Weird Vivitar 200mm/3.5 lens for MD

[josphy]

I bought a Vivitar 200mm/3.5 lens off of the 'bay for my Minolta

x570, but there are a couple of things about it that kind of puzzle

me. Let me try to explain this. First of all...the aperture

markings that are close up to the mount that let you see the

aperture in the viewfinder...there are the ones I would expect: 3.5,

5.6, 8, etc. These are in orange color. However also around the

lens, on either side of the orange aperture markings, are other sets

of f-stops starting at 2.5, 4, etc., 2.8, 4, etc. and then on the

other side 4.5, 8, etc. and 5, 8, etc. These are in various

colors...red, green, etc.

 

On the aperture ring itself, the apertures are what I would

expect...3.5, 5.6, 8, etc in green color. Some of the stops are

colored...the 3.5 is red and there is a smaller 3.5 in green right

after it. Changing from the larger red 3.5 to smaller green 3.5

doen't seem to affect the aperture.

 

Also off to the side of the lens is a little protrusion that is a

likethis: 0 <---> L The 0 is red and the L is green. There is a

little silver nub that you can press in, but it doesn't seem to do

anything.

 

Okay, that was confusing as hell, but hopefully someone can make

sense of all that!

 

Just curious if anyone has seen a lens like this and why it has all

of this extra jazz on it.

[richard_kingston1]

Without a picture it's difficult to say, but it sounds like you have an interchangeable mount

lens (T4 or TX). The little protrusion, with the silver nub, is the release for the lens mount

adapter. You can swap in different mount adapters, which would allow you to use the lens

on another camera system (Canon FD, Pentax, etc etc).

 

You can find some more information here ....

 

http://medfmt.8k.com/bronmounts.html

[josphy]

Why the different aperture scales though? That really puzzles me.

[josphy]

Ohh...

"The Minolta TX adapter has a lens aperture scale you have to setup to get proper viewfinder aperture readings. Usually, you have to set a U-shaped prong on the lens to match and take a pin on the adapter when you couple the adapter and lens together. There are various arrows and colored dots on the mounts to help make this easier. The T-4 lens end is simpler than the TX lenses, which have extra couplings and longer grooves for aperture couplings."

 

CRAZY. And it goes on to discuss the colored apterture markings on the aperture ring itself, etc.

 

You learn something new every day.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Joseph; not all camera lenses have f stops that "work" in the same direction. I have a Vivitar T4 mount lens from the 1960's that has dual scales. It was used on Exakta slr; a friends Minolta; then Nikon F. When it just was used on one brand of camera; ie my Nikon F; I painted over the unused F stop scale.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Joseph; the T4 system allows a lens to be used on an old Canon; Nikon; Minolta; Pentax; Exakta; Konica; Miranda; etc slr in the 1960's. Each has a different adapter. These adapters were about 8 to 12 dollars in the 1960's. Vivitar; Soligor; and others used this system. This is an autodiaphram lens; and couples to the 1960's cameras meters. The rotation direction is different and mount with each camera system.

[User_502260]

I have most of the Vivitar T4 and TX lenses. The T4 lenses are the earlier models. When the TX lenses came out mounts were then available for Konica AR, Canon FD, Minolta MD, Olympus OM, Pentax K and Yashica/Contax. You can use a T4 adapter with a TX lens for an older camera but you can't use a TX adapter on a T4 lens. The widest Vivitar T4 lens I have seen is a 21mm f/3.8 and the widest Vivitar TX lens was a 24mm f/2.8. The longest auto diaphragm lenses I have seen in T4 or TX mounts were the 400mm models. There were only a few T4 zoom lenses but many TX zooms.

[josphy]

Thanks everyone for the info. I had no idea this lens had an interchangeable mount. I don't think I could figure out how to take off the adapter even if I wanted to. I haven't even really had a chance to try out the lens yet, but I plan to do some shooting with it this weekend, so we'll see. It is definitely in excellent condition and was very cheap.

[gilbert_hertz]

If you want to take the mount off, press the little button above 'L', turn the ring around the mount counter-clockwise

with the lens rear facing you.

 

Mounting the lens could be a little tricky for MIN mount.

Nikon F mount is a little easier to mount. T4 lenses have

a good reputation. Try the 24mm/2.8 or 28mm/2.5 or the lens

you currently have.