harvey_yau

Dumb theory: This year's theme is V, from the 1v. Hence, Elan II + V

is Elan VII, or Elan 7. Neat huh.

Actually, the Vivitar you mention, the 19-35 f/3.5-4.5, is actually

made by Tokina.

Should be lots of information about this in the archives. I just

sold mine, so you're too late on that account. At 100mm, its quite

sharp. At 300mm, its a little soft, but still good. Its a ring USM

lens with internal focusing, unlike the 75-300mm counterpart, which

has the usually inferior micro USM (exception: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM).

It has full time manual autofocus, which allows you to adjust focus

without switching the AF motor off. It has a non-rotating front

element, and zooms by rotating the barrel. If you are very tall and

need to take a picture of your feet (for whatever reason) the barrel

*will* slide a bit when pointed downward, until you can only see your

shoelaces. The lens has a metal mount. I used this lens for quite a

while, and got many good photos out of it. Its build quality,

handling, interface, etc... is superior to that of the 75-300mm, but

optically, they are very similar.

<p>

But here's the question of the day. Are you going to be using this

lens as a longer telephoto lens as well as a portrait lens? Or are

you simply going to use this as a portrait lens? If this is indeed

going to be a portrait lens only, I have to suggest the Canon EF 85mm

f/1.8 USM or Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM. These would be *far* better as

portrait lenses, allowing shallower depth of field, far greater

sharpness, and better contrast. There is more information about this

in the static pages on photo.net, too.