Vivitar Auto Macro 55mm f/2.8 Vintage Review

Vivitar Auto Macro 55mm f/2.8 Performance

Looking first at sharpness, at f/2.8 and f/4 the standard is very good centrally. It is excellent at f/5.6 and f/8 and again very good at f/11 and f/16. The edges are softer but still good at f/2.8, very good at f/4, excellent at f/5.6 and f/8 and very good at f/11 and f/16. It can be seen that we have excellent and totally even sharpness at f/5.6 and f/8, where the lens peaks at a very high standard.

How to read our MTF charts

The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges.

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution as LW/PH and is described in detail above. The taller the column, the better the lens performance.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Pentax K-1 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberration (CA) is very well corrected centre and edge, not always expected in a film era lens. It is not a problem and it is very unlikely that any further software correction will be needed.

How to read our CA charts

Chromatic aberration (CA) is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Pentax K-1 using Imatest.

Distortion measures -0.22% barrel, excellent and especially necessary for a macro lens. Copying of documents, for example, should retain straight edges without any problem.

Bokeh is not in the first league, being a little busy, but it's very acceptable and unlikely to be an issue with the sort of subjects sought for a macro lens. With just 6 diaphragm blades this is inevitable.

No doubt the very deeply recessed front element, effectively making its own lens hood, helps to banish flare and indeed flare was not a problem throughout the shooting of the sample images.

Overall, really a very pleasing performance, with a lens design that compared to current designs is relatively simple. That simplicity in itself will reduce the likelihood of flare.

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