PentaPrism Views

A Vivitar lens that was made in many different mount types and thread diameters. I recently bought a Nikon F-mount Ø62mm version as a gift for my mother to shoot with her Nikon DSLR. The one I use is a Ø67mm thread diameter and currently use. On my lens I have a Rokunar UV filter installed

Mine is serial number 22709696, and per Vivitars (not so consistent) S/N codes I’ve inferred a few things that might be true about my lens:

• The first two digits, 22, indicate that it was made in the Kino Precision factory (Vivitar didn’t make their own lenses at that time)
• The next digit, 7, indicates the year of manufacture as either 1977 or 1987. My best guess is 1987 because my mother purchased this lens brand new and would have only been between 7-10 years old if she had bought a brand new 1977 from a store.
• The next two digits, 09, indicate the week it was made, in this case, the 9th week. Thus, it was made between February 22nd and February 28th in 1987
• The last four, 9696, indicate manufacturing sequence. Im not sure how Vivitar or Kino sequences this. I can only speculate that Kino sequenced not by lens type so this would be the be the 9696th lens of the week regardless of type. There are many other possibilities though, such as the 9696th 28mm f2.5 Auto Wide of the year.

This lens is of the first gen “Chrome Nose” style of FD mount, but without the chrome nose part due to it being made by Vivitar. I have determined this by the green “o” AE indicator and the lack of lock open on the breach ring. See my post on the 50mm f1.8 to learn more about FD mounts.