Vivitar:

The top part of the above table from John Wolf's Vivitar Guide shows the Vivitar Series I lenses available during 1980. We have added in some later Series I lenses from the second series in the early 1990s in the lower part of this chart. Today, you can buy lower cost Series I lenses from a third and more recent tier of lenses at prices little more than standard consumer versions. Most of the professional interest is in the original Series I lineup, with a few of the second design series also being of interest.

The original Vivitar Series I lenses were designed not by a Japanese company or a German optics powerhouse, but by an American company - Opcon Associates (of Stamford Connecticut). Surprise!

Chief Designer E. Betensky had worked with Perkin-Elmer as a senior optical designer. You may recall that Perkin-Elmer also made the original Vivitar Series I solid "cats" mirror lenses too. Thanks to these associations, Opcon Associates was able to use the latest computer technology to explore new and innovative lens designs.

Betensky came up with the idea of changing the air spaces between lens components as the lens focuses more closely. The lenses were made by Kiron, Kino Precision Industries Ltd. of Tokyo to Vivitar (Ponder and Best's) specifications.

So now you know why the original Vivitar Series I lenses were able to offer amazing (for 1972) close focusing for the 135mm f/2.3 (3 feet) and 200mm f/3 (4 feet) that blew away competing optical designs in this area.

Vivitar 200mm f/3

One of these faster Vivitar lenses to have cult status now is the 200mm f/3 Series I lens. You can see that this lens sold for $334 in 1974, equivalent to $1,161 in today's 1998 inflated dollarettes. Half a stop slower 200mm lenses sold for a third as much, so this was a pricey lens!

Nearly as fast as a very expensive pro f/2.8 lens, this lens is relatively small (4.6 inches) and compact on the camera. You can hand-hold it nicely, although it is fairly heavy at 29 ounces. But the lens is very sharp and delivers superb results. The f/3 aperture is odd and slightly slower than an f/2.8, but hardly noticeably so even on slide film. Unlike many telephoto lenses, this 200mm will close focus to 4 feet, yielding a 1:4 reproduction ratio on film! Unlike many 200mm f/2.8 telephotos, it also uses smaller standard 72mm filters.

Vivitar 600m f/8 and 800mm f/11 Solid Cats

Vivitar also marketed a series of solid catadioptic or solid cats of one-piece glass construction. These mirror lenses were actually made by Perkin Elmer (of NASA space telescope fame). The 600mm f/8 and 800mm f/11 solid cats have achieved cult status as very compact (only 3.3 inches long), sharp, and super-rugged lenses. Their ruggedness is partially due to their solid, one-piece construction, unlike most current production mirror lenses. This solid one-piece construction design means the elements remain in the optimal fixed positions relative to each other, despite temperature changes or even professional use and abuse.

Weight was only 3 pounds on the 600mm and 800mm lenses! Yet these lenses could close-focus to 23 feet and 25 feet respectively (circa 1:9.3 and 1:8.5 respectively).

One thing to be wary of when buying these lenses is to be sure you get the oddball series filter size filter set, including the UV filter. The lens design requires a filter in the optical path. Be aware that to replace filters, you have to remove the lens, then remove the T-mount, then replace the filter. More modern mirrors have a rotating filter mount.

Most of the standard filters are for black and white photography. Obviously, a polarizing filter would have to be front-mounted, a rather painful financial proposition for such a large filter size. (Hint: Edmund Scientific sells sheets of polaroid material cheaply)

Today, you would be lucky to find these lenses for sale used, as most owners readily appreciate their technical and optical qualities. Few were sold originally because of the steep price tag ($634 in 1975 dollars translates to $1,971 in today's 1998 dollarettes). They quite literally don't make them like this anymore!

Vivitar 450mm f/4.5 Series I Mirror

This Vivitar 450mm f/4.5 Series I mirror lens is only six inches long and 4 5/8ths inches in diameter. Unfortunately, it takes an expensive and hard to find 97mm filter. Like many Vivitar Series I lenses, the close focusing distance is excellent at a remarkably short 12 feet.

