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In this second round of test of the Nikkormat EL for performance, handling & metering, I put on an equally competent lens – the Vivitar 55 – 135 mm f/3.5 Manual Lens. The lens is also from the 1970s and was very popular at that time.

I shot over 3 rolls of Kodak 400 BW CN film with this camera & lens combination. All shots were indoor in ambient, almost even lighting, except for a few situations where the light was sharp & abrupt.

You can see all the test shots on the Flickr Set Here.

• Vivitar 55 – 135mm f/3.5 is half stop slower than the Nikkor 135 f/2.8 I tested last week
• The lens is fairly sharp – all the test shots are hand held at very low shutter speed of 60 or below which is not recommended for this lens & camera
• The lens has a tack sharp focus. I would attribute any haziness to hand shakes
• The lens + camera weighs over 600 lbs making it hard to hand hold over extended periods of time

The Vivitar 55 – 135 mm f/3.5 will work as a good portrait lens & will be very suitable for street candid pictures. The Nikkormat EL has a center weighted metering & does not have exposure compensation. As such, I would use this with films for street candids & portrait shots rather than using it with slide films.

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