Vivitar Professional 135mm f/1.5
The Vivitar Professional 135mm f/1.5 lens is a rare telephoto lens marketed by Ponder & Best.
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| Vivitar Professional 135mm f/1.5 lens image by Reed Drummond (Image rights) |
Description
Vivitar Professional badging was only used for a few, rare lenses marketed by Ponder & Best (aka Vivitar). This badge follows the P&B Vivitar badged lenses and precedes the more common Vivitar branding. The Vivitar Professional 135mm f/1.5 lens is highly sought after by collectors and generally fetches a very high price in auctions due to its rarity. Reviews of the quality of the lens vary. The identify of the manufacturer is unknown, however the lens is marked "Made in Japan". It is unknown how many were produced but second-hand stories report total production numbers varying from under 100 units made to numbers in the low hundreds.
What is known is that the lens was produced in 1967-1968, originally for NASA. It retailed for just under $600 USD. According to a review published in a 1967 issue of Camera 35 magazine, the lens intentionally sacrifices resolving power to gain the extra two stops over an f/2.8 lens but the loss is less than the equivalent loss in image quality from shooting film at f/2.8 and pushing it two stops. A quote from the article:
This is no general purpose lens. First, It's huge - five inches long, four inches wide, weighing a hefty four pounds, eight ounces. Seconds, it's pre-set. But this should present no problem, since you'd be foolish to use (and pay the price for) a lens specifically designed for speed at any but its widest apertures. A lens with this much glass area gives less than optimum performance under a bright sun, due to inevitable flare. Even inside use a lens hood. Mechanically, this Vivitar is superb. But this is to be expected, since the lens was originally made for NASA, to rigid government specifications.[1]
Comments from modern users of the lens confirm that the lens is soft when shot wide open but it's primary value now is as a collectors item.
Specifications
- Badging: Vivitar Professional
- Manufacturer: Unknown
- Manufacture date: 1967-1968
- Focal Length: 135mm
- Aperture Range: f/1.5 - f/22
- Iris blades: 16
- Filter diameter: 95mm
- Minimum Focus: 1.65 meters (5 feet, 5 inches)
- Mounts: T-mount
- Elements: unknown
- Groups: unknown
- Weight: 1,970g (2,170g with hood, collar, and caps)
- Accessories: tripod mounting ring, and detachable metal hood
- Known serial numbers: 19671001, 197001, 197012
Photos
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| image by Reed Drummond (Image rights) |
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| image by Reed Drummond (Image rights) |
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| image by Reed Drummond (Image rights) |
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| image by Reed Drummon (Image rights) |
References
- ↑ Camera 35, Aug/Sep 1967, Page 57
Links
- Vivitar Professional 135mm f/1.5 lens, Fred Miranda forum. Photos of the lens and taken with the lens.
- Vivitar Professional 135mm f/1.5 lens, Nikonians forum.
- Rangefinderforum.com discussion of the Vivitar Professional 135mm f/1.5 lens.
- Photo.net discussion of the Vivitar Professional 135mm f/1.5 lens.
- Manual Focus Lens Forum discussion of the Vivitar Professional 135mm f/1.5 lens.
