A few in Athens Georgia
These were taken with the Vivitar 35-70mm 1:2.8-3.8 MC One Touch Macro Zoom that I purchased new in the early 1980's. I used the lens originally on my Canon A1 which I also still have. I now have many zooms and some are better than this little old zoom in some ways and at some focal lengths. However this is still one of my favorite lenses to use all around. It's not the sharpest at full wide but is acceptably sharp for all but critical pxl peeping. Mid zoom is quite good and it's sharpest at full tele. This lens has beautiful color with great contrast and tonal scale, some of the things that continue to draw me back to using this lens. It's sharp but the coatings appear to favor low and mid frequencies with a slightly demurred effect on the high frequencies so sometimes it's not the best choice for very fine subtle detail. However it's really great for bringing out the patina and surface texture on old things like buildings and anything rusted or aging.
It's a One Touch Zoom, meaning it only has one knurled ring on it which does both zoom and focus -- push pulling for zoom and rotating for focus. Today I always read comments about how many didn't like this arrangement. I guess because one action can interfere with the other actions settings. However I always loved the one touch zoom design, and I still love this one.
Vivitar 35-70mm 1:2.8-3.8 MC One Touch Macro Zoom
One of the things I love about this lens besides it's nice IQ. Look at the size of this thing. Less than 3 inches tall. Pretty light too. Is over 30 years old and looks brand new. Not a scratch on it and beautifully clear glass -- and it's had lots of use over the years.
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