>About Vivitar 55/2.8 made by Komine, does the mount type matter on optical performance? e.g. FD, AR, F.

I think not. Just choose reputable seller and lens in good shape.

some "lens test footage". No piano score though ...



GH2 and Canon Macro Lens FD 50mm f3.5

(the test was, how much shake does the lens take before it disintegrates. Next time I'm going to build a wind breaking tend around my friends the plant louses)

got outbid on the Vivitar Series 1 105mm Macro - damn!
next would be the 90mm ...

I got you all beat. Behold the magnificence! Brand New Rokinon 70-180mm F 4.5 Canon FD Lens

Bought it "Brand New" off ebay for around $30 shipped. OK seriously, I have zero camera experience and I was literally buying random cheap lenses, just to have them and try them out. It was new and there's a reason it's never been sold. Ultimately it useless indoors on the GH1 becaue of FPN. This produced the worst FPN indoors I've yet seen. Out doors it's decent, but I haven't used it much.

I just won Vivitar 55mm 2.8 Macro made by Komine at $44.65. Original front and rear caps and a original case.

It's Konica AR mount. FD mount version was priced ridiculously high. I really like AR adapter. It's pretty solid and there's no play. Here comes macro!!!

Other exceptional lenses in FD mount are the Tamron SP 28-80mm f/3.5 (27A) Macro and the Tamron SP 35-80mm f/2.8 (01A) Macro. Both are exceptional and affordable although the word got out on the 35-80mm so it often sells for around $500 or so. :0

If you know what the numbers at the bottom mean you will be impressed just by them alone:
01A: http://adaptall-2.org/lenses/01A.html
27A: http://adaptall-2.org/lenses/27A.html


Here's some shots with the 27A:


28mm f/4


55mm f/4


80mm f/4 - which is wide open for 80mm on this lens (it nudges via zoom to f/4.2 I think).



That flower is approximately 1.5cm ~ 1.7cm so I guess this little guy is about 8mm ± 2mm, in body length.


The following look as if they've been sharpened after reduction but they haven't. This is what the lens renders like:

The Yashica ML 24mm f/2.8 - It's a C/Y mount. I think it's the best 24mm lens I have tried so far. I think it's the poor man's Zeiss 21mm - which is only better in the corners of a full-frame image (from my research). The Yashica 24/2.8 typically goes for between $200 and $400 depending on condition, accessory, and seller desperation. :) I auctioned one for $240 not long ago and was kinda pissed that it went so cheap. BTW, all my lenses are always for sale. I buy, try, and sell'em. It's the only way I can keep the river flowing - I highly recommend everyone do that actually - unless your productions demand specifics and are all-time-consuming. ;)

The FD 20/2.8 and the FD 24/2.0 both are. the 24/2.0 is actually better than the FD 24L. Focal length of course depends on your setup. Remember 50mm is 100.5mm on the M4/3. If you've got plenty of room to work - (large room) 50 to 85mm may just be what you want/like. If you're on desktop or one of those mini light-box stage thingys tho I recommend something in the 20 to 35mm neighborhood. Even an awesome zoom like i just mentioned above would do you, Zooms typically suffer less from CA, purple fringing and etc. so IMO it you can get something reasonably flatfield-ish that covers 24 or 28mm to about 70 or 80mm that would totally be the way to go.

Disclaimer:
I've never done professional food photography so I could be talking out my ass. :D I did a lot of stage and texture photography for the movie industry tho. Stage to match set and lighting in CG/FX and texture photography for CG model building. That was my life from the early 80's till just recently when I retired. I taught the subject at Uni (in Japanese LOL) too. :)

Oh, and the MFD on the yashica 24/2.8 is about 8 inches. But you can get 7" stopped down just a little bit and closer yet stopped way down.

I will be receiving an FD Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f3.5 any day now, I'll post my findings.

@Tesselator: what do you think of the Canon FD 20-35mm f3.5L. The one i have performs very poorly in any direction except with the sun/overcast light behind the lens. Contrast and colour washes out big time. It's like there is no coating on the lens at all. If i put my finger in front of the lens blocking part of it, the true colour and contrast of the background appears in a halo around my finger. All my FD's do this to a degree, but this is extreme to the point the lens is unusable outdoors and at f3.5 useless indoors.

I expected much better performance from an expensive red band L lens than this.
Is this a coating issue?

R

Haha... well what do you know, i fixed the issue with Canon FD 20-35mm f3.5L. All it needed was a good quality Japanese Hoya UV Filter. All the problems are gone. I like the colors from this more than my 20mm Pancake. The vase is a Screen-grab of the video frame.