The 1st SERIOUS Trial-Vivitar S1 70-210mm with a K100D!

Dear Fellow Pentaxians:

The PIPE Here....even though I was recently laid off from my CAD job (economic "crisis" that's in the news lately) I managed to make it to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome for the RC model flying meet that I usually attend each and every year, on the weekend after Labor Day.

True, if anyone remembers the WEATHER that weekend, it contained a thorough DRENCHING from Tropical Storm HANNA as it sped up the East Coast on Saturday of that weekend...thankfully it was completely OUT of the Lower Hudson River valley area by early Sunday morning, and I was able to actually try out my Pentax K100D DSLR with my "original production" K-mount, Vivitar Series One 70-210mm all manual telephoto FILM lens on the K100D.

Well, the following quartet of photos at the bottom of this post shows HOW well I HOPE) that camera did "for a start"...

...more to come...just wondering what everyone here (especially antique aviation and aeromodeling lovers!) thinks "so far"...

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!

[Falcons]

Sorry to hear about the job situation.
Nice photos, #3 would be my favourite.

Hmmm might have to get my old pipe out and some nice aromatic tobacco - I think I might just do that.

[Lowell Goudge]

what version of the lens do you have?

By origonal, am I to assume it is the constant apature F3.5 one ring zoom, with a macro switch that can be activated when zoomed into 210mm?

If so, you don't mention haviong to midify the lens (specifcially the shield around the apature activation lever) to fit the camera.

I had to on my copy.

[Fl_Gulfer]

Great shots! Sorry to hear about work.. I just love the Series 1 lenses.


Jack

[The PIPE]

Dear Lowell Goudge:

The PIPE Here again (just been calling around to TRY getting some sort of CAD work to do for income!)....

...and from the attached photo of my Vivitar, you'll see it's UNmodified...it EASILY fit on my K100D, just about as easily as it always has on my K1000SE "film burner"...!

I got that lens, a LOONG time ago, from the well-known KEH.com website for used camera gear. I traded them my Pentax 200mm f/4 prime lens to get it, and got a "one-touch" tele zoom that's slightly LARGER in maximum aperture than the Pentax "prime", and with a macro capability on top of that! I had ALWAYS wanted one of them, after seeing one in 1984 in the photo department of the now long-defunct "Lechmere" department store in Weymouth ("Lechmere" was a Boston area chain of department stores)...and thanks to KEH, I got just about the best model of the Vivitar S1 made in that focal length...the ORIGINAL model of it, all f/3.5 of it, too!!!!

I'd LIKE to get a rubber lens hood for it, partially to protect the front of the lens (a possible candidate is listed at Hama | 67mm Screw-In Rubber Zoom Lens Hood for 24mm | HA-929.67 )...but that's got to wait for more CAD work to come along...!!!

I haven't YET tried doing RAW shooting with my K100D...that MIGHT take a good editing software package like Bibble Pro to get decent post-processing results...and I would LOOOVE to get a Sigma 135-400 DG autofocus tele lens (which I've nicknamed the "Li'l Bigma") that would be usable on BOTH my K1000SE film burner (in manual form) and on the K100D digital...

...but "for now", at least, I DO have the Vivitar to give me a capability of having a manual, equivalent-to-a-105 to 315mm telephoto (or somethng CLOSE to that) lens, thanks to that helpful "crop factor" parameter, when it's sitting on the K100D!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!

[The PIPE]

Dear Fellow Pentaxians:

The PIPE Here once more...and I "downsized" some more shots of that RC Scale model that was in the first photo...they'll be at the end of this message...and I believe it was one of the MANY variants of the Avro 504, the standard British flight training aircraft of World War I...and the FAVORITE biplane of all for my German Email buddy, the webmaster at Biplanes.de - Die Oldtimer Community in Deutschland !

Hope you like them...more to come...

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!

[Jimbo]

Great shots Pipe and not a piper in site! Good luck with the job hunting. JIM

[MRRiley]

Nice shots... You don't see too many RC biplanes (at least I havn't) Try a slower shutter speed and do some panning to get a better sense of speed. Should work well with these birds.

[Lowell Goudge]

Originally Posted by The PIPE

Dear Lowell Goudge:

The PIPE Here again (just been calling around to TRY getting some sort of CAD work to do for income!)....

