Absolutely fantastic video, i love capturing city life with my big ol' Canon zoom! Hope you don't mind me making a list of timestamps for future viewers: 2:50 - Vivitar 70-200mm f3.8 9:00 - Kiron 70-210mm f4 14:10 - Sirius 70-210mm f4-5.6 18:50 - Canon FD 70-210 f4 Again, loved the video, keep up the good work!

Such a great channel - really interesting!

Nikon 100-300mm f5.6 Ais over here. Cost 99 bucks. Not all lenses from that period have good IQ but this thing is very sharp on my D850. I didn't know the existing of this lens until I found it at a second hand store. No camerashop, just a store where they sell all kind of used products. I would call this lens a real gem.

Hi Nigel, many thanks! Indeed nice lenses! Best wishes, Ralf

Being new to the hobby I have greatly enjoyed your reviews. You have helped me so much in purchasing great vintage lenses. Thank you.

Nice video as always. I think I’ll go back to my favorite camera store next week and buy the Kiron zoom they have in their $20 (US) discount bin. I have to admit though, I am a big fan of the Nikkor 80-200 with the rectangular rear baffle (early versions had a round rear light baffle). Some reviews have referred to it as being one of the sharpest in its class for that era. I only shoot film, but I do enjoy reading about the vintage lens / mirrorless match ups. After 50 years of shooting film maybe I’ll try something new one day. Keep up the great videos.

Love this channel. I remember choosing manual lenses. I went for Tamron due to the adaptable 2 mount system. When I switched from Olympus to Canon all I had to do was buy a new adapter. Thanks for posting.

Your vids are very inspiring and have a artistic input on my photography!!!!! thx! I must have the Helios 44-2!!!! I also love the low contrasts of these glasses! I always reduce the contrast on my digital cameras too!!!! great!

I just ordered the Canon FD 70-210mm f4. Thanks so much!

Some of these overlooked lenses are really good performers. I bought a Nikkor 80-200 mm 4.5 which gives excellent output. Many years ago, the Vivitar 70-210 mm 2.8 series 1 received rave reviews from critics and was known to be carried around by pros for its quality of image. Very difficult to find these days to try on Nikon digital and film . Love the videos. Your knowledge and passion for photography and older equipment that doesn’t break the bank really shines through . Keep up the good work 👍

Another awesome review... I love some of the Fuji shots!!!

Another great review from our favourite Zenographer. You are spot on about the colour differences, especially Canon v Nikon lenses. I have a friend who is an award winning wedding photographer and he uses Canon, and his photographs, on digital, always appeared warmer than my Nikon digital pics. It used to be said that Canon was for portraits and Nikon was for photo-journalism, and I agree, that's the way it appears to me. I'm off to see if I can bag a bargain Canon FD 70-210mm f4 for my Fuji's. Thank you again

I've been using the Vivitar 70-210 f4.5 lens for about 5 months. Wasn't sure if I'd like it enough (it was very cheap on E-Bay). I like it a lot. Gives very nice colours and blur is easy on the eyes. Took a while to get used to using it... Really like your channel, very informative and inspirational for photography...

Found your channel, I'm gonna binge watch all your videos :)

After watching your vid on the Industar 26 (can't remember exactly which one it was) I ordered one from Russia. It arrived on Friday and it hasn't been off my Fuji X-T20 all weekend. I love it, getting some tack sharp images. Also, paired with my graphite silver X-T20 it is sooooo last century! Wonderful! Keep up the good work on these wonderful old lenses.

I still have my Kiron 80-200mm f/4. I rarely use it these days, but it was an excellent lens which I loved to use. It was sharp and produced beautiful colors, but I thought it really excelled when shooting B&W film because of its great contrast. It's a fairly large lens so it's a little unwieldy on my Olympus mirrorless cameras, but it's still a great lens if you can find one.

Another excellent presentation. The Canon 70-210mm f4 FD will be added to my collection shortly, which I will use with the Canon AE-1 Program SLR and the Fujifilm X-T3 Mirrorless with FD Lens to Fuji X Adapter. Thanks again!

Love the old Vivitar lenses. Have a couple in Nikon Mount and another in canon. And They were dirt cheap indeed... Haven’t tried the Kiron yet, but do have the old nikkor 70-210mm which I like too. Thanks again for another Sunday morning sermon...

