Any love for Vivitar?

Paul Howell · Jan 25, 2023

From Wiki concerning the 70 to 210 macro S1

The Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 VMC Macro Focusing Zoom lens was designed for and marketed by Ponder & Best (later Vivitar) in the 1970s. It was the first Vivitar Series 1 lens and was considered revolutionary for its time. Among other innovations, it is notable as the first macro focusing zoom lens. Its patented ability to switch into macro mode was eventually adopted by nearly every major camera and lens manufacturer in the world.

Vivitar's specifications were turned into a lens design by optical engineer Ellis Betensky of Stamford, CT. Betensky had developed an early auto-optimizing optical design program that he ran on a mainframe computer owned by Perkin Elmer. Betensky's design was then manufactured by Kino Precision.

xkaes · Jan 25, 2023

Paul Howell said:
Vivitar's specifications were turned into a lens design by optical engineer Ellis Betensky of Stamford, CT. Betensky had developed an early auto-optimizing optical design program that he ran on a mainframe computer owned by Perkin Elmer. Betensky's design was then manufactured by Kino Precision.

Exactly my point -- put the emphasis on the "contracted providers", and, the optical companies that made the lenses. Vivtar is was simply the "Executive Producer" / "Chief Organizer" / Funding Source. Vivitar, Soligor, Bell & Howell, Allied Impex, Osawa, BHMC, etc. never designed or made anything. They just hired outside firms to do it. There's nothing illegal or unscrupulous about that at all, but consumers end up misunderstanding who is actually making their photographic products.

The earlier post -- "I had a Sologor 70 200 4.5 5.6 zoom that had been thrown in w/ a camera as a body cap. Pretty sure it was a rebadged Vivitar" -- is just an example of this.

Paul Howell · Jan 25, 2023

I dont think we disagree, most of Vivitar's early lens were rebanded 3rd party lens, some good some average and a few poor, the S1 lens were designed for Vivitar who owned the rights to the design, then made by different manufactures the 70 to 200 3.5, same design was made by a couple of differnt makers. But as time passed the designed was changed, my only guess to save money. My 70 to 210 3.5 in Konica AR mount was made by Kino.

xkaes · Jan 25, 2023

It's too bad that Vivitar, Soligor, BHMC, and the other marketing/distribution companies couldn't figure out ways to be profitable. It still makes no sense to me. Reminds me of the fall of the Roman Empire.

SchwinnParamount · Jan 25, 2023

I had a Vivitar Series 1 lens and it was a great lens. This image was taken with it.

KerrKid · Jan 25, 2023

I‘ve noticed that the Vivitar Series 1 P&S cameras can be had for not much money. I can’t find any information on them, though. Are these of quality and just undiscovered and or unappreciated or are they nothing special?

SchwinnParamount · Jan 26, 2023

I don't know anything about Series 1 pns cameras. If I was to guess, I'd say that a pns camera is generally nothing special, vivitar or pentax. My only experience with Vivitar is that exceptional Series 1 lens I owned.

MattKing · Jan 26, 2023

I have an ultra cheap filter set designed to fit my wife's Olympus M4/3 mirrorless OMD camera that is branded "Vivitar Series 1". I'm afraid the brand has been diluted a bit.

Timo Schön · Jan 26, 2023

My only experience with Vivitar is the Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f3.5 lens (I think an early model) in I think Canon FD mount. It may not be the greatest or sharpest lens I have ever used and I also am not a huge fan of push pull zooms (or zooms in general) but it has 1:1 macro that renders beautifully IMO. Considering I have paid like 20€ it is an amazing lens!

reddesert · Jan 26, 2023

Vivitar reserved "Series 1" for their higher-end lenses, sort of like Tamron's "SP." However, the non-Series 1 lenses were also often regarded as good value, and the prime lenses are likely to still hold up (zooms from the 70s generally being less attractive). There's a list of lenses on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivitar and a very detailed typology of the different series of lenses on camera-wiki: http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Vivitar

As they got into the later and especially autofocus era, the Series 1 moniker was devalued, so it was/is no longer a indicator of ostensible quality. Especially after the company was sold a couple of times in the 2000s, Vivitar is no longer anything but a zombie brand name pasted onto cheap electronic accessories (I think they still sell flashes under the name, but don't know about the quality).

