Hi,

Vivitar Telephoto 135mm f/1.5 Professional - ever heard of it? I'm currently selling it, but nonetheless; here are some samples made with it.

It's an extremely rare lens, which was produced in a very small batch of 30 pieces (some claim 300, but it's actually unknown, how many were made) in 1967, with a preset T-mount. I bought mine in Nikon F mount (yes, it does focus to infinity), but it can also be used with practically all other mounts (Canon EF and EF-S, Sony/Minolta, Pentax, 4/3 and M4/3 ...).
What's also interesting, is that mine carries a serial number of 19671001, which probably means it's the very first of it's kind.

Some info:

Picture angle: 18°
Number of diaphragm blades: 16
Minimum f/stop: 22
Closest focusing distance: 1.65m
Weight: 1.970g (2.170g with lens hood, tripod collar and rear bayonet cap)
Dimensions: 100 X 155mm
Lens hood: metal screw-in type, generic
Tripod collar: yes
Front filter diameter: 95mm

When I bought it, it was in a pretty bad shape; lot's of scratches, fungus and dust inside, so I decided to get it refurbished. Two technicians at Fotomehanika camera services in Slovenia took it apart in March this year, cleaned it, polished a few lens element inside and voila - I was given back a really nicely done piece of glass.

All images I'm about to post, are shot at f/1.5 using my D3; uncropped, just boosted contrast a bit. The D3 doesn't have an f/1.5 option for 135mm lenses in it's "Non-CPU lens data" menu, so as far as my D3 is concerned, these images were shot at f/1.4 ... And don't we all wish for a 135/1,4 lens ...

OMG, these look great. Man, i have never heard of this thing.

Optically it's not a bad performer, actually it's quite good. It's better at close distances than towards infinity, but that's maybe just a feeling of mine, because ... well, just don't get me started about shallow DOF! Yup, it's hard to nail the focus ... The lens' focusing ring turns about 340°, which in combination with live view helps a lot, but I still need to be very precise.
And the bokeh ... 16 aperture blades really do their job!

Mounted on my D3 ...:

uhh i really like the oof areas and bokeh seems nice as well.
No money left, otherwise i would have asked for the price

Insane, that portrait is crazy. It makes the 85 1.4 look like a consumer lens. How much?

FWIW, the number of blades has nothing to do with how the bokeh looks when the lens is wide open

Wow, this is amazing!

Add me to the list of droolers...looks like a terrific old MF lens!

Eric Schwab wrote:
Insane, that portrait is crazy. It makes the 85 1.4 look like a consumer lens. How much?

I never knew that there is an f/1.5 aperture of this focal length and wow, look at the diaphragm. Really cool. At f/1.8, the Sony/Zeiss lens came close.... BTW, it is listed on the B&S board for $1,500.00. Sorry, the price is Euro 1,500.00 and not US $.

Edited to reflect the wrong currency in the original post

2Kg. 135mm lens? Mama mia. What a beast.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

More alternate gear but thought I'd post here since we're talking about fast 135mm lenses, I recently got a Soilgor C/D *P 135/2 in Minolta mount. It's on my X-570. This is also a very nice lens, and its sharpness at f2 is more than I ever expected, based on my first roll of Provia.

It can be a challenge to handhold on the small Minolta body, but easier with a motor drive. The Soligor has a more manageable 77mm filter mount. My sample came with both caps in near mint condition for $75

Yeah, this is very cool. If you have any more sample images I'm sure we'd all be happy to see them!
I can't remember the last time I so readily thought about dropping ~$2k out of no where.

That's a beautiful hunk of glass. I'm sure some collector or museum would love to have it, bonus that the image are very very nice as well

wow .. hmm i was looking for a 135mm f/2.0 Ai-S, this could be a nice alternative
beautiful piece of glass

Hello, wants to buy it
is perhaps to sell this lens willing to pile it, my e-mail amok3d@o2.pl

No nano coating, and it still takes good pics? I don't believe it...

Really nice pics. What a pleasure to read about a rare treasure of a lens like this.
The phrase "Fast glass" comes to mind. I recall reading that phrase and now I see why fast glass is so treasured even with the increased difficulities.

Thats a huge lens.. would swallow one of the smaller dslr's

It having 16 aperture blades and all, reminds of this lens: Cosmicar (Pentax) 135 2.8 Television lens supposedly made for movie cameras.

A buddy of mine recently got hold of one of those, and the images looked sharp with really nice bokeh - although at f2.8 obviously a far cry from this one.

These shots really look fantastic.