There are Vivitar-branded lenses for which I wish to identify the manufacturer. I have read that Vivitar encoded the manufacturer in the serial number, so in principle, I just need to find a list of applicable manufacturer codes.
What are the manufacturer codes for lenses that have been rebranded Vivitar?
Answer
During the 1970s and early 1990s, Vivitar serial numbers took the following form:
MM Y WW SSS
MM = manufacturer code
Y = year; may be ambiguous, for instance 1979 and 1989
WW = week
SSS = item-specific serial number
The manufacturer codes used by Vivitar are:
06 - Olympus
09 - Cosina Company, Ltd.
13 - Schneider Kreuznach
22 - Kino Precision
25 - Ozone Optical Co., Ltd.
28 - Komine Co., Ltd.
32 - Makina Optical Co., Ltd
33 - Asanuma & Co., Ltd
37 - Tokina Optical Company, Ltd
42 - Bauer (possibly Bauer trademark holder Robert Bosch GmbH)
44 - Perkin-Elmer
47 - Chinon Industries, Inc.
51 - Tokyo Trading (possibly a corruption of Tokyo Koki, a Tokina predecessor)
56 - Kyoei Shoji Company, Ltd.
61 - Samyang Optics Co., Ltd
75 - Hoya Corporation
77 - Kobori Mfg Co. Ltd
81 - Polar
Of these, a few appear to be highly regarded, such as Kino/Kiron (22) and Komine (28). Others have become household names, such as Tokina (37) and Samyang (61).
See also:
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