Vivitar 70-210 series 1 (3.5)

jambredz

jambredz

Veteran
So my lens (tokina version)came today finally. I have a problem though with the push pull focus. It is quite loose. At either end of the lens it is fine and it will stay in position...but anywhere in between the extreme ends and the lens will creep(slide) if the camera is tilted thus changing the focal distance. this is kinda annoying cuz alot of shots arent on the "level" and even when i'm focus at a particular range i have to be careful not to push or pull on the barrel while focusing or it will creep/slide. a 100mm shot will slowly turn to a 70mm

Is this normal?

and is there anyway to tighten it??
 
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I bought the same lens in FD mount (don't know the original version), and it has some slip, too. It's not as bad as you described, but it is nowhere near as tight as my other two one-touch zooms.

I have no idea if there is a way to tighten it.
 
Mine is the FD mount made by Kiron (currently listed for sale in the marketplace) and does not have this creep. Initially, I was a bit worried about having a bit stiffness at some point, but then I talked to my lens specialist and he told me that it is ok, because people having had the helicoidal lubrified for smoother zooming, eventually regretted it because of the zoom creep. There was even a story of a photographer that hurt his eye with the camera while zooming with this lens, because of the zooming being too loose!
This can be adjusted by a lens specialist, but the lens is quite complicated to unmount and I don't know if the cost of the modification would be justified by such an inexpensive (though excellent) lens.
 
thanks fellas.
initial tests have me really liking this lens glass wise. this creep is kinda getting to me though. def dont think its worth trying to fix. the creep actually is pretty kool for fast zooms and smooth slow zooms...so its not all bad. but when i want that locked off shot with the lens tilted up or down, im in probs, cuz i dont want to have my hand on the lens, and if i do have to have it on to focus i dont want the focal length changing.

when i get some $ i'll look for another version, maybe the version 1. i'll use this in the time being as its a pretty good lens.
 
My only suggestion would be to use the lens on a rig with a follow focus to attempt to keep the lens locked in place through contact with the gears. But if you don't have something like that and don't want to make your own makeshift setup, I don't know what to recommend :(

Might just be one of "those" lenses. We all have 'em. My Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm 3.5 has fungus in the lens (this is why one must be cautious with eBay purchases), so it has the weirdest effect on the picture. It is now a trick lens that I use here and there but never for serious work. Good thing it was cheap; I'm betting yours was, too.
 
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ye it was about 57 bucks. i can definately use it though. just not that much on the kind of shot i mentioned. glass is nice and it seems sharp. i was looking for a version 1 lastt night and found a couple...asked the one seller if it creeps by asking if u stand the lens up does it slide down or stay in place. he said it slid. so now i know what to ask b4 buying.
 
tighten the zoom creep

tighten the zoom creep

jambredz said:
So my lens (tokina version)came today finally. I have a problem though with the push pull focus. It is quite loose. At either end of the lens it is fine and it will stay in position...but anywhere in between the extreme ends and the lens will creep(slide) if the camera is tilted thus changing the focal distance. this is kinda annoying cuz alot of shots arent on the "level" and even when i'm focus at a particular range i have to be careful not to push or pull on the barrel while focusing or it will creep/slide. a 100mm shot will slowly turn to a 70mm

Is this normal?

and is there anyway to tighten it??
Click to expand...

It is easy to do:
Roll back the front of the grip rubber about 1 cm. You will find 6 screws, 2 of them are Philips. Tighten the other 4 little normal ones and you are done!
 
jambredz said:
glass is nice and it seems sharp. i was looking for a version 1 lastt night and found a couple...
Click to expand...
I have got a version 2 by Tokina too in OM mount. It has a strong zoom creep, so I understand what you mean. However,
the lens is pretty sharp and I like it a lot. It is also smaller than version 1, so I tend to prefer it.
 
Sorry to hear about the zoom creep. Version 1 is definitely a little stiffer on zooming but I think this is a built in feature to avoid zoom creep. I think I prefer the optics of the Kiron slightly more than the Tokina (has a more period look it seems) but both are amazing pieces of glass and a viable alternative to the Canon 70-200 2.8 if you don't have the funds.
 
I guess i got lucky because i have no creep, unless i hold it pretty much straight up and down maybe.

I have found that this lens is almost impossible to shoot stills with due to the lack of auto focus and manual focusing. However i love it for video the huge focus push pull makes it really easy to track your actor etc... and its also nice to be able to get a nice picture from far away if you are shooting B roll or back up camera.

I used it a ton of my last film set as i was not the main camera, but it allowed me to stay back away from the main camera crew but still get plenty of nice closeups. I actually liked my shots a lot more than the HVX200 + red rock 35mm adapter that we had on set.

jon!
 
Keep in mind these lenses are almost 30 years old... who knows what they've been thru, especially bad is sitting in a hot car or under the sun. The Kiron made ones are notorious for running lubricants.
 
I've had mine for a few months now and haven't actually used it yet. Glass looks sharp - I should probably shoot some stuff with it and see how I like the push/pull setup.

Kegan
 
javaf said:
It is easy to do:
Roll back the front of the grip rubber about 1 cm. You will find 6 screws, 2 of them are Philips. Tighten the other 4 little normal ones and you are done!
Click to expand...
I have the third, Komine version, with what appears to be a textured plastic grip ring. Is that also rubber, and does it roll back was well? It doesn't seem that it can roll back.

Thanks.
 
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