This lens was another failure in the marketplace, and relatively few were sold due almost entirely to the high price (over $770 in 1986, or over $1,100 US today!). The reason for its excellent close-focus performance, and high price, was the unusual use of aspherical plastic elements in its design. But such elements cost ten times what a non-aspheric element costs to manufacture, and that adds quickly to the cost of these lenses.

Vivitar 90-180mm f/4.5 Flat-Field Macro Lens

Vivitar also made a number of high quality zooms under the Series I label. The 90mm to 180mm f4.5 flat-field VMC lens from 1978 is an optic that has also achieved cult status.

This Vivitar 90-180mm f/4.5 lens was really designed for medical photography needs. A ring-light flash unit was designed to mount on the front of this lens too. But as far as I know, it was never released. This original medical market niche explains some of the design features and range of this high quality zoom lens.

This lens is over 6 inches long, and pretty heavy at 2.3 pounds. At a constant f/4.5, you aren't going to value it for its speed either. But it produces excellent results in macro-work down to 1:4 at 90mm and to 1:2 at its 180mm setting.

On most modern zoom lenses, macro photography settings are a lower quality setup. Achieving macro capabilities means shifting some elements and so sacrificing some of the zoom's control over spherical and other aberrations.

Most current zooms only offer macro settings at either one end or the other of their range. Generally, you would prefer macrophotography at the longer end of the range, but most zooms opt for the easier macro settings at the shorter end of the zoom's range. Only a few zooms offer continuous macro-settings over their full range. Even the better current zooms generally only get to 1:4 to 1:6 reproduction ratios (.e., the object is one-fourth lifesize on film).

The Vivitar 90-180mm f/4.5 Series I macro zoom is designed to provide the highest possible quality continuously down to its closest macro settings. The Vivitar 90-180mm f/4.5 flat-field lens provides high quality macrophotography continuously from 90mm (to 1:4) to 180mm (to 1:2). That's unique, and useful, so you should expect to pay quite a price premium for such a cult status lens!

Vivitar Series I 28mm f/1.9

Even today, a 28mm f/1.9 lens would be considered quite fast. This lens provided superb quality, low distortion, and very high speed. Here again, this lens wasn't popular due to its odd f/stop and high price ($305 in 1978). For under half that price, you could buy Vivitar's more compact 28mm f/2 lens. At 12 ounces, this fast f/1.9 lens was also a third heavier than the more compact model. But it was one of the fastest third party lenses ever offered in the 28mm focal length.

Vivitar 135mm f/2.3 Series I

Similarly, Vivitar's Series I 135mm f/2.3 lens ($220 list in 1977) compared very favorably in everything but price with the slightly slower 135mm f/2.5 lens (only $130 in 1976). But the Series I lens offered close focusing to 3 feet (vs. 5 feet for f/2.5) and a reproduction ratio of 1:4.5 versus 1:9 for the slightly slower f/2.5 lens. But that speed and close focusing capability required a 72mm filter on the Series I, versus only 55mm on the f/2.5. For only $60, you could get the TX mount 135mm f/2.8 lens using 52mm size filters. That's a 360%+ premium for circa half a stop of extra speed!

I should mention that there were a few even faster 135mm f/1.8 and even f/1.5 lenses made by Vivitar in 1968, using the preset T-mount. But these lenses were much poorer performers optically than the later Series I 135mm f/2.3 lenses. Avoid them! [

Today, all 135mm lenses are considered out-of-fashion, so you may again be able to get a great buy on a really fast Series I 135mm f/2.3. Two high quality 7 element Vivitar 1.4x and 2x teleconverters can help turn this lens into a still very fast 190mm f/3.2 and 270mm f/4.6 lens. Wow!

Vivitar 24mm f/2

Although this lens is not on our official Series I list, perhaps it should be? This fast 24mm f/2 (and 28mm f/2) can focus as close as 12 inches. The lens takes 55mm filters, weighs only 9 ounces, and is under two inches long. Like the Vivitar 28mm f/1.9 Series I lens, these later lenses also feature internal floating elements for improved close focusing. Except for the later (and related) Kiron 24mm f/2, you have to look at OEM lenses from this period to find the equal to these fast wide angle third party lenses.

Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 CF

Another later entry in our cult classic lens list is this Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 close focusing lens. Surprise! This lens can produce a remarkably close reproduction ratio of 1:2 from a distance of 20 inches! Usually, we think of true macro lenses when we deal with a 1:2 close focusing range, such as the Vivitar 90mm f/2.5 classic described herein.

The lens weighs just over a pound, is 3 3/8ths inch long, and uses 62mm filters. For macrophotography of critters and bugs, this lens is probably a lot cheaper and even more useful than many 100mm range macro lenses. I need hardly add that it is a lot cheaper, when you can find one!

Vivitar Series I 35-85mm f/2.8

This Series I lens provides a wide angle to short telephoto capability in a lens only 3.6 inches long that weighs only 26 ounces. Like its cousins, this Series I lens features a short ten inch close focus range providing a 1:3.5 reproduction ratio. What is more important is that the lens is very sharp throughout this range, with excellent contrast too (thanks to VMC multi-coating). Again, the lens is large in diameter, requiring a 72mm filter, but providing a reasonably fast f/2.8 constant aperture throughout its range.

How could Vivitar provide optimal sharpness with such a zoom in the late 1970s that still holds up to the professional standards of the 1990s? The answer lay in abandoning true zoom action, and substituting a vari-focal zoom. With a vari-focal zoom, you have to re-focus the lens every time you change the focal length. But this trick frees the optical designer to maximize the lens sharpness and quality.

This mechanical dual focusing control complexity puts off many users spoiled by true zooms. Consequently, you can often find this sharp zoom selling for surprisingly low prices (Cf. list $400 in 1978). But as its cult status gets better known, those bargains may be harder and harder to find!

Vivitar 90mm f/2.5 macro

Written up by Herbert Keppler in Popular Photography, this lens continues to be very popular on the used market. It didn't hurt that the lens has a street price less than half the cost of similar and even less capable optics. The longer 90mm focal length also provided extra working distance that was lacking in more traditional 50mm and 55mm macro lenses. So if you were looking for a sharp short telephoto macro lens, this lens was the obvious low cost choice. That's enough popularity to justify its cult status in our book!

Vivitar Series I

While the first Vivitar Series I lenses were no-compromise optics, they were disasters in the marketplace. Few lenses sold, partly due to their odd-ball apertures and weight, but mostly due to their high costs. The Series I lenses were generally at least double the cost of very similar aperture and speed lenses already in the Vivitar lineup.

This cheaper Vivitar consumer lens line image also made it hard for photographers to put down these high prices for an off-brand third party lens line. Similar OEM prime and zoom lenses often sold for nearly the same price, sometimes less.

Vivitar learned from the marketplace's rejection of their first Series I lenses. The followup Series I lines were more attune to the marketplace demands. Instead of an 28mm f/1.9 optic, you got standard f/2 optics. Instead of a vari-focal zoom of maximum sharpness, you got a true zoom that was more convenient, but with a bit less refined optical performance. The lenses also became lighter, and more appealing to the consumer mass-market.

The current models labeled Series I lenses are still considerably better optically than Vivitar's own lower to mid-range consumer lens lines. But they are no longer unique nor challenging the OEM lens makers for optical supremacy. Tomorrow's cult classic lenses are more likely to come from Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina....

The above table helps highlight some of the changes in Vivitar's most popular Series I mm zoom series. Three different manufacturers made these zooms - Kiron, Tokina, and Komine Co. Ltd. in Japan. A later version of the 70-210mm f/4 (with 1:4 macro) Kiron zoom featured a "zoom lock" switch to prevent zoom slippage [Source: Modern Photography, March 1982, p. 155, Keppler].

The first (Kiron) zoom was arguably an excellent performer in its time. This Series I zoom helped make the fine reputation of these original 1970s Vivitar Series I optics. The second (Tokina made) zoom sacrificed some of the macro capabilities to save weight, while retaining a constant aperture.

The third Series I zoom (by Komine),along with some lens test results, is an improvement over the original Series I (Kiron) zoom. While it is a variable aperture lens, it does offer a much more competitive f/2.8 aperture at the wide end (albeit a slightly slower f/4 at the long 210mm end). The overall lens test results provided by Steve also shows how a decade of design experience has improved the performance of this popular 70-210mm zoom series.