...and from the attached photo of my Vivitar, you'll see it's UNmodified...it EASILY fit on my K100D, just about as easily as it always has on my K1000SE "film burner"...!

I got that lens, a LOONG time ago, from the well-known KEH.com website for used camera gear. I traded them my Pentax 200mm f/4 prime lens to get it, and got a "one-touch" tele zoom that's slightly LARGER in maximum aperture than the Pentax "prime", and with a macro capability on top of that! I had ALWAYS wanted one of them, after seeing one in 1984 in the photo department of the now long-defunct "Lechmere" department store in Weymouth ("Lechmere" was a Boston area chain of department stores)...and thanks to KEH, I got just about the best model of the Vivitar S1 made in that focal length...the ORIGINAL model of it, all f/3.5 of it, too!!!!

I'd LIKE to get a rubber lens hood for it, partially to protect the front of the lens (a possible candidate is listed at Hama | 67mm Screw-In Rubber Zoom Lens Hood for 24mm | HA-929.67 )...but that's got to wait for more CAD work to come along...!!!

I haven't YET tried doing RAW shooting with my K100D...that MIGHT take a good editing software package like Bibble Pro to get decent post-processing results...and I would LOOOVE to get a Sigma 135-400 DG autofocus tele lens (which I've nicknamed the "Li'l Bigma") that would be usable on BOTH my K1000SE film burner (in manual form) and on the K100D digital...

...but "for now", at least, I DO have the Vivitar to give me a capability of having a manual, equivalent-to-a-105 to 315mm telephoto (or somethng CLOSE to that) lens, thanks to that helpful "crop factor" parameter, when it's sitting on the K100D!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!

Looks like mine, I would be curious to see the flange that protects the apature activation lever.

I had to cut mine down to fit both the *istD and K10D. if you want to get out to 400mm af, look at attaching the 1.7x AF adaptor to this, you end up with a 105-357mm f5.6 lens. Worked great for years on my PZ-1

[The PIPE]

Dear Lowell Goudge:

The PIPE here again with a "quickie"...

...when I stated that my Vivitar was an ALL manual lens, I meant that EVERYTHING was manual...including the aperture...as there is NO "A" position on the aperture ring on that lens (please look CLOSELY at the attached photo of my Vivitar's aperture ring...you'll find NO "A" positon on there)...!!!!

I basically used the "AE-L" button on the K100D, just like the K10D and later "green button" Pentax digitals, to get a good estimate on aperture for an all-manual lens...I just set it for that, and set the autofocus button to "AF"...

...and I managed to find out (duh, I suppose??) that the camera would ONLY take a photo when I DID have good focus, while the AF button was in that marked position (remember, this WAS the very first time I'd had a chance to try out "action shooting" with this great old lens on my K100D)...so I took advantage of that, and that helped me get those great Avro photos...and a few more to come next time!!!

Thanks for trying to help on a suggestion for a teleconverter...but I'm STILL hoping to get back to work (hopefully at the very beginning of 2009)...and that a Sigma 135-400 DG "Li'l Bigma" autofocus lens will be in my possession before next summer....!!!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE...!!!

[PentHassyKon]

Originally Posted by Lowell Goudge

If so, you don't mention haviong to midify the lens (specifcially the shield around the apature activation lever) to fit the camera.

I had to on my copy.

I've also got this version of the Vivitar S1 70-210 and I can't get it on my k200d. Can you or others provide the details of this mod?

[Steinback]

@PentHassyKon: Essentially the flange/shield inside the back of the lens (by the mount) is too long and it needs to be (carefully) cut or ground down to make it shorter so the lens will work with current Pentax SLRs. I bought my Vivitar S1 used off of another forum member who had already modified it so I'm not sure exactly how much was removed. The remaining portion of the flange on my lens extends about 5mm out from the mount.

[ChipB]

Originally Posted by PentHassyKon

I've also got this version of the Vivitar S1 70-210 and I can't get it on my k200d. Can you or others provide the details of this mod?

It's fairly easy to modify - MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE THE FLANGE FROM THE CAMERA FIRST. Then simply use a hacksaw, Dremel tool, whatever to cut the flange down, smooth it with a file and hit it with some flat black paint. Search this forum and DPReview forum for pics. Or, assuming you have a lens that fits, simply compare the flanges and cut accordingly. To be a little more specific, we're talking about the flange that "protects" the aperture actuation lever on the back (mount side) of the lens.