JohnOR asked:
Is this the same lens as the Vivitar 28/2, an example of which I have
but rarely use?
---------------------
Not likely an identical lens but perhaps very similar. Vivitar designed
their own lenses and contracted manufacture to various houses including
Olympus. If Kiron manufactured the lens it probably has a serial number
starting with "22". For more on who made which Vivitar lens see Steven
Gandy's site: <http://www.cameraquest.com/VivLensManuf.htm>
I don't recall the details but have been told that Vivitar and Kiron
once got into a a bit of a tiff when Kiron attempted to use some of the
design data for a Vivitar labeled lens in one of their own lenses. It's
certainly possible that a Vivitar and Kiron lens are nearly identical if
Kiron purchased rights to the design data or negotiated usage rights as
part of the manufacturing deal.
Here's another little tidbit I recently learned about Kiron that I found
amusing. Kiron is the lens brand name for the company called Kino
Precision Optics. I had known for some time that it was started by
engineers who left Nikon. What I hadn't realized is that the name
"Kiron" is supposedly a deliberate anagram of Nikkor. I suppose that
the folks at Nikon were not amused.
Chuck Norcutt
Woburn, Massachusetts, USA
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