Tele Vivitar 85mm f/1.8

vivaldibow · Expire: 2021-03-09

Don't know who made these tele vivitar's. This 85mm f/1.8 is not too bad. Wide open sharpness quite decent, slightly better than Soligor 85mm f/1.8.

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wolan · Joined: 30 Jun 2015 Posts: 576 Location: Zurich

Please post more pictures.

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

If it is from the classic era the serial number will give you the maker. Eg if it starts with 22 it's kino precision aka kiron, 37 is tokina. The full list is easily googled. Could we get a photo of the lens? Renders nicely, the photographer shows its capabilities well! Like 1

guardian · Joined: 18 Mar 2009 Posts: 1749

Lovely photos. Like 1 small

Sounds to me as if it might be an early preset lens. This series had the older five digit serial numbers. They are T-mount lenses.

And, yes, of course a photo of the lens would tell the tale.

vivaldibow · Expire: 2021-03-09

Thank you all for the nice words!

The lens looks like the one in the following link.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/vivitar-85mm-f-1-8-pre-set-t-mount.html

I haven't quite experienced the glowing effect mentioned in one of the review and feel the wide open sharpness is indeed pretty good. Pleasantly unexpected! Smile

I've only seen Tele Vivitar 85mm and 135mm. 28mm and 35mm might be called something else. These vivitars, since are preset lenses, so I am assuming they should be quite earlier.

vivaldibow · Expire: 2021-03-09

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

tomasg · Expire: 2014-04-28

I have the same lens, mine is very "glowy" and not that sharp, still i like the rendering and with the number of blades the aperture has it s great for pics at f2, f2.8 with oof bokeh highlights been still perfectly circular.

Tomas

itsfozzy · Expire: 2021-04-14

I've always wondered if this lens was a copy of the Canon LTM 85/1.9, they have a similar balance about them.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Pre-serial number system.
I had a couple of these at one time or another.
Fairly scarce.

I suspect the early Vivitar presets were mostly, if not all, from Kino/Kiron.
The ones that have transitioned from preset versions to auto such as the distinctive 28/2.5 are Kino.

PBFACTS · Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 564

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2491

The samples have a Komine feel to them. The lens on PF also looks like a Komine

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

I've got a 200 f3.5 that is from the same series - same style - as this lens which is branded as 'Dollonds'. I have seen on the internet the same lens as a Vivitar, and I have seen, and handled, the identical 200 / 3.5 branded as Tokina. ( I tried to buy it ) It's a very distinctive style and construction.
Whoever made these lenses, they did a good job. it's my favourite old 200 by far. And the pictures from the 85 are excellent, it's a great series of lenses which I will have no hesitation in buying.

This is the 200 / 3.5

spleenone · Joined: 26 Dec 2009 Posts: 1130 Location: Slovakia

KEO · Joined: 27 Sep 2018 Posts: 760 Location: USA

I've stumbled upon a few old Tokina lenses under various brands and they've all impressed me with their quality.

55 · Expire: 2022-06-15

Bump.

A shot of my pal at f/1.8. Full image and then cropped:

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That was a straight from Canon 5D JPEG, just resized for sharing.

I like the wide open softness and glow. But it sharpens up a lot at f/2.8, if that's what you want.
The 1.5m minimum focus distance is a bother, but otherwise it's a fun lens.

My lens:
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Specs from a Vivitar brochure:
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Alun Thomas · Joined: 20 Aug 2018 Posts: 628 Location: New Zealand

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My copy is badged Marexar. There is glow to be seen, for instance with pictures of white flowers wide open, although it looks more like blur of any petals not in the plane of focus, as the ones in focus do not display the same behaviour.

vivaldibow · Expire: 2021-03-09

Phalbert · Joined: 17 May 2009 Posts: 359 Location: Namibia

I have the 200 f3,5 in the Marexar flavour... but the 85 looks gorgeous. Like 1 small

55 · Expire: 2022-06-15

shks · Joined: 14 Mar 2021 Posts: 5

Hi, nice thread and nice pictures. I like this lens a lot, but mine is in a really bad condition!

I stumbled upon this thread when i was looking for help repairing one of those.
I ll post the corresponding link http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic,p,1548889.html#1548889 here, and hope it will get a bit more visibility Smile

Maybe someone who owns one of those lenses can help how to reach the aperture box :/

best
shks

vivaldibow · Expire: 2021-03-09

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Komine was mentioned a couple of times earlier. They made a lot of Vivitars and their S/N begins with 28. Here's a list of the makers of Vivitar lenses, based on their serial numbers:

http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Vivitar_serial_numbers

Curiously enough, the lens with the 72 serial number shown above isn't in the above lsting. I searched through several links showing Vivitar S/Ns and did not find any that included 72 as a S/N prefix. So it seems we have a bit of a mystery on our hands?

I have several early Vivitars, although none as early as the presets shown above. Mine are made by either Tokina (S/N begins with 37) or Komine (28 ). The Tokina lenses I own -- a 17mm f/3.5, and a 35mm f/1.9 -- are exceptionally sharp. The Komine's -- both are 200mm f/3.5, one in Canon FD, the other in Nikon F, are just okay. They have some rather annoying blooming sorts of flare to them and just aren't all that sharp. But in defense of Komine, I also own some later Vivitars made by them (a couple of Series 1s) and they are excellent optics.