What is a Vivitar RL Edition lens??

[the tightwad]

I've found a nice Vivitar zoom lens that has a blue ring & "RL Edition"

on the Face end. I can find NO information on this series lens so am

unable to tell if it's worth buying. Any help or information would be

appricated.

[cgo]

Hopefully not Really Limited ...

[alex_lofquist]

Can you post a photo of the lens, and indicate the type of mount? i.e. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, etc. It is hard to guess the meaning of "RL". (Perhaps it means Real Live?)

[jimstrutz]

The RL Vivitars were one of their low cost lens lines in the mid 80's. I had a Vivitar 28-135 varifocal lens for Pentax KA mount. One touch, with close focusing at the 28mm end. There was no attempt by the designer to stay in focus even a little bit as you zoomed. The zoom mechanism wore out after a few years, with just moderate use. Bottom line: it was a cheap lens, but I have a lot of nice photos from it.

[the tightwad]

Jim, Thank's for the response. I wondered about this lens as it too is

28-135mm zoom. I tried to find out about this lens on the net and came

up with zip which made me doubt the quality. Think I'll pass on this one.

[neil_parker]

It is the initials on one of the vivitar executives from earlier times. I don't think it signifies higher or lower quality necessarily, it was just a marketing thing.

[dennis_gibson3]

I own the RL Edition 28-135mm in Pentax K mount. I picked it up on eBay about a month ago for $25; there's one small area of impact damage that prevents mounting a filter. I'm very pleasantly surprised at the quality of photos I get with it. Several people on the Vivitar Lenses Yahoo Group say that the only difference between an RL Edition and regular Vivitar lenses is that the RL Edition had a 7 year warranty instead of a 5 year warranty.

[miserere_mei]

<blockquote>

<p><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=190073">Jim Strutz - Anchorage, AK</a> <a href="../member-status-icons"><img title="Subscriber" src="http://static.photo.net/v3graphics/member-status-icons/sub10.gif" alt="" /></a>, Jul 20, 2003; 06:09 p.m.<br>

I had a Vivitar 28-135 varifocal lens for Pentax KA mount. One touch, with close focusing at the 28mm end. There was no attempt by the designer to stay in focus even a little bit as you zoomed.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I know this was written 7 years ago, but I just had to post a little LOL here for the comment above. The lens is called a varifocal precisely because the focus varies as it is zoomed. If the lens stayed in focus it would be called a zoom lens. Or nowadays (when most "zooms" are actually varifocals), a "true zoom".</p>

<p>It just cheered me up to read this stuff :-)</p>

[d2]

<p>Like the previous poster, I realize this is an old thread, but want to add a thought for those who come across this thread. I own a Vivitar RL Edition 28mm/2.8 lens in P/K mount that is just outstanding... I have many lenses, and this is the sharpest 28mm lens I've ever come across (beating out 28's from Minolta, Konica, and Pentax). And build quality is excellent. When I tried to find out what RL means, all I've found is people speculating here and there... "oh, it was just marketing hype" or things like that. But nowhere have I seen anyone state facts they can back up. I don't mean any offense by this, but people should understand that the web is full of speculative misinformation like this. Based on my own experience with this particular RL Edition lens, I can only conclude it was meant to mean something better than the regular non-RL lenses of the time. But that's my opinion. So if you see an RL Vivitar and it's cheap - don't let that stop you from buying and trying it.</p>