Vivitar 400mm f/5.6 Lens Review
 
This lens looks good at first, but has some serious issues. Definitely not what one would expect from Vivitar. Image quality is rather poor: soft at f5,6 and slightly better at f8, acceptable sharpness at f11. Chromatic Aberrations (CA) are terrible: awful red fringing on almost all pictures (see samples), it is even visible in the "bokeh". The lens seems to have some kind of coating, but it is not very effective on the CA issues. I did not notice any haze or lack of contrast, so in that aspect the lens is fine. Handling is easier than one would think. The lens is not that long and can be hand held, although there is an adjustable tripod collar. Focusing is smooth and can be done pretty fast, after some practice. I would not recommend this lens unless you really need a telephoto and if you don't mind clearing the CA in post-processing. I'd say it would be worth maximum 25 euros, any higher than that and you can probably find something better, but for under 25 euros, it's acceptable. (I paid 10 euros)
 
(by Tom De Nies

Lens

Vivitar 400mm f/5.6 Vivitar 400mm f/5.6

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Fact Sheet

Vendor name Type Product year
Vivitar
Auto  
Focal Min(mm) Focal Max(mm) Focus Min(cm)
400
400
610 
Aperture Max Aperture Min. Barrel length(mm)
5.6
32
280 
Elements In Group Diaphragm action Weight (g)
5 in 5 auto
1200
Filter Size (mm) Push on diameter (mm) Angular field
77
68
6

 

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