These new high-quality lenses were badged as Vivitar Series 1 lenses. They would still outsource the manufacture of the lenses to other companies but the designs would be Vivitar's. Now they set out to create designs for high-quality lenses to their own specifications. Up until now, they had selected lenses designed and built by other manufacturers and rebadged them as Vivitar lenses.
In the early 1970s, Ponder & Best decided on a new strategy for their Vivitar lenses. The building at this location is still standing and has since been renovated. In late 1971, Ponder & Best moved from the Pico Blvd location in LA to 1630 Stewart Street, Santa Monica, CA 90406. In addition to marketing their own Vivitar badged products, Ponder & Best continued to represent other manufacturers,eventually regaining their position as an Olympus distributor by the 1970s. By selling lenses in higher volumes, P&B believed they could match the quality of the camera maker's lenses at lower cost. įrom the late 1960s through 1970s, Ponder & Best's success was largely due to their strategy of providing high quality lenses for SLR cameras at prices lower than the major camera manufacturers. In 1964, they also opened two branch offices, one in New York city and one in Chicago. The building at this location, built in 1947, is still standing and is zoned for retail use. In the 1960s, Ponder & Best was located at 11201 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90064. The application states that the name Vivitar was first used in commerce in November of 1963. Ponder & Best filed for the Vivitar trademark on 21 September, 1965. The most well known variant is "Vivitar Series 1" a badge created for the highest end equipment (though after the 2008 dissolution of the company, the "Vivitar Series 1" label began to be used interchangeably with the plain "Vivitar" badging). A small number of lenses custom-developed for specific customers were labelled "Vivitar Professional", occasionally special edition equipment bore labels such as "Vivitar RL Edition", "Vivitar SMS", or "Vivitar DL". While the majority equipment bore the "Vivitar" name alone, several variants were also used over the years: the earliest lenses bear the label "P & B Vivitar".
But in 1964, after losing Rollei and Olympus distribution rights, Ponder & Best decided to come up with their own brand and rebadge the equipment they sold. Initially, Ponder & Best pursued relationships with major camera equipment manufacturers including Mamiya, Olympus, Rollei, Voightlander, Sawyers, Petri and others, becoming the United States distributor for companies in Japan and Germany. The buildings at these two location no longer exist, only a vacant lot remains as of 2012. Advertising from November 1949 indicates P&B moved or expanded to an adjacent location at 1230 S. In the 1940s through at least 1946, Ponder & Best was located at 1015 S. Best wrote invoices from the back seat while Ponder acted as the saleman and retrieved merchandise from the trunk. The pair started out selling photographic equipment from a 1936 Oldsmobile. Ponder and Best fled to the United States from Germany after Hitler rose to power. Originally founded as Ponder & Best, Inc., the company was established in Santa Monica, California in 1938 as a distributor of photographic products by the German immigrants Max Ponder (b. 3.14 Kino Precision Diamond Rubber Ring Familyīill Swinyard (left), P&B Product Managerĭick Wolf (rear) who left P&B to found Kiron.3.10 Tokina TX Interchangeable Mount 2nd Generation Family.3.9 Tokina TX Interchangeable Mount 1st Generation Family.3.8 Cosina Diamond Rubber Ring M42 Kit Lens Family.3.7 Komine Black Metal Ridged-Ring Family.3.6 Tokina T-4 Interchangeable Mount Family.3.4 Kino Precision Black Metal Ridged-Ring Family.3.1.5 Compatible T System Mount Adapters.
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