I've just picked up an 'oddball' tele-zoom, Hoya HMC 75-205mm f4 Macro, M42 mount. This will take a bit of getting used to. Zoom is push-pull - in for 205mm, out for 75mm. Focus is by a very wide grip on the push/pull section. Macro is by a built in rotating variable extender with a locking pin at zero extension. Aperture is f4 - f32 and stays where you put it as you zoom. Front filter is 55mm and rotates with focus. MFD is approx 4 feet / 1.25 metres without macro. Iv'e tried it indoors on my Eos M5 with M42/EF-M adapter and it is pretty damn good. I haven't seen another for sale with M42 mount (I like M42 as I have adapters for both EF-M & EF)

Great review I was tempted by the vivitar, but it’s quite a heavy lens so I went for the m42 Sirius as I can use it with a speed booster in a theatre setting in low light. £30 for a good copy

Remember over 40 years ago, with the Olympus OM, when I bought a Vivitar 70-150 / 3.8. Small, light, and in fact a good zoom for its time.

I have a Kiron 80-200mm f4.5 with ''macro''... Brilliant lens! I was especially surprised how sharp it was at 200mm! I've stopped using my 135mm primes - that's how good this Kiron is.

I have a VIVITAR 70-210 SERIES 1 first version, is really nice! Saludos desde México!!!!!

I have the Kiron 28-210 f:4 - 5.6, which is a bit of a heavy sod, but produces some wonderful results. I don't know if Kiron made any bad lenses, but I've not come across one yet. Another zoom that punches above its weight is the Tamron 104, 80-210 F:3.8 - 4, which is almost SP performance and available for about 12 quid.

Some of the many Vivitar SLR's I know about some are M42 some PK......Vivitar-220/SL. Vivitar-400/SL. Vivitar XV-1. Vivitar XV-2.Vivitar XV-10. Vivitar XV-5. Vivitar-XC2. Vivitar-XC3. Vivitar-XC4. Vivitar-V335. Vivitar-v3800n. Vivitar-V4000. Thanks for the great videos. Mike.👍

Really enjoying your videos. Just purchased my first vintage lenses to try out - an Olympus 135mm f3.5 & a Bell & Howell 70-210 f4-5 OM. Can’t find much info about the latter but was only £10 plus postage and am advised it’s in good nick.

Great review. I have the vivitar. I don’t shoot it enough. I love the blur and was surprised at the sharpness. It just oozes a filmic look that I love. Zoom creep is awful though. It’s my only knock against it. I’m gonna try the canon. I agree with you about the 50mm canon fd f1.4. It was the first vintage lens I bought when I went mirrorless. It definitely is sharp but it has character. There is something special about the old canon fd glass in general but that 50 is my fav !

Never expected ASMR from a lens review

Another wonderful video. I am binge watching your channel and I feel no shame. Considering a Nikon AIs 80-200 f4 for my D610.

I am a fan of the Tamron SP glass, zooms and primes. Terrific value for well regarded glass.

I love my FD 70-210mm, FD 135mm 3.5 and my not so old EF 200 mm L2.8.

The Vivitar and Kiron are really nice pieces of glass. If you get them for your film system of choice and adapt them to serve double duty on your digital body it's really great for your budget. Actually right now the best kept secret is the 4/3 Zuiko Digital 50-200 f2.8-3.5 that works as a charm on M4/3 with phase detect AF and an adapter.

I’ve wondered when you were going to come out with a long zoom videos. Slightly disappointed you didn’t feature the Nikon 70 210mm 4-5.6 which I’ve come to love very much for being really sharp and contrasty. :p I hope you do a video on old teleconverters eventually. I use a tc 16A with this lens to have an equivalent 336mm and while image quality does take a slight hit and you lose some light, it’s nice to have the extra reach and many of my recent favorite photos have been taken with this combo. Keep up the good work!!

As always, thank you for your nice inspiring videos. Just to point out that it looks like Kiron did make some of this long zoom lenses (i.e the Vivitar 70-210 f3.5 Series 1) for Vivitar in the late 70's. I suppose that's why both brands are sometimes so close in terms of color rendering, sharpness and blur. Thank you for your work. Javier

Getting a Vivitar from Ebay in Germany. They were good lenses back in the film days. Might also get a lens hood to screw into filter thread - makes better contrast. Can't wait to give it a road test.

Nice video on vintage Lenses. I know the place from the pictures. It's South Woodford and George lane.

Thank you for this very informative video and thanks for keeping your voice down too. I found myself very relaxed by the end! My immediate reaction to the video title was that they could hardly compare to my XC 50-230 for Fujifilm, especially considering that it’s an autofocus lens with stabilization. I paid $230 USD for mine new and I really do think that it’s an absolute steal at that price. I’d still consider it a great purchase at double that price, given the quality of the images and the effectiveness of the stabilization. Then you said the prices for these four lenses haha. Even combined with an adapter, any one of these would certainly be a fantastic bargain. Would you mind adding their names to box under the video or in a comment here? I’m in the US and I’d like to see if the prices are comparable over here. Thanks again, take care!

