Playing With Lenses: September 2018

Cost: $34 (average market price $90.36)

I have been looking for a while to get my hand on a true Vivitar Series 1 lens and finally one crosses my path at a local Thrift Store. The Vivitar 70-210mm Series 1 is a classic amongst third-party lenses, and probably the best known and reputable lens in the Series 1 line of lenses. They were designed to compete with the best offerings of the major camera and lens manufacturers and although they were priced high at the time, they were sold in high numbers to the photographers who were willing to invest a little more to get the best in quality and construction.

As mentioned above, the most famous Series 1 lens was the 70-210mm macro zoom. I was one of the first to offer real macro capability in a zoom lens, and have a fixed aperture (f3.5) across the zoom range.

Over the lifetime of this lens, it was built by different manufacturers, being Kino (Kiron), Tokina, Komine and Cosina, with small design changes each time a different creater was used. The first 3 have excellent reputation, but optical and built quality went down with the first Cosina design.

Note in particular the "gold plated" version, released for the 50th anniversary of Vivitar. They are rare to find, but I was able to bid on a set a few weeks ago (but sadly lost).

The version of your lens can be recognised by the first 2 letters of the serial number. With "22", that would make my lens a "Kino" version. Other can be recognised as follows: 37 for Tokina, 28 for Komine and 9 for Cosino.

The "Kino" (my) version had the highest Maximum Magnification Ratio of 1:2.2.

Make no mistake! This is a beast of lens.. with almost a kg in weight and so large it should actually have a lens mount. It's of a push/pull type, but there is no lens creep at all when pointing down, even after over 40 years. That's a rather large accomplishment with a lens this size and weight and an absolute requirement when shooting macro. The length of the lens does not change with zooming, and hardly when focussing.

Macro can be achieved by bulling the focus/zoom barrel towards the camera, push the Macro button and slide the macro ring to the left until Macro lines up with the red dot.

Zoom and focus work smooth, and the aperture ring enable you to set in half aperture stops. The markings on the camera do not shop field of depth so only the zoom range. I'm not a fan of glossy black for a lens, but with an all metal build, it rather looks impressive.

Image Quality is excellent! Nice colors. Good sharpness across the range, but a little loss of sharpness at the high end of the zoom (above 180mm). Very little color aberration, and minor distortion. A good tele-zoom for it's age, but were it really shines if the Macro! Razer sharp, easy to focus, strong colors and a pleasant Bokeh.

Can you find a better lens for this price? Maybe, with a more recent Nikon lens, but the price gives you a good lens, and a nice, legendary, piece of history. What's not to like!

Specification Sheet - page 1

Specification Sheet - page 2

Advertising

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 70-210mm
Maximum Aperture: F3.5
Minimum Aperture: F22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: PK
Optics: 15 elements in 10 groups
Blades: 6
Maximum Magnification Ratio: 1:2.2
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 200cm (or 77.5mm in Macro Mode)
Filter Size: 67mm
Weight: 879g
Length: 158mm
Production: 1973 to 1981
Serial Number: 22738383
Made in: Japan

More information on: Vivitar Corporation
More info on: Kino Precision Industries Limited

VMC:
Vivitar Multi Coating: lens coating to prevent partial reflection and flares. Quality of the coating is reasonable but not as good as some of the brand lenses of this era.

Samples:
All pictures taken with the Lens Turbo II adapter