is not a big problem if you shoot raw. The working distance at 180mm is more like that of a 100mm lens.<br>

In short the Nikkor 70-180 is excellent if you need a zoom and do not need the working distance of a 180mm lens.</p>

 

[mfophotos]

<p>I can't comment on the Vivitar, but I have owned a Micro-Nikkor 70-180 for about 8 years, and it's a shame that Nikon stopped making it. There are better prime macro lenses, yes, but no other zoom can do what this one does, and it's great handheld, due to its mass. The tripod collar is very useful, and allows one to rotate the camera quite easily. If you put on a Nikon 6T diopter, you'll get better than 1:1 at 180mm. </p>

[tommyinca]

<p>IMHO. Don't expect the old Vivitar macro zoom to better then the new micro zoom Nikkor. It is not. At close up, the older Vivitar needs to stop down a little for better result at the long end. The newer Nikkor are just fine at wide open. The older Vivitar is 5 ounce heavier then the not so light weight Nikkor. On the plus size, the old Vivitar design has longer working distant (at same 1:2 magnification at 180mm). It however max out at 1:2 while the Nikkor can still go higher (and closer). </p>