Some lenses, which are underrated are the 70-150mm zooms. Among them are some of astonishing image quality, as the Kiron 4,0 70-150mm or the vivitar 3,8 70-150mm (first version, which was a two-ring-zoom). Best image quality at an adequate price are the canon FD 4,0 80-200mm L and the Tamron SP LD 2,8 80-200mm. The best of the six versions of the Vivitar Series 1 70-210 ist the third version 4.0 70-210 manufactured by Komine. The serial numbers start with 28.

Filmed a wedding several years ago using a SONY NEX-EA50 with a Canon FD to NEX adapter and the Canon FD 70-210 F4 ... customer loved the wedding film ! bought that lens for PEANUTS approx £40-50 I paid.

Just bought a Vivitar 70-210mm F3.5 very curious to how it will perform! I'm hoping to buy a Canon FD too, to compare and keep the one I like best! Lot's of different versions available!

Can you please do this for longer focal lengths? I'd love a budget 300mm lens, prime or zoom, so tell me which is the best! Preferably Nikon mount. Also, you are hilarious! That dry English humor kills me 🤣

I have a older zoom QT11 MC AUTO ZOOM 70-210 4.0-5.6 it is a 4.0 at all focal lengths alsoas well as a push pull zooming also bought it for peanuts . It also all metal construction and works well it is also a A lens so I set the Aperture with the wheel on the camera

I think prices on vintage zooms have not gone up because most of them have a rotating front barrel when focusing. This creates problems if used with a vnd filter. Any options with the rotating front barrel?

I get goose bumps when I hear your voice. Absolutly stunning. When will I hear you an audible? :D

Great info...I have a nice Tamron 24-70mm zoom lens but looking for an AFFORDABLE longer zoom lens for my Niko D750! Thanks...

I have the Vivitar in PKA mount, it's about 1" shorter than the Series 1 and as far as I can see, just as sharp.

my Canon FD 70-210 creates fantastic blur while zooming in and taking close ups of a leaf, a flower, a mushroom.:-) I'm also owning the 35-70. I wonder if you have experience/feedback of this one? Thanks for all your interesting information and the way you present this. from the other side of the Canal, Belgian greetings. Ivan

Also to consider is the Nikon 70-210mm f/4 Series E lens. Another good option is the Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5, the first or second version with fixed f/3.5 max aperture, not the later variable aperture versions. I actually have both of these lenses and they are wonderful. I bought the Nikon Series E lens for about $70 USD three years ago and I found the Vivitar Series 1 (Canon FD mount) for literally $15 on Ebay about 2 years ago. I have used them to shoot film and adapted to my Fuji mirrorless camera.

My FD-mount Vivitar (Kobori-made?) 70-300mm f/4.5-5.3 suffers from gravity zoom, but it has captured some beautiful and memory-making images in the forty years I've owned it. No complaints at all. It's interesting to me that some of these push-pull zooms have their shorter focal length when they are physically extended and some the other way round. When the barrel is "pushed" on the Sirius (and on my lens), the "front" lens moves outward and the entire lens becomes physically longer _as does the focal length._ Intuitively, that makes sense to me. But on the others, when the barrel is "pushed" along the lens housing, and the entire package never gets physically longer _and the focal length shortens._ Can anyone explain this?

Just bought a Vivitar 200mm f3. 5 M42 for £10 is actually Komine cos of serial number.. though hasn't arrived yet may need a clean...seen some reviews...seems looked after from photos... cheers Have a good day....

AFAIK Vivitar was a dealer not a manufacturer. The V2000 was really a Cosina and so might be some of the lenses. I have a Cosina made Voigtländer (70-200) which is a fine lens. Pentax K mount.

I shoot a Sony A7RII using a set of Canon FD primes from 20mm to 135mm. But I also have a wonderful Tokina ATX 100-300mm f4 lens that I'm still using too!

Vivitar Series 1 lenses always had a pretty good reputation. The Vivitar here doesn't seem to be a Series 1 lens, which can usually be identified by a red ring around the front of the lens. But apparently the Kiron 70-210 F4 was the same as the Vivitar Series 1, just rebranded (manufactured by Tokina, I think).

I have to agree with you with the Canon zoom. As someone who is wedded to using prime lenses, I was more than a little surprised with the IQ from this dirt cheap FD70-210 f4.

If I could suggest another zoom lens you need to check out, it would be the Minolta MD 35-70mm F3.5 Macro. The image quality is outstanding right from F3.5, and its a very useable focal range for a travel lens. Cheap too.

Hello, could you make a video about jupiter 3 or some sonnar clones lens? Recently I love those sonnar things and wanna buy one.

