Soligor C/D 80-200/4.5 PK - competition for Vivitar Series 1

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

This is a late Soligor product, late 1970's probably, manufacturer unknown.

The Soligor C/D range was intended to be premium quality competition for the Vivitar Series 1, as Soligor (no longer Allied Impex) seems to have seen itself in the same markets. Of course, as it turned out, the Japanese manufacturers that both Vivitar and Soligor sourced from around that time decided to enter the distribution chains under their own brands - Tokina, Kiron, Sigma, etc. - so these companies found themselves without their traditional suppliers.

In addition the SLR boom began to fade by the early 1980's, killing off distributors and even manufacturers, or driving them out of a shrunken market, so the C/D range pretty much marked the end of Soligor as a lens brand.

This is a very nicely made lens, it is easy to believe that it was intended as a higher quality item. The finish is a fine glossy enamel and the mechanics, engraving and etc. are all a cut above even Tamron products of the time, not to speak of cheaper brands. This one is in regular PK mount, not PKA, so I believe it dates from before 1980.

Its a very typical one-touch zoom of its day, but unlike many of them it doesn't "creep" at all. The macro feature is engaged at 80mm, which is the opposite of many of these - push the lens past 80mm and it snaps into macro mode, permitting focus down to 1:4.

Performance is very good for a zoom, similar to the very popular Kiron-made two touch 85-205/3.8 - which predated this thing by at least five years I think. But even so, this is a very worthy lens. It is quite sharp at 4.5 but lacks a bit of contrast.

A foggy day, light very flat.

Shooting a cooking show at the pier -

The bird -

crop -

DSG · Joined: 04 Mar 2007 Posts: 544 Location: London, UK.