Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 VMC Macro Focusing Zoom

The Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 VMC Macro Focusing Zoom lens was designed for and marketed by Ponder & Best in the 1970s.

Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5
image by Chris Lilley (Image rights)

Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 ad from 1970s
image by Nesster (Image rights)

Description

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. It is also notable as the first macro zoom lens, it's 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 his University's computer. Betensky's design was then manufactured by Kino Precision.

U.S Patent number 3,817,600 was granted in 1974 for the invention of a Zoom lens having close-focusing mode of operation. The patent lists Rinzo Wantanabe of Tokyo, Japan and Ellis I. Betensky of Stamford, CT as the inventors.^[1]

While this is the original and most well-known Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm lens, it was eventually replaced with other 70-210mm lenses with varying specifications, produced by several different manufacturers.