New Member Registered: July, 2013 Posts: 2 | | Review Date: December 14, 2023 | Recommended | Price: $12.50
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Equivalent quality, fit and function to Pentax tubes | | Cons: | | |
eBay seller had a set described as in "good" condition, with caps & case, for $12.50. They are not in good condition - they are like new, without any evidence that they've ever been mounted on a camera. The case is pristine, with no wear marks on neither the interior nor exterior. I have several Pentax extension tubes, and the Vivitar feels just as solid and smooth. A bargain, as equivalent Pentax sets in lesser state of repair sell for 4 - 6 times the money.
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Pentaxian Registered: September, 2017 Location: South Wales Posts: 2,963
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 6, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $15.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Well made, metal, fit smoothly, full mechanical coupling. | | Cons: | No electrical coupling for modern kit (but see below). | |
This set of tubes is well made; they are metal and fit smoothly. The coupling mechanisms work well even when all three are stacked. All functions work with a film era manual focus camera body and lenses.
However, with a modern DSLR, as found, there is no electrical communication from the camera body. The camera seems unaware a lens is even present so pictures could only be taken in manual exposure and manual focusing mode, and with the lens aperture fully open. To improve matters some black anodising can be scraped off the body end of the extension tubes to allow a certain electrical contact with the camera. This should be at the "seventh" camera contact, which is the one closest to the bottom of the mount on the camera, slightly clockwise from 6 o'clock looking at the camera. You need to work out where this touches the flange of the extension tube and scrape there. The same matter is discussed in the review of the Jessops extension tubes in this section.
I attach a picture of my flange, as modified. Only a tiny area of exposed metal is needed and I made it with a modelling knife and flat needle file, with the flange detached as shown. This small modification allows the lens to stop down when an exposure reading or the picture itself is taken, just as a manual lens would act if used without the tubes. I have only used the extension tubes with an older manual lens (M100 Macro), so cannot comment on how a modern lens with electrical functions would behave.
I enabled the electrical contact only on the shortest extension tube. There is no need for any electrical continuity in tubes stacked further out, and so I always use with the shortest tube against the camera body; the length combinations still available cover all my needs. My use of macro is in slow and deliberate situations like copying, so lack of auto focus, auto exposure etc is not an issue.
I got mine for £10 (plus postage) from Ebay, and it was in mint condition with caps. I'm surprised to read of people paying $100+ in the reviews of similar tubes. There are plenty on Ebay for around £15 - 25.
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