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Mark, you're welcome.
NightOwl Cat, these pics are really helpful. Looks like I was off by a full era here. What you have there are TX/T4 mount lenses, a generation of lenses that preceded the more notorious Series 1. These had an interchangeable mount similar to the Tamron Adaptall system. With it, you can have one lens fit many different brands of SLR cameras by simply changing the inexpensive mount. Of course prevailing brand loyalty made these less useful that they might have otherwise been.
Your mount I think is the older T4, but the lenses are likely from the TX series. According to Rick Olson's excellent site, you can use a T4 mount on a TX lens, but not the other way around. The reason I think these are from the TX series is that they closely match the ones released along with the full series in 1976. The entire TX release was made by Tokina!
The history of the TX series is a subject of ongoing debate at a small manual focus forum I participate in. One member remembered that there was a test of the series by Modern Photography magazine in 1979 that gave them high acclamation, but no record of the article could be found on the web. Another member then bought a set of the 1979 issues on ebay, but when they arrived, the article was not in any of them. Finally, yet another member went to his main city library where they have 40 years of Modern Photography issues available. He found the article in the April 1976 issue. From the article we learned that the TX line was not a revamp of the T4 line, but rather an entire new release. The lenses tested, primes in the 24-200mm range, all scored well. Presumably on optical bench tests.
Several members have the 200/3.5 and the feedback is very good. I suspect the 24/2.8 is just as good, but more prone to flare. Your mount is non-AI. It's difficult to tell from the pic, but if the outer sleeve of the mount doesn't protrude beyond the rear (camera side) face of the mount, then it is safe to CAREFULLY mount it on your D300 to see if it mounts freely and without friction. There is no aperture release linkage with these, so you'll have to compose and then stop-down. Set the non-CPU data to what you're planning to stop down to. Don't assume that stopping down automatically nets more sharpness and contrast though. Read this excerpt from a Robert Monaghan article about 3rd party lenses, especially the last paragraph.
To my mind, the T-4 and TX series are more interesting third party lenses, precisely because you can use them on a variety of camera bodies simply by using the appropriate adapter. Consumer quality lenses in the 28mm to 300mm range were no great optical design challenge by the 1980s. So you can expect these lenses to perform reasonably well, although less brilliantly than their Series I cousins, especially when used wide open.
Still, these interchangeable T-4 and TX mount lenses are even less liked by today's consumers, so you can often buy them for as little as $25 US or even less! For $10-15 for a used adapter, you can convert all of these lenses to work on a different camera body (generally non-autofocus models obviously).
In a related case study of Vivitar TX lenses, we discovered that these lenses are full of surprises. For example, their highest ratings for sharpness are wide open rather than the expected middle f/stop settings. Their corner sharpness is generally rated as excellent or very good, while center sharpness varied more widely. The hardest to design 24mm lens was the best rated performer. Surprise! This case study highlights the need to actually test your lenses to learn about these surprising variations.
Edited on Mar 30, 2008 at 01:33 PM
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