Is that a Vivitar in your pocket? Probably not.

Vivitar used to make some exceptional lenses, and the 285 strobe flash that was every news photographer's workhorse. My favorite 35mm compact rangefinder camera was, and still is, the Vivitar 35ES camera -- built by Cosina, which made and makes low-end cameras for many big brands of the day.

(Trivia: Vivitar's original name was "Ponder and Best.")

More recently, they slapped their brand on inexpensive digital cameras. One was a decent 6-MP underwater camera that sold for around $100 USD. But most insiders knew that Vivitar -- like Polaroid -- was a brand for hire. You could, for a price, slap it on a digital picture frame, a TV screen, or a toaster. But it didn't have that legendary Vivitar lens quality us film dinosaurs so enjoyed in the 1980s.

Fast-forward to today: Vivitar's name has been sold yet again, to Sakar. (Read it here.) Sakar markets a wide array of plastic photographic accessories that you won't find advertised in Popular Photography.

So, get set for Vivitar lens cleaner fluids and LCD protectors.

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