Vivitar Auto Telephoto 135mm F/3.5
Medium telephoto prime lens • Film era • Discontinued
- Announced:
- · 1968
- Production status:
- ● Discontinued
- Country of design:
- · Japan
- Original name:
- · AUTO Vivitar TELEPHOTO 135mm 1:3.5
- Class:
- · Slow full-frame medium telephoto prime lens
Specification
| Optical design: | |
| 35mm full frame | |
| 135mm | |
| F/3.5 | |
| 4 elements in 4 groups (Ernostar) | |
| Interchangeable mount (T-4) | |
| 18.2° (35mm full frame) | |
| Diaphragm mechanism: | |
Diaphragm type: | Automatic |
Aperture control: | Aperture ring (Manual settings only) |
| 6 (six) | |
| Focusing: | |
| 1.80m | |
| <No data> | |
Focusing modes: | Manual focus only |
Manual focus control: | Focusing ring |
| Physical characteristics: | |
| 340g | |
| ⌀51×88.9mm | |
| Accessories: | |
| Screw-type 49mm | |
| Built-in telescopic round | |
| <No data> |
Sources of data
- Vivitar Wide Angle, Telephoto, and Zoom Lenses for 35mm SLR Cameras booklet (May 1968).
- Vivitar Automatic T-4 Lens System booklet (June 1971).
From the Camera 35 magazine (February/March 1969)
Besides being just a few dollars less expensive and one half a stop slower than the 135mm f/2.8 T-4 lens, this 135mm f/3.5 is a little bit sharper. Just a bit. In fact, I think that with average picture taking situations, you probably would not be able to tell the difference between the results. As the test figures indicate, performance picks up when you get to f/11-f/16. This is not to say that it doesn't provide good results at other openings. Being somewhat lighter than the faster version, it may be a bit easier to tote around in your gadget bag. An excellent buy.
From the editor
Has the same optical design as the SOLIGOR TELE-AUTO 1:3.5 f=135mm (T-4).
Notes
- Independent-brand lenses were made for 35mm film SLR cameras by companies that competed with the camera manufacturers. Some came from factories that made lenses under their own brand names (Angenieux, Kiron, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina). Many others were national and international marketing organizations (Kalimar, Panagor, Rokunar, Soligor, Starblitz) that bought lenses from anonymous manufacturers. One firm — Vivitar — actually designed its own lenses and accessories, which were then subcontracted to manufacturing firms. Still others were private labels, sold only by specific photo specialty shops (Cambron, Quantaray, Spiratone).
- The actual manufacturer of a Vivitar lens can be identified by the first digits of the serial number: 09 - Cosina, 13 - Schneider-Kreuznach, 19 - Sigma, 22 - Kino Precision Industries, 25 - Ozone Optical, 28 - Komine, 32 - Makina Optical, 33 - Asanuma, 37 - Tokina, 42 - Eugen Bauer, 44 - Perkin Elmer, 47 - Chinon, 51 - Tokyo Trading, 56 - Kyoe Shoji, 61 - Samyang, 6x - Olympus, 75 - Hoya, 77 - Kobori, 81 - Polar, 9x - Cosina. This numbering system, however, was used by Vivitar only between 1969 and 1991 (approx.).
- This Vivitar lens has s/n 37xxxxx, therefore it was produced by Tokina.