I believe importers like Vivitar and Soligor had difficulty with industry consolidation, and the autofocus era rendered a lot of smaller camera makers and 3rd party lens brands unviable. Only the biggest 3rd party lens makers really survived long into the AF era (Sigma, Tamron, Tokina - plus Cosina mostly under other names). I assume that it was a lot harder to reverse engineer an AF lens mount with electronic communication than a mechanical lens mount.

Ian Grant · Jan 26, 2023

Paul Howell said:
From Wiki concerning the 70 to 210 macro S1

The Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 VMC Macro Focusing Zoom lens was designed for and marketed by Ponder & Best (later Vivitar) in the 1970s. It was the first Vivitar Series 1 lens and was considered revolutionary for its time. Among other innovations, it is notable as the first macro focusing zoom lens. Its patented ability to switch into macro mode was eventually adopted by nearly every major camera and lens manufacturer in the world.

Vivitar's specifications were turned into a lens design by optical engineer Ellis Betensky of Stamford, CT. Betensky had developed an early auto-optimizing optical design program that he ran on a mainframe computer owned by Perkin Elmer. Betensky's design was then manufactured by Kino Precision.

I had the same early Vivitar S1 70-210 zoom, and it was a superb lens, unfortunately it was stolen. I replaced it with a later f2.8-4 version.

Ian

guangong · Jan 26, 2023

As I remember, in the 1970s Vivitar lenses were not recommended because of their glass, but because of their less precisely machined mounts, which did not hold up under heavy use. Not having owned a Vivitar lens, this opinion is not based upon personal experience, just reporting the opinion of the time. Would be perfectly acceptable for the casual photographer.

Paul Howell · Jan 26, 2023

Pound and Best ceased to exist in 2008, but by that time it no longer sold the high quality S1 lens, and Series 1 was used market bottom feeder gear including digital point and shoot cameras. The brand name Vivitar was sold and much like Bell and Howell is used to brand a number of products.

KerrKid · Jan 26, 2023

I got my $5 Vivitar 420/SL yesterday. It looks like it just left the factory and was never used. It is so nice that I'm afraid to use it. The ever ready case, strap and all the paperwork look new. Did I mention it was only $5?

The 420/SL is a big girl. Much fatter than my Pentax KM or Minolta SRT101's. Not particularly attractive, but not bad. You can see the size difference with a Pentax KM on the left and a Minolta SRT101 on the right. (I put a 55mm lens on it for the photos. It did not come with a lens.)

xkaes · Jan 26, 2023

You can probably find out on line who made the 420/SL. Vivitar sold some very well-made cameras -- from Cosina, Seagull, and others.

I have a Vivitar V50 which, as far as I know is the only Vivitar 35mm SLR that was made with a Minolta Rokkor lens mount. It was made by Seagull, on the old Minolta X-370 production line, and is basically the exact same camera.

http://www.subclub.org/minchin/vivitar.htm

Paul Howell · Jan 26, 2023

A lighter camera is the Vivitar XC 3 a rebranded Cosina CSM, I had one for a few years, used along side of the larger and heavier Chinon CM3 or CE4, metering was really good. I think I would like the size of the 420. If it has been boxed for the past 50 or so years, are you going to have it CLA?

KerrKid · Jan 26, 2023

xkaes said:
You can probably find out on line who made the 420/SL. Vivitar sold some very well-made cameras -- from Cosina, Seagull, and others.

I have a Vivitar V50 which, as far as I know is the only Vivitar 35mm SLR that was made with a Minolta Rokkor lens mount. It was made by Seagull, on the old Minolta X-370 production line, and is basically the exact same camera.

http://www.subclub.org/minchin/vivitar.htm

View attachment 327687

Ah, yes. Nice copy of the X-570 or is it the X-370? I wouldn't mind one of those at all.

