Decent results
A macro lens for £100!

Poor build quality
Soft at extreme apertures

A macro lens for less than £100? At first it seems impossible! However, Vivitar have managed to produce a lens that can focus from infinity to 1:2, and with the supplimentary lens to 1:1 ratio.
Performance-wise, it is not a patch on the Leica (generally regarded as the best macro lens in the world), but it is 20x cheaper! It is quite soft at f/3.5-f5.6, but if you use middle apertures you will get good results, so must be seen as a close-up lens and not a general use lens. It's a pity that it softens considerably to f/22 as that is where macro lenses should be very sharp, especially with the lifesize adapter attached (depth of field is only millimeters at 1:1 ratio).
Build quaility is very plasticky, but more worryingly the front elements rock side-to-side quite a bit which must effect the performance of the lens.
Overall, then, a good lens which can produce decent results and for the price, is probably a better buy than AF extension tubes or other close-up gear.

Customer Service

Not tried

Similar Products Used:

Leica 100mm f/2.8 APO-macro

Small, light, and very, very sharp. Small diameter filter size. Deeply recessed front element reduces need for lens hood. Great value for price. Very good markings on lens barrel for distance, reproduction ratio, etc.

Build quality--but it is so inexpensive. Have to screw on a close-up lens (included) to get to 1:1 reproduction ratio. Slightly slow at f 3.5.

An inexpensive lens that is extremely sharp. If you want a lens in the 100mm range and/or are at all interested in macro photography and your budget is tight (who's isn't?), this is the lens for you. I use this lens for slide copying. I use an extension tube in addition to the included close-up lens to get slightly closer than 1:1 reproduction ratio(necessary, because the slide is slightly cropped by the slide mount). I once compared this lens against several other macro lenses and and several very expensive enlarger lenses (often used in copy work) and I could not decern any difference in resolution between the Vivitar and the other lenses, on the slide duplicating film, using a high power lupe. My conclusion was that all of the lenses were probably sharper than the resolution of the film. However, all of the other lens were much more expensive than the Vivitar. Also the close-up lens is of high quality and can be used on other lenses of the same or similar diameter through the use of step-up or more probably, step-down rings as it is only 49mm in diameter. I have not had much luck with this with zooms as they usually tend to vignette badly except at their longest focal lengths. However, with prime lenses, I have had very good luck doing this. I have a 200mm lens that has to be reduced from 62mm to 49mm and it does not vignette. I often use this lens with my little Pentax MX and they balance beautifully, as if they were designed for each other. I think this lens is a bargin. I really like it.

Customer Service

Never used.

Similar Products Used:

Tamron SP 90mm 2.5 Adaptall
Tamron 105mm 2.5 Adaptall(not a macro lens)
Pentax 105 2.8 (not a macro)
Sigma 135 2.8 (not a macro)

SUPER PRICE; TAKE GREAT SHARP AND CONTRAST PICTURES; I have used this lens for almost 2 years now. I have several pictures of orchids enlarged up to 20x24. The lab technician was very surprised when I told him I took those with a Vivitar lens. I have done side by side comparison of prints from this lens and the Canon and couldn't tell the difference between the two. This is the only other third party lens that I own.

Built quality is not as good as one might have hope. What do you expect for $120??? I feel that this lens is strictly applicable for closeup macro work only. I have tried it with portrait shots but the bokeh effect is too much. As with any equipment, handle it with care and it will last forever.

I feel that this lens is a sleeper out there. If you don't have too much money to spend, this is the best option available out there. I didn't even bother with Sigma due to the "Significant Malfunction" reputation that it has. Tokina and Tamron both cost at least twice as much!!!

Customer Service

None

Similar Products Used:

Canon Macro 100

Super good price.Metal mount.Very sharp result.

Need to put a close-up lens (come with) on front to get 1:1.Super slow focusing.

The result almost same as Canon 100mm/2.8 macro.A poor-macro-man (like me) soluntion.

Customer Service

Not try.

Similar Products Used:

None.

Light weight, cheap, pretty shart.

Hokey build quality.

Altough build quality is almost toy-like, I'd have to say that this lens takes darn sharp pictures. It seems to be on the warm side. Reverse-engineering problems with the Canon mount causes the diaphram on my Elan IIe to lock up sometimes. Really, not a bad lens.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Tokina 80-200 f2.8 APO
Canon 28-105 f3.5-4.5USM
Canon 70-210 f3.5-4.5USM
Tamron 20-40

f/3.5 aperture and 100mm length excellent for portraits (although f2.8 would be even better)

aperture ring has unnatural feel, not a solid feel. Other than that the focusing (i have manual focus model) is very smooth and easy. As far as f3.5 not being good for macro, you work stopped down anyway to get better depth of field, so why need larger aperture?

Great value for the money, close up attachment is multicoated, that's definitely a plus. Plasticy aperture ring seems like it might fall off in 10 years, but then, you saved so much money you can buy a new one in ten years.

Customer Service

none needed.

Similar Products Used:

none

Surprisingly suitable for portrait work. Light and compact design. Focuses at about 16" with 1:1 adapter.

All-plastic enclosure is surely not built to last. Noisy and diffident autofocus in macro range. Also 3.5 apreture is not something you would love at 1:1 magnification. Requires an additional lens for life size. A red dot on the mount is skillfully concealed by designers, so changing the lens can get really tricky.

If you are into close-up photography, do not bother. However, it is hard to find a better AF portrait lens for Minolta for this kind of money.

Customer Service

did not need

Similar Products Used:

Minolta Maxxum AF 50/2.8 Macro

Great lens for low budget.

It is cheaply built, you have to handle with great care.

It gives you some taste of macro. You can take pictures of coins and stamps with it(1:2 even 1:1 with attachment), also you can use it as portrait lens(100mm f3.5). It is versatile.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 4T

Sharp, flat, and cheap. Contrast and resolution are excellent. It even works well with the Vivitar 2x Macro Teleconverter.

Also, the focusing ring turns in the same direction as Nikkor glass.

Yes, it feels cheaply constructed, but I still haven't seen any first-hand reports of it actually failing. Mine gets a fair amount of use, but works great.

The aperture blades visibly shift position as you rotate the lens (Pop Photo says they vary as much as ¼-stop from the marked aperture, and I can believe it); with TTL metering, that's not so much an exposure problem as an asymmetrical bokeh problem. That makes it somewhat less useful as a portrait lens.

A niggle: noisy AF.

Mine is actually the same lens in Promaster Spectrum 7 garb. The focusing ring is loose and rough, yet precise manual focusing is not as bad as you'd think. Very sharp lens, with a well-matched diopter to go 1:1. At 1:2, it's sharper than the Micro-Nikkor 55/2.8, and nearly as sharp as the Micro-Nikkor 55/3.5, but with more field curvature than either (still very minor - less than any non-macro lens). This lens uses 49mm filters; a step-up ring lets me use my Nikon 52mm filters and hoods. Much better performance than the Nikkor 105/2.5 with tubes or diopters. Not as nice, though, for non-close-up use.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

55/3.5 Micro Nikkor
55/2.8 Micro Nikkor
105/2.5 AI

Fair quality
Low price
Light weight

Flimsy
Not top quality optically
Not true 1:1 without close-up lens

Exceptional value for money, but absoulutely no substitute for the Canon 100mm USM. Mine has worked well and is really quite sharp at f8. The close-up lens for 1:1 is better than I had feared, but is not the best solution. Worth the money.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Various