The Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 has become one of my favorite vintage lenses. While it may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, it’s one of the most fun.

My copy of the Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 is an M42 mount Kiron manufactured lens. Vivitar cranked out a ton of 28mm lenses by several manufacturers back in the day. If you’re looking into getting one, check out the Vivitar 28mm Bestiary for how to identify these lenses. Now, let’s get into the review!

The Good

• Tons of character in the image rendering
• Great build quality
• Smooth handling that makes it a joy to use
• Interesting bokeh and flare patterns

The less good

• Average to good sharpness at best
• Very prone to flaring
• Vignettes quite a lot

Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 – TL;DR

When it comes to image rendering, this lens has something special to it. The bokeh can be beautiful and has a lovely soap-bubble rendering with specular highlights. The flaring can be spectacularly dramatic and casts a warm glow over the image. It really delivers a classic “film-like” look.

On the downside, it really is quite prone to those flares. It requires some attention for those times you don’t want that look. It also can vignette pretty heavily. When it comes to sharpness, it’s alright wide-open and improves to be fairly good from f/4-f/16 where diffraction starts to show. However, it never becomes bitingly sharp.

Notably, this lens is an absolute tactile joy to use. It feels great in the hand. The focus ring glides through a near-perfect throw and is damped as ideally as any lens I’ve used. It’s really a lens that needs to be used to understand. That said, I think it’s certainly worth a look, so let’s dive in!

Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 – Does it photo?

The Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 is a lens that I’ve owned for quite some time. I’ve used it adapted to Sony E-mount, Micro Four-Thirds, and now Nikon Z-mount. I’ve also used it natively on film with my Pentax Spotmatic. It says something that this lens has remained a favorite of mine over this time.

Bokeh

While wide-angle lenses aren’t where I usually start looking for bokeh, the Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 can deliver a nice performance. It adds a classic look to out-of-focus areas that I love. From the “soap bubble” specular highlights to the slightly out-of-focus backgrounds it achieves in portraits, it renders an interesting image.

Thanks to its relatively close minimum focus distance, it’s not too hard to get in there and create some out-of-focus backgrounds. I’ve also enjoyed using the Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 for environmental portraiture as well. However, it’s always worth noting that bokeh quality is pretty subjective. Hopefully, these sample images will help you decide for yourself!

Optical Imperfections – Flare, color fringing, etc.

When it comes to negative image quality characteristics, the Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s very prone to flaring. However, the flare patterns can be quite interesting in the right settings. It also seems to keep the contrast quite well when aimed toward bright lights.

The lens also exhibits a fair amount of vignetting and a bit of barrel distortion. However, when adapted to digital, these are easily corrected for in post-production. It’s also worth noting that sun stars from this lens are pretty underwhelming. Surprisingly for a lens of its age, there’s little to speak of when it comes to color fringing. Overall, not a bad performance for a vintage wide-angle lens.

Sharpness and Contrast

When it comes to sharpness, the Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 is pretty middle of the road. It’s good enough wide open, improves at f/4, again at f/5.6, and then stays decently sharp up to f/16. There’s some slight fall-off in the corners, but nothing too major. Overall, I’d say it’s just an average performer here.

When it comes to contrast, it actually does well for a vintage lens. While I won’t jump to call the images the Vivitar produces punchy, it does a good enough job rendering contrast. As mentioned earlier, it even holds up well when the lens is flaring. Overall, the lens provides a nice image with a vintage look that can hold up well enough on digital cameras. For a better look, check out my Vintage Lens Flickr gallery.

Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 – Touch Test

When it comes to ergonomics, Kiron really did a bang-up job on this lens. The Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 is an absolute joy to use. The focus ring is buttery smooth, with a throw that is Goldilocks perfect. Not too long, but not too short either. I also love the feel of the knurled metal focus ring. The aperture ring clicks solidly into its stops and the lens just feels right in the hand.

When it comes to control points, it’s a pretty simple lens. It has the aforementioned focus and aperture rings and an A or M switch for use on M42 cameras. If you get a copy in another mount, it’s even simpler due to lacking that switch. Using this lens is pure simplicity. If you can’t tell, I really love the feeling of photographing with it.

Build Quality

As for build quality, the Kiron-built Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 is solid. It’s nearly entirely metal. The lens has a good heft to it for its small size. It has a small built-in lens hood that is pretty useless except for perhaps adding a bit of protection to the front element and housing the 62mm filter threads. Aside from that, there isn’t much to the lens. It’s just built like a tank and feels confidence-inspiring.

Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 – A diamond in the rough

I doubt that Vivitar is high on many people’s shopping lists for great vintage lenses. However, I’ve come to really enjoy using the Vivitar 28mm f/2.5. The tactile experience of the lens is bar none and the image rendition is uniquely great.

Sure, it isn’t the sharpest 28mm out there. Likely far from it. It can also be prone to flares and vignettes a good bit. It’s certainly not the perfect wide-angle prime lens for everyone.

However, these lenses can still be had for good deals. The class and character this lens provides have certainly been worth it for me. What are your thoughts on this lens? Let me know in the comments!

If you enjoy vintage lenses, check out my Vintage lens section of the blog here. If you’ve found my website helpful and would like to help support it, consider buying a print! As always, share my articles as much as you like!