The baseplate on mine says Mfg. by Cosina Japan.

KerrKid · Jan 26, 2023

Paul Howell said:
A lighter camera is the Vivitar XC 3 a rebranded Cosina CSM, I had one for a few years, used along side of the larger and heavier Chinon CM3 or CE4, metering was really good. I think I would like the size of the 420. If it has been boxed for the past 50 or so years, are you going to have it CLA?

Really? You like the size of this chunky monkey? I'll replace the light seals myself and don't have any plans to get it CLA'd. I've got the Pentax SV on its way to Eric and that one is worth the money to fix. This one is probably fine the way it is.

The shutter sounds and feels good. It is actually a 2-stage shutter from what I understand and a half press stops down the lens for metering which is then switched off with the DOF button. You can hear a soft click when you half-press the shutter.

The meter scale inside the bottom right of the viewfinder is very small. I'm not sure how that will work in practice, but it may be fine.

I'll look into the Vivitar XC 3.

Paul Howell · Jan 26, 2023

The Xc 3 had an accessory device that attached to the shutter speed dial and the hot shoe that turned it into a aperture preferred auto exposure camera, really odd, I did have one, have only one or two over the years.

braxus · Jan 29, 2023

I have a Vivitar Series 1 lens (my second one) at the moment. I remember the original one was really a great lens, but I sold that lens years ago. I now have a 70-210 f2.8 zoom for my Canon FD mount. I have yet to use it, but I remember this one was supposed to be well regarded. The last one I had was as well.

xkaes · Jan 30, 2023

KerrKid said:
Ah, yes. Nice copy of the X-570 or is it the X-370? I wouldn't mind one of those at all.

The baseplate on mine says Mfg. by Cosina Japan.

The Vivitar V50 was the only Vivitar SLR with a Minolta lens mount -- and all of them were made in China. The Vivitar SLR cameras with other lens mounts were made by various companies -- Cosina being one of them. Some (most?) were made in Japan, but some might have been made in China, Malaysia, etc.

The Vivitar V50 is a copy of the Minolta X-370/X-300 (which came in several variations, like the X-370n). It lacks the TTL flash of the Minolta X-570, but accepts an auto-winder and has auto and manual exposure modes -- like the X-370/X300.

The picture above, shows the V50 with a Vivitar 105mm f2.5 MACRO -- made by Kino Optical. Super lens with no need for an extension tube.

Paul Howell · Jan 30, 2023

There is also a version in Nikon AIS mount. Never seen one, guess it is a Nikon version of one of their K mount versions.

Vivitar VN5000 - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

KerrKid · Jan 30, 2023

Believe it or not....I find myself picking up and holding the Vivitar 420/SL all the time. I'm not really sure why since the design is light years away from sexy. Maybe because it is in absolute pristine condition? It just feels good in my hands which I find weird because it is quite large.

Maybe it's preparing me for MF.

faberryman · Jan 30, 2023

I purchased a Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 in M42 mount in 1973 shortly after I arrived at college. I was working for the paper and my 50mm lens wasn't cutting it for covering visiting speakers and sports. I would have preferred the Super Takumar, but that was not in the cards. Modern Photography gave the Vivitar a pretty good review and I liked the look and feel of it better than the other third party 135mm lenses. The following summer I bought a Vivitar 28mm f/2.5. Modern Photography also gave it a good review. When it arrived, I was immediately turned off by its size. In order to achieve an f/2.5 aperture it had a large front element, and the lens flared at the front to accommodate it. I had no complaints about either lens's performance. I sold both of them a few years later when I moved to Olympus.

KerrKid · Mar 10, 2023

I just bought another 420/SL in black and it came with the Vivitar 135 and 28mm lenses. Yeh, the 28 f2.5 is a bit funky. And heavy. I like the 135 though.

The black 420/SL is a handsome rugged camera. Thank goodness they aren’t on many peoples’ radar.

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