Vivitar Series 1 lenses have developed a cult following. Is there anything to it, or is this Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm lens a dud?

Vivitar was a company that contracted out a lot of lenses with several different manufacturers. Their Series 1 line is generally well regarded, but there is a lot of variation among lens makers. The Series 1 28-105mm that I have seems to fall outside of the guidelines found on the Pentax Forums. Therefore, I’m unsure of the make of mine.

The good

• Extremely interesting bokeh
• Awesome sun stars
• Good close focus distance at 105mm
• Nice build quality
• Center Sharpness is excellent
• Has “A” contact in Pentax K-Mount

The less good

• Poor corner/edge sharpness (more on this later)
• Loses contrast in “macro mode”
• Prone to flaring
• Filter threads rotate when focusing

Vivitar 28-105mm f/2.8-3.8 – TL;DR

I tested out the Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm on both full-frame with a Nikon Z6II and on APS-C with my Pentax K-70. I have to say that it performed really well on both systems. Considering it is a vintage zoom lens, it put out a pretty solid performance. It’s surprisingly sharp, delivers excellent bokeh, and has tons of character.

The biggest issue I found with this lens was its corner and edge sharpness. On full-frame, it’s quite poor even when stopped down. It wouldn’t be my first choice of lens for landscapes. On the K-70, it performed better, but even with the smaller sensor, the soft corners crept into the frame. However, as this is quite an old lens, I can’t rule out that my copy may be de-centered. It seems worse on the right side than on the left. Others may be better!

The Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm can be quite prone to flaring as well. However, I find it to be an appealing look in some situations. It looks like a flare right out of Adobe After Effects! It also holds contrast towards light sources surprisingly well.

Outside of the optics, the Vivitar 28-105mm is also built well. It feels like a solid metal build. The push-pull zoom and focus ring are well-damped and smooth as butter. Using it in “A”- mode on the Pentax was great. Overall, I’ve been pretty impressed with this little zoom.

Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm – Does it photo?

The Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm certainly photos, and it does so with tons of character. It’s a relatively new acquisition for me, but it’s earned its place in my collection already. I’ve brought it with me on several photo walks now, and have had a blast using it every time. I’m also excited to use it with some film in the future.

Bokeh

The Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm really shines in this category. Whether the focus distance is near minimum or in the middle distance, the bokeh quality of this lens is outstanding. It produces excellent bokeh balls when wide open, and the specular highlights don’t get too blocky when stopped down a bit.

At some focus distances, the Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm can produce a nice, swirly type of bokeh as well. Overall, I find the out-of-focus backgrounds to be quite pleasing and interesting without being overly distracting. As always, bokeh is certainly subjective, so feel free to draw your own conclusions from the photos!

Close-up performance

The Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm deserves a section just about close-up performance. It is billed as a “macro focusing zoom”, after all. It’s an interesting bag here. At any focal length other than 105mm, the minimum focus distance is, frankly, poor at about five feet. When taking advantage of the macro mode at 105mm, it’s considerably better at around two feet. I particularly enjoyed using this feature on the K-70 with its extra “crop factor”.

When the lens is focused at the minimum and 105mm, the lens gets a beautiful “soft and glowy” look to it when wide open. It’s still sharp, retaining good amounts of detail, but the contrast goes down and there’s a bit of a ghosting effect sometimes appearing. Also, if you’re not a fan of this, just stop down to f/4 from f/3.8 and it largely goes away. In the end, it makes for a fun experience with getting close-up nature photos.

Optical Imperfections – Flare, color fringing, etc.

When it comes to photographing toward the sun, the Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm puts in a great performance for a vintage zoom. The contrast holds up quite well. There isn’t much in the way of color fringing, just a slight amount in extremely high-contrast situations. It’s certainly minimal enough for a one-button fix in post.

Flaring, however, is another story. The Vivitar 28-105mm can be quite prone to flaring. It would do well to have a lens hood on it if you’re trying to avoid it. Although, I have to say that the flare patterns it produces are quite dramatic in a cinematic kind of way.

It’s also worth noting that the sun stars this lens produces are worth writing home about! The Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm makes some excellent-looking starbursts from about f/11 on. I had way too much fun playing with this characteristic of the lens.

Sharpness and contrast

The Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm is a fairly sharp lens for a vintage zoom. As I mentioned in the TL;DR section, my copy may have some issues, however. I found my lens to be quite sharp in the center from wide open, with improvements as it’s stopped down. The corners and edges though, never quite get sharp.

I suspect my lens may be decentered, as this seems worse on the right side of the images. Even on the APS-C Pentax, the corner softness creeps into the frame. That said, the Vivitar puts in a fairly good performance.

The contrast from the lens is quite nice. The images I get from the Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm don’t need much post work and it renders scenes accurately. Colors are also fine as nothing really stands out as exceptional or poor.

Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm – Touch Test

The Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm is a nice lens to use. It has a good heft to it and balanced well on both the K-70 and Z6ii. It’s also nicely compact when zoomed out to 28mm as seen in the above photos.

The rubberized focus/zoom ring feels nice in hand. It’s well damped and the action on the lens is smooth as silk. However, my copy has seen some use, and zoom creep is a constant companion with it.

Lastly, the aperture ring is basically bog standard. It’s got solid clicks for every stop and if you’re a fellow Pentaxian, you’ll be happy to know it has the “A” setting. This was super convenient, however, be aware that it doesn’t register the natural aperture change as you zoom the lens in.

Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm – Build Quality

This old zoom lens is built rather well. The Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm feels like a mostly metal construction, with the odd plastic bits here and there. It certainly feels solid in hand. It features a 72mm filter thread size, which unfortunately rotates with the focus ring.

The lens is also well-labeled on the aperture ring, and focus ring, and has a great focus scale. The lens mount is metal and overall the lens seems built to last. It’s basically your standard fare for a vintage lens. There’s not a lot to it, but what’s there was put together well.

Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm – Lives up to the reputation

After spending a good bit of time with this lens, I have to say there might be something to the Series 1 cult following. The Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm is certainly not a perfect lens. It’s flare-prone, can be soft and glowy sometimes, and my copy at least, is pretty soft outside of the middle.

However, this lens has been some of the most fun I’ve had with a vintage zoom. The 28-105mm focal length was versatile on both full-frame and APS-C. Paired with the close focus capabilities at 105mm, it opens up a lot of photographic possibilities. Getting creative and playing with the strengths of the lens was super fun and led me to some great photos.

Are you a Vivitar Series 1 fan? What’s your favorite lens in the line-up? Let me know in the comments! If you’d like to see some higher res versions of some of these photos, check out my Flickr Gallery. As always, if you’d like to help support the site, consider buying a print!