Tim writes:
<< I thought that they did at one stage hire contract lens designers in
the US for some of their lenses and then contracted the manufacture out.
What does your Vivitar book say?? >>
It says they licensed *some* innovative designs from USA-based firms and
had them produced in Japan under contract, so you are right. Examples
would include the 600mm CAT and at least one of the 70-210mm designs. My
fuzzy memory says that the 600mm CAT was the off-shoot of a NASA
contract. I have a Vivitar Series 1 sales brochure, but I misplaced it.
One of the USA photo magazines made a big point of telling the public
about that. Kind of like waving the USA flag and saying "look, Americans
can still produce fine optics." But the truth was that America wasn't
the place to produce them in mass quantity.
Gary Reese
Las Vegas, NV
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