lens case..but no lens...?

[obscure.individual]

don't know if this is the right section for this thread, buuuuuuuuuuuut:

back in the 70's, my dad bought a Vivitar 75-260mm f/4.5 MF zoom lens. it's huge, and my dad tells me that it was so heavy that he had to use a special sort of "pistol grip" thing on the lens hold it up.


(picture for reference)

i found the lens case, but the lens wasn't inside. i know my dad wouldn't get rid of the lens without the case going with it, so it has to be somewhere in my house.

so my question is: when i find it, do you think it would still be usable? i don't know much about this sort of thing, so can i get some help over here?

 

[tirediron]

Assuming that the internal oils hadn't "glued" things solid and that there was no fungus, it would still be usable, albeit only as an MF - stopdown-exposure lens, BUT, the question is, what mount is it? If it's a Nikon and you have a Nikon body, you're fine. Canon, I'm not sure, I believe they changed. If it's Pentax bayonet-mount and you have a Pentax body, you're good...

 

[obscure.individual]

Assuming that the internal oils hadn't "glued" things solid and that there was no fungus, it would still be usable, albeit only as an MF - stopdown-exposure lens, BUT, the question is, what mount is it? If it's a Nikon and you have a Nikon body, you're fine. Canon, I'm not sure, I believe they changed. If it's Pentax bayonet-mount and you have a Pentax body, you're good...

well it was already a manual focus-only lens, my dad bought it in 1977. i know its a Nikon mount, my dad used the lens on a Nikkormat and then on the FM2 that i use now. if the oils "glued" it all together, is there any way to fix it? and the same goes for the fungus, can i get rid of that? i really want to get this lens working when i find it, because i might sell it to get closer to buying a D5100/trade it for a good autofocus lens that i can use on my D5100 when i get it.

 

[tirediron]

To be honest, if it did need it, it's not worth repairing. If you could get $50 for it, you'd be doing well. These lenses were half-decent in their day (I suspect that it's a Vivitar Series 1), but not stellar, by today's standards, they're large, slow and clunky. The 55-200 kit lens that comes with some D5100 packages will out-perform it in almost, if not all aspects.

 

[obscure.individual]

To be honest, if it did need it, it's not worth repairing. If you could get $50 for it, you'd be doing well. These lenses were half-decent in their day (I suspect that it's a Vivitar Series 1), but not stellar, by today's standards, they're large, slow and clunky. The 55-200 kit lens that comes with some D5100 packages will out-perform it in almost, if not all aspects.

actually, this lens was made by Tokina and sold under the Vivitar brand name. this exact same lens was also sold under the Soligor brand name. according to some reviews, this lens is pretty darn good. i'm hoping to get a cheap autofocus lens on here so that all i have to buy is the camera body, 'cause the camera body with a kit lens is out of my budget .-.

 

[obscure.individual]

bumpity bump bump

 

[Tuffythepug]

I agree that the Vivitar lenses of the day were slow and not all that good. I had a couple, including a 70 -200 that was ok but nothing special. Probably not worth much in today's market

 

[obscure.individual]

I agree that the Vivitar lenses of the day were slow and not all that good. I had a couple, including a 70 -200 that was ok but nothing special. Probably not worth much in today's market

hmm, i guess i might as well just hold onto it when i find it. it'd be pretty nice to have that level of zoom though, i'd probably use it on my FM2 and takes some photos of birds and other animals that i'd scare away if i got too close to them

 

[Tuffythepug]

I agree that the Vivitar lenses of the day were slow and not all that good. I had a couple, including a 70 -200 that was ok but nothing special. Probably not worth much in today's market

hmm, i guess i might as well just hold onto it when i find it. it'd be pretty nice to have that level of zoom though, i'd probably use it on my FM2 and takes some photos of birds and other animals that i'd scare away if i got too close to them

Well that's what I'd do. If you find it and it still works ok go ahead and use it for shots that call for that focal range.

 

[sovietdoc]

Some 50 years down the road my kids are probably gonna make the same thread about 70-200 II asking "if it's usable"

 

[obscure.individual]

Some 50 years down the road my kids are probably gonna make the same thread about 70-200 II asking "if it's usable"

i don't think that almost any of the lenses of today will be compatable with the cameras that're gonna be used 50 years from now