That vivitar lens is in fact made by Bauer.

which vivitar lens are youtalking about

Hi I hope you’re doing good I lately bought a 70-210 f4 FD lens it needed some cleaning because of the fungus on its glass I tried to clean it but now when I’m putting back its elements I noticed that the blades are not fully open when at f4 but I can’t remember if this is how it behaves at f4 If you still have this lens please check for me to see if i did things right I looked online for hours and found nothing Many thanks

which is the smallest in size

Had the Series 1 VIVITAR 70-230 if I remember correctly it was f2.8 for my NIKON F MOUNT ....shot this on my Sony A6000 when I had those as well as my EL NIKKORMAT .....Sold those over two years ago

The vivitar is good made by Kino Precision... Seen longer reviews the long end is really excellent for macro type shots nature etc.. Is very sharp.....

As I understood it when I worked in the industry back in the 80's and 90's, the Kiron lenses were designed by ex-Nikon lens makers, so that would explain the Nikon-like performance. It was said that the name Kiron was a re-jig of Nikkor, but take that for what it's worth. Still, it's interesting. I had this zoom, a 28f2.8 and a 24f2, and regret ever parting with them

Don't believe it that Vivivitar got it for peanuts... beat 99p...+ postage on our favourite auction site looks nice too...tell your mate Gerry for me... Cheers Nigel.....

Would You do an episode On the real long zooms from 500 and up ?

The vivitar lens is 15 elements in 10 groups and 6 leaves in the Iris.....

Thanks for you video. Since a few months, I'm the owner of a Vivitar 80-200. Hanging it in front of my Canon EOS 100D and Canon 250D, I could realized the quality of that zoom, then I bought 2 differents adapter rings, one mounted with a lens, and the other without lens... Unfortunately, the first ring is deforming the images a lot and cannot be used, the second ring, without lens is putting the zoom too far (1 cm) from the standard lens and then the focus cannot be done for a subject farest than 6 meters, so the zoom is not usefull and I'm very upset because my mother in law gave me that zoo just after the death of my father in law 6 months ago...Do you have an idea to solve that ?

Any thoughts on the Nikon 70-210mm f4?

You say peanut next thing we have to sell a kidney

Looking to see how zoom lenses connect to rangefinder bodies.... Wait though, haven't we been told for years that zoom lenses aren't as good optically as primes?

Are you familiar with the book, The Authentic Guide to Russian and Soviet Cameras by Jean Loup Princelle (2004)?

I thought that vintage zooms were pretty much useless. It seems that they are fine. I think i ll buy the Canon FD first.

I'm not a fan of push pull zooms because it takes more time to compose precisely and dirt can easily get stuck underneath the mechanism, BUT the price of ca. € 50 for really nice examples makes me think twice. Especially the Canon FD, Pentax K and M42 mount push pull zooms are very affordable. If you're willing to choose a 3rd party brand (e.g. Tokina, Cosina, Mitakon, Panagor), the price is even lower. That's so cheap for a Japanese made metal lens that it makes me want to experiment with one :)

On the one hand, I am a bit surprised how much vintage primes have skyrocketed in price. On the other hand, I am really not, given how much you promote them every chance you get ^^ Vivitar indeed made or branded some great lenses.

I have and use a number of Vivitar lenses. There are quite a few really good Vivitar lenses. But, I don't believe that they "manufactured" any of them. They supplied specs and various lens manufacturers built to those specs. Researching serial numbers will reveal who the manufacturer was, most of the time. Several of my favorite legacy lenses are Vivitar brand.

im surprised you didnt warn against lens haze...is that not a problem for you?

Looks like that Kiron lens has a big spot of fungus on the front element.

Hard to believe that these cheap lenses produce such lovely images Their cost wouldn’t even pay for a quality UV filter on a modern equivalent costing 40 time’s more!

My wallet gonna take another hit...😅

Actually old manual zoom lenses for film cameras r on the crap side compared to today's zooms.. On another hand primes r totally different..

Vivitar is just a brand, they never manufacture anything

Short Note about Vivitar: Their 70-210mm Series 1 are well regarded in every iteration (their even existed gold plated versions of it). Other than that there's two incredibly underrated superzooms worth checking out (which were also distributed under Vivitar): The 28-210mm f3,5-f5,6 and the 28-200mm f3,5-f5,3. These were the first superzooms that were sharp at every instance and covered almost all common focal lengths. When these were released they basically were every ambitioned amateurs dream when it came to travel. www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/cosina-vivitar-28-210mm-f3-5-5-6-macro.html www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/vivitar-28-200mm-f3-5-5-3.html The reviews on the pentaxforums. Most Vivitar Series 1 is underrated anyway. If you can put up with manual focus then you can get some pretty good results.