Here is a classic 3rd party lens example....
Here is a classic 3rd party lens example....
Vivitar sold many lenses for many manufacturers. Vivitar did not make lenses as a rule. They sold lenses they specified for manufacturers camera bodies, having them built by various lens makers, and branded Vivitar.
The 70-210 with the Oly OM mount mentioned in a previous post was made over the span of that focal length by Six or Seven different manufacturers. Two of those lenses were quite good, and the other four were rather Ho Hum.
So, if you don't know how this works, it means you may see one good Vivitar 70-210 out of ten, with the other 9 made by the lesser manufacturer's. The first two digits of the serial numbers indicated which of the mfrs made the lens you hold in your hand.
Here is quite a writeup on that lens. However, it's not often you find information this complete on third party lenses. The one thing about this article is that it includes Vivitars serial number codes for manufacturers of their lense.
http://www.robertstech.com/vivitar.htm
So, third party lenses can be a bit of a crap shoot, since someone may tell you they have an excellent Vivitar of a certain focal length, but the real question is "who made it".
I have had great luck with Tamron and Tokina lenses, and I have been quite lucky with Vivitar Series I lenses, but only with the advantage of determining the actual manufacturer of the lens.
Kiron brand lenses are notable, and they did make some lenses for Vivitar. Odds on getting a good Vivitar are lower than one may think.
I stick with the Series I lenses and only those manufactured by Kiron or Komine for Vivitar.
