Difference between revisions of "Vivitar serial numbers"

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* 44 [http://www.perkinelmer.com/ Perkin Elmer] <ref name="matt" /><ref name="robert" />
 
* 44 [http://www.perkinelmer.com/ Perkin Elmer] <ref name="matt" /><ref name="robert" />
 
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Revision as of 17:13, 1 March 2012

A multi-sourced collection of everything currently known about Viviar serial numbers.

Introduction

This list should not be considered definitive. It is actively changing in response to ongoing research. Vivitar never published any public documentation of their serial numbering system. In fact, no certain proof has yet been uncovered that Vivitar used an intentionally designed serial numbering system. Most of the information presented here is the result of individual research by lens collectors. Many variants of this list can be found online, sometimes with unsubtantiated claims that the list was provided by Vivitar insiders. The sources are cited as used but note that some are not authoritative. In any case, there are many documented exceptions to this numbering system, especially in lenses with very early or unusual badging (e.g. "P&B Vivitar" or "Vivitar Professional") and in lenses sold late in the history of Vivitar. The consensus seems to be that lenses sold in the 1960s did not use this system. There is also agreement among collectors that after 1990, this system fell into disuse or was completely abandoned.

Steevithak is actively researching this topic and frequently updates this page. He is interested in communicating with anyone who worked for Ponder and Best and might be able to offer any comment on the subjects of serials numbers and manufacturers of Vivitar products.

Serial Number System

The most common hypothesis about how a Vivitar serial number system worked involves breaking the serial number down into separate components that represent the manufacturer, year, week, and sequence number. Under this scheme the first two digits of the serial number identify the manufacturer. The third digit represents the last digit of the year of manufacture (e.g. a '4' could mean 1974 or 1984). The fourth and fifth digits represent the week number of manufacture. The remaining digits would be the actual manufacturing sequence number. There are many known exceptions to the year/month portion of the formula as well as exceptions to the entire system.

Serial Number Prefix Codes

Prototype Serial Numbers

Prototypes lenses generally used the same serial number scheme as production lenses but will have very low numbers in the portion of the number that reflects the manufacturing sequence. In some cases there will be slightly mechanical or visual differences in the lenses from the higher number production version. In some cases prototype lenses never made it to product, as in the case of the Vivitar Professional 180mm f/2.8. Bill Swinyard describes an example:

"I still have one of the prototypes that later went into production. Mine is a Vivitar 20mm f/4 with a black alloy mount, while the production version was labelled as an f/3.8 and had a stainless mount. It has a SN of 22970003. The 0003 indicates only that it is a very early model, although there were a dozen or so of such prototypes made. I also remember having given away prototype models of a Vivitar 100mm f/2.8, an 85mm f/1.8, and an 800mm f/8."[3]

Frequently Asked Questions

How likely is it this list or other alleged Vivitar serial number lists are valid?

The evidence to date does not suggest Vivitar used such a list internally but different manufacturers evidently did sometimes use unique serial numbering schemes. So, within certain years, this list may be helpful as one tool among many to help determine who made a given lens. The list presented here has been reviewed by two Ponder and Best employees and has been checked against a wide range of historical information but there are likely still errors and omissions.

Bill Swinyard was the Product Manager from 1969 through 1971 at Ponder and Best. He was involved in new product development, marketing, sales, and dealer communication. He has examined this list and made these comments:

"I don't know that P&B had direct input into designating the serial numbers. That wasn't my department; someone in P&B procurement might have known. In any case, we never used lens serial numbers as any marketing or inventory identifiers. They were only referred to by name; remember this all pre-dates the bar-code SKU systems in use today."[5]

Gordon Lewis, who worked at Vivitar in the 1970s and 1980s, was a Vivitar Product Specialist, handled consumer relations for Olympus OM products, and authored many Vivitar instruction manuals, lends some credence to the use of a serial numbering system:

"I don't know [that serial numbers represented manufacturers] for a fact but I can't imagine them not having manufacturer codes in the product serial numbers. As you know, Vivitar was primarily a marketing and distribution company, so if only for the sake of inventory management and quality assurance it would need to know which manufacturers were supplying which lenses, cameras, flashes, etc. I designed the product codes for Kiron and although in our case there was only one manufacturer (Kino), the numbering was by no means arbitrary."[6]

Where's Olympus? Some Vivitar lists claim 6/06x serial numbers were Olympus-made

Bill Swinyard confirms that Olympus did not make any Vivitar-branded lenses:

"Olympus most certainly did not make any Vivitar-branded lenses. When I was there, Olympus was very protective of its brand and didn't do any distributor-branding at all. It was the most independent of all our suppliers and never listened to us nor sought any of our input about anything. During the last few months of my stay at Vivitar, Olympus had announced that it was going to drop us and go to independent distribution, so I know it didn't happen after I left, either."[3]

Who was Komine? Most Vivitar lists claim 28x serial numbers were made by a company called Komine

Komine is commonly accepted as the name of a Vivitar lens manufacturer but almost nothing is known about the company. It has been speculated that Komine is somehow related to Japanese lens manufacturer Nittō Kōgaku, mostly because Nittō Kōgaku at one time used Kominar as a lens brand. No evidence has been found to connect the two companies. No reply has been received to emails sent to Nittō Kōgaku asking about Komine. Bill Swinyard, who left Ponder & Best in 1971 said Komine was not a manufacturer of any lens during his time at the company but recalls seeing Komine or a similar name associated with sample lenses received from a Japanese company during his last few months at P&B.[3] Gordon Lewis, who worked at Vivitar during the late 1970s and early 1980s, offered this comment on Komine:

"I do recall that several popular Vivitar lenses were sourced from a Japanese company called Komine. Who knows what they've morphed into now? Keep in mind that the situation in Japan back then was not much different from the situation in China now: There were a lot of shops cranking out practically identical equipment under a variety of names for a variety of distributors."[7]

References

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 Vivitar Serial Number List - Matt's Classic Cameras
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 Robert's Tech Media - Deciphering Vivitar Serial Numbers
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 personal correspondence between Bill Swinyard and Steve Rainwater, 21 Feb, 2012
  4. Bauer trademark filing by Robert Bosch GmbH
  5. personal correspondence between Bill Swinyard and Steve Rainwater, 17 Feb, 2012
  6. personal correspondence between Gordon Lewis and Steve Rainwater, 14 Feb, 2012
  7. personal correspondence between Gordon Lewis and Steve Rainwater, 28 Feb, 2012

Links