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 ...
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
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.
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.
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.
And don't we all wish for a 135/1,4 lens ...
