Marc Binkley

Telephoto Wide

Any reviews or information on Cosina lens specifically Cosina AF 28-300mm f/4-6.3 MC Wide-Telephoto Lens?

Here’s a user review at http://www.photographyreview.com/PRD_143577_3128crx.aspx for this lens under the Vivitar badge (same lens). The review is very thorough but the verdict is devastating:
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“This lens is actually branded as a Cosina which is the real company that makes the current line of Vivitar Series I lenses. Today’s Series I’s are a far cry from the legendary first generation (like the defunct 70-210mm f/3.5’s). They just trade off on the name. Cosina makes lenses which are rebranded for a lot of different companies including Phoenix, Promaster and of course Vivitar. This 28-300mm was the first of its class debuting in 1996. Cosina was also the first to come up with a 35-300mm manual focus zoom back in the late 80’s. I’ve been wanting to play with a 28-300mm for a long time and when this came up at a super low price, I figured what the heck, try it. Mine came without a hood. This may or may not account for the ghosting problems I encountered when shooting against backlit scenes. If one does get this lens, keep the hood on as much as possible when using. The extreme zoom range makes it an ideal lens for brightly lit outdoor situations like festivals, ceremonies, celebrations, and other events. It allows you to get most shots without having to switch lenses. The rather long minimum focusing of 6 feet even at the wide angle end does limit its use indoors, even with flash. The maximum aperture of f/4-6.3 is only a tad slower then the usual 3.5-5.6 of shorter range 28-200mm zooms. With Iso 400 or even 800 print film in fair to good light, speed isn’t really a problem. But trying to shoot at 300mm under overcast conditions handheld can possibly test your steadiness skills. The distortion on this lens is obvious even in small prints. I shot the ocean’s horizon and it looks like it was taken with a fisheye. Avoid using it if you want nice straight lines on your buildings and structures. This isn’t a killer lens. I wouldn’t recommend it for serious shooters who use slide film. I consider it a “happysnap” lens and stick it on my Nikon N5005 with medium speed print film (iso 200 and up) as a “supersnapshooter”. This setup is convenient, inexpensive and allows me to get easy grabshots of whatever I might run into while on the street. The front element is huge. At 77mm, any filter I buy is going to probably approach if not surpass what I paid for the lens itself! ($35) 28-300mm lenses as a class are often derided by serious photographers including advanced amateurs and pros. They do have a place despite their limitations (distortion, less overal sharpness then lower ratio zooms). This lens is okay for fun. If one wanted a superzoom with good optical quality (kind of an oxymoron), I’d recommend for those who have compatible systems (Nikon, Pentax K and most other manual focus mounts) , the Tamron 35-210mm SP series f/3.5-4.2 or Tokina 35-200mm f/3.5-4.5. Both are now defunct but are often availible used for cheap and both were part of each company’s premium pro oriented lines. For rich Canon Eos users there’s the now to be discontinued 35-350mm L series and the new 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 L series. Both are huge and expensive (over $1200 each) but are very sharp and of pro level quality. There’s also the second Sigma 28-300mm compact zoom with the 67mm filter.It focuses down to 3 feet or so at 28mm but is very sharp for its range. The sharpenst of the 28-300mm class (not including the Canon L).”

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