Excessive flare it is necessary to use the hands to cover the light of the sun. 77 mm filter. Difficult to mount and to dismount.

Inexpensive, light easy to take.AF fast

This lens is wonderful, the benefits that it is compared with the price are unbeatable. I am not professional, but I am very demanding with the results. This lens doesn't have the quality of a L, but you imagine them of slides that takes they are superb... and alone pays 100$. If it is not professional, but he likes to take very good pictures for joy and wants to take out architecture or landscape... buy it he/she will make it very happy and... for 100 $!!!

Customer Service

Never used

Similar Products Used:

Not similar Canon 28-135 USM IS Canon 70-200 2.8L

Inexpensive Low weight

* Excessive flare * 77mm filters (need the expensive "wide" filters to prevent vignetting) * Feels wobbly and fragile * Non IF (front end turns while focussing) * No gripping surface to hold on to while mounting/unmounting the lens (this really drives me crazy!)

Mine is the Manual version of this lens. For $150, this lens gives great bang for the buck. My biggest complaint is regarding the lens construction: there is no non-rotating surface on this lens. The entire surface is taken up by the aperture, zoom and focus rings. So when I want to unmount the lens, I have to turn these rings to their limits before the lens itself turns. The lens feels so fragile that I am afraid to do this often.

Customer Service

None

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Nikkor 28mm f/2.8

well constucted...(for my model???) not really that plasticky fell, compare to my canon 28-80 consumer zoom...yikes!!!

not yet discover coz just bought it...

just bought the lense but i have one strange question here... the lense i bought seems different from the picture in this review. mine one looks bulky and have a red color ring in front of the lense. (yup this looks like the manual version but mine one really is the AF version!!!) so is it the older model of the lense? ASIA model or??? need help a bit...

Customer Service

not needed.

Similar Products Used:

none

Really cheap!

Really cheap! (again...)

For 170 dollars is a real bargain. It is going to wide up your horizons literally! Do not expect build quality of a Nikon or even a Sigma, but if you use it carefully, it will last. Mine still working perfectly after three years of extensive use. Some people say that they dropped a lens and still working... This one maybe not, but you do not buy a lens to drop it! Furthermore, you won''t pay 5 times more money, so if you drop it it may survive... It may flares, it may feels plasticy (it is!), it may looks cheap (it is!) but if you buy it, you are going to love it. Also your clients (if you are a pro) are gonna love the fact that you can capture the wholle interior of their restaurant, or hotel lobby, etc. Who is going to note (and pay for them) the differences in image quality of similar Nikkor or Sigma? Bottom line: Nice, cheap lens. You are going to love his ability to capture such wide areas. Buy it - period.

Customer Service

Not needed yet. If ever needed, lens is so cheap, I'' ll get a new one next day.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 50 mm 1.8, Nikkor 50mm 1.4 D, Sigma 17 - 35 mm, Tamron 28-200mm, Nikkor 28 -105.

Price, range, close focus ability and image quality

Not built for rough use, not fragile but certainly not robust

Highly recommended, it is an excellent performer for the money spent. No it's not up to the same quality of the the Canon or Nikon brand, but remember this is at less than 1/3 the price!!!

Customer Service

None needed

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nothing else in this range though I have previously owned the Tamron SP 17mm f3.5

This lens is priced much cheaper than all the leading Manufacturer's wide-zooms. It's fast and light. It has never let me down in delivering very accurate images( primarily shot on Velvia). It provides high contrast images which when compared using 4X and 15X loupes are on the same level as the Nikon unit. My best friend has the nikon lens, and we compared while covering Oregon Bridges and Waterfalls. It was an extreme test to see the difference. If you enlarge to 16x20 doing custom Ilfochromes, that will just about be the limit. But, anyone who prints, knows 16x20's from 35mm is pretty darn good.

It doesn't seems as tight in the barrel as I've come to expect from my other lenses (all nikons). The front end turns while focusing. Even still it takes a little getting use to in order rotate your big 77mm polarizer into the correct position. Still no big deal while saving a ton of money. If Vivitar reads this comment, I would ask one thing. Please make this lens IF. The day it is offered in IF is the day I will get rid of my current lens. and not a day sooner.. Nonetheless, I have made good money with this lens.

The bottom line is I'm absolutely thrilled with this lens. It was a purchase of mine when having nightmares of spending the big money on the nikon. Don't get me wrong, Nikon builds GREAT Lenses, as a matter of fact I own several. They are tops! But when I needed a solution for the wide-zoom work, this $165 purchase never was returned for refund. It's that good. It's a permament part of the photographic arsenal. I don't see ever selling this lens......unless they make it IF, then WOW!. I hope this helps! Adios..

Customer Service

Haven't had to use them. THX!

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My best friend's Nikon 20-35 2.8 D(Also a Professional Photographer)

VERY cheap (around $150). Has focus distance information on the barrel (unlike many autofocus lenses). Surprisingly fast autofocus.

Feels a bit light and vulnerable to me, but I can't really say it's poorly constructed. The red mounting dot is hard to find sometimes. About one stop slower than most similar lenses (which are $400-500 more!!)

When I bought this lens I was worried that I would be dissapointed with the quality due to such a low price. But I wasn't at all! I am very happy that I didn't spend $500 more for a similar lens.

Customer Service

not yet

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 17-35

Good results from this economical wide angle. 19-35 is a good range. I purchase Vivitar fixed 28mm a few years ago but should have just bought this in the beginning.

Plastic construction (but then the latest Nikons have more plastic content).

Outstanding value for the price.

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Vivitar 28mm

GREAT PRICE, QUALITY IMAGES, EXCELENT FOR LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY.

COULD HAVE A BETTER LENS HOOD & A NON ROTATING FRONT LENS ELEMENT.

I HAVE HAD GREAT RESULTS WITH THIS LENS AND THINK IT IS ONE OF THE BEST VALUES OUT THERE. I COMPARED THE TEST DATA IN POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY WITH SIMILAR FOCAL LENGTH LENSES FROM CANON, SIGMA,TAMRON ETC. AND THE VIVITAR AVERAGED JUST AS GOOD OR BETTER. I WOULD HAVE PAID MORE FOR A SUPERIOR COMPETITORS LENS BUT I DONT BELIEVE THERE IS ONE. MAY NOT BE ROBUST ENOUGH FOR PROFESIONAL USE BUT THAT IS WHY ITS A CONSUMER GRADE LENS.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

CANON, SIGMA, TAMRON WIDE ANGLE ZOOMS

The lens had commendable Sharpness. Much better than I had hoped for. PRICE! The Nikon equivalent is 7 times the price (I'm sure the nikon is not 7 times as sharp)

Not the best build quality.

I'm someone who cannot afford to spend much on this hobby, so you can believe my satisfaction with this lens. For only about $150 you can pick this up, and you'll be very happy with the results.

Customer Service

Not need

Similar Products Used:

No other ultra wide