As I have noted in several asides in this page, I am generally leery of older ultra-wide and very wide angle prime lenses and most zooms prior to the mid-1980s. Many others feel the same way, which is why prices on these older lenses are often relatively low. But with a bit of study and research, you can still locate some outstanding optics and at great prices!

In fact, today you can often buy a Series I zoom for little more than the price of the consumer grade zoom. Many of these Series I lenses can be bought for under $100 US on the used market. Vivitar no longer enjoys the reputation for innovation and quality that came with the original Series I line. Yet many of these later 1980s and early 1990s Series I zooms are very capable performers.

Still, a word of warning is in order. Even excellent older optics can be subject to abuse, dropping, shocks, and amateur repair jobs which can compromise their functions. So be sure to carefully test your lenses to ensure that your lens hasn't been abused or mis-aligned!

Similarly, the non-Series I older Vivitar fixed mount lenses were usually only half the price of their Series I cousins. Construction and optical performance was generally good, relative to most consumer grade primes and zooms. These lenses will still perform well today too. But they won't achieve cult status. However, I make an exception for a unique series of Vivitar/Soligor interchangeable lens mount lenses which retained auto-diaphragm action, known as the T4/T5 and TX mounts described below.

Interchangeable T-4 and TX Mount Lenses

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.

Summary

In summary, the early Vivitar Series I lenses offered a unique series of fast prime lenses and unusual professional quality zooms. These lenses are still unique today, justifying their cult status.

The later Series I lenses generally rank near the top of third party consumer grade lenses of the same time-frame.

Their mid-range consumer primes and zooms are good or better than average quality consumer grade optics, with a few clunkers mixed in (e.g., those unsharp f/1.5 and f/1.8 135mm telephotos from 1968).

I find Vivitar's out-of-favor T-4 and TX lenses to be more interesting, largely due to the ability to mount them in a multitude of classic cameras bodies I own.

Comments

Add New Search

Tony - What about the vivitar af 75-2 IP:89.133.47.xxx | 2007-08-03 08:32:13 What about the vivitar af 75-200mm lens? I need specs pls??..i am gonna go back in this sight and check it..thanks!

admin IP:89.133.47.xxx | 2007-08-11 17:00:57 no clue about that sorry

anoni_moose - Vivitarian IP:65.94.54.xxx | 2008-10-15 17:01:14 The section above related to original Series 1 lenses;the 135mm f2.3 & the 200mm f3.0 is somewhat misleading. Some of the Series 1's where made by Kiron, but not the 135mm f2.3 & the 200mm f3.0. All the examples I've seen have serial numbers starting with #28XXX which makes them made by Komine and not Kiron(I've have the 135mmm).

Screamin Scott - Vivitar 24 & 28mm F2's IP:69.180.51.xxx | 2008-11-08 05:39:42 Komine also made 24mm F2 & 28mm F2 lenses for Vivitar. I'm assuming the lenses are similar if not identical unless Vivitar changed the specs

Kevin - Vivitar Series 1 105mm Macro C IP:90.204.171.xxx | 2008-11-29 10:08:53 Hi will this fit any digital cameras as far as you know? There are companies that make mounts I know, but not sure if they will work. Is ther a digital camera (old or new) they might fit? It seems such a shame to waste a good lens like this.

admin - adapter IP:217.27.219.xxx | 2008-11-29 11:17:43 I suppose your mention Contax/Yashica, adapter available for Canon and Olympus DSLR cameras on Ebay for a few bucks.

Kevin - Vivitar Series 1 105mm Macro IP:90.204.171.xxx | 2008-12-03 08:13:52 Thanks. I've been told they will fit with an adapter, but most sales assistants in shops shake their heads and say you won't get the sharpness and macro won't be as good. Is this correct, or are they just trying to palm me off to buying a new lens? As I say don't want to waste a good lens. I suppose I could try selling, but have no idea what it would be worth. How well do the adapters on e-bay work?

admin - Sharpness IP:80.98.161.xxx | 2008-12-08 00:26:55 This is one of the sharpest macro lens include AF lenses too.Don't sell it ,use it instead. Selling price can be vary from 200 USD to 350.

Write comment
Name:
Title:
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge

Powered by JoomlaCommentCopyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.Homepage: http://cavo.co.nr/