Vivitar 19mm f3.8 - vintage lens review

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The lens is made out of metal, it weights 180, it is 37 to 40mm long and it has an external diameter of 65mm, with a 62mm front thread.

The iris had 5 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f3.8 to f22 plus auto.

The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 90 degrees and minimum focusing distance is 20cm.

My copy comes on a Pentax K mount with a flange distance of 45,46mm.

The lens is small and lightweight and it balances well even on smaller cameras.

Wide open it is pretty soft and by f8 the center gets quite sharp, while the corners are still soft.

Chromatic aberration is present, even up to f8, but it’s not too distracting.

Colors are a bit cold and contrast and saturation are on the lower side.

Specular highlights have some hard edges and backgrounds can feel busy.

It produces big flares when shooting towards a bright source of light and it does suffer from ghosting.

Vintage wide angles have a reputation of being not really that good, so my expectations for this Vivitar were quite low.

Around f8 it is quite useable, plenty sharp enough with just a little CA in high contrast areas, but wide open... it is just a bit too soft for me.

Honestly I don’t have any strong feelings towards this lens and my Sony 18-105 f4 is sharper and much more flexible, so I don’t have a reason to use the Vivitar instead of the Sony.




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