Vivitar Series 1 70-210/3.5 - Tokina - what is wrong?

[PhantomLord]

Hello,

I just received Vivitar Series 1 70-210/3.5 Tokina version and found out it is full of fungus. I managed to unscrew several groups of lenses infected with fungus and cleaned it quickly with some Hama Optical Cleaner (I didn't have anything more apriopriate),but to my surprise it seemed to work. The glass is clean now, despite a few dust specks that came inside while assembling the lens.

However, results from this lens are quite bad. Below I present you 100% crops at different focal ranges. From 70mm to 135...150mm is great/ok, but above 150mm is quite tragic. Shots were made indoor with flash reflected form the celling with lens at wide open.

Could you tell me what could be wrong?
I'm sure I reassembled the lens just like it was, before the whole operation it was even softer. It was impossible that I misplaced any lens. Maybe I have some bad copy of this lens, or maybe somebody has idea how that could be fixed.

#1 - 70mm


#2 ~ 135mm


#3 - 150mm


#4 - 210mm

[WolverineX]

are you sure you reassembled all the glass elements in right orientation?

[PhantomLord]

Yes, I'm quite sure. Actually there's just one lens that could be placed wrong, but I was assembling it with parts list - exploaded schematic of the lens.

[WolverineX]

maybe it's bad copy of the lens. i have komine and kiron versions of the lens and they are good lenses, i didn't try tokina version, but a friend of mine bought one and returned it to seller because he wasn't satisfied with sharpness

[Lloydy]

I've also got a Komine and a Kiron, the Kiron has some haze but both are sharp lenses. the reputation of the Series 1 70-210 is legendary, and I can't say I've heard bad things about the Tokina versions.
It's easy enough to flip a lens, I did it with a Tamron 90 / 2.5 and it took me hours of systematic work to discover which lens was back to front.

[Oldhand]

[PhantomLord]

I suppose I should take the lens apart and once again check with the schematics to ensure all lenses are placed correctly.

I wonder however, if one or more lenses are misplaced than why on the short end of the zoom, photos are sharp.

Thank you all for your posts, and if you have any ideas or maybe manual how to disassemble the lens completely, it would be great of help for me.

[PhantomLord]

I have one another question. Does the object stays in focus when zooming? In my lens when I focus on the object at 70mm and carefully zoom towards the 210mm, focus point is changing and I need to refocus.
I'm asking this as somewhere I read that in this lens, focus should stay in place while zooming in or out.

Mateusz

[kryss]

PhantomLord...You would be better off with Tamron 19AH 70-210 f3.5 better than any make Vivitar ser.1 or 3.

[FotoPete]

I had the Vivitar Tokina 70-210 a long time ago and had only good things to say about it. In my copy, the front element retaining ring (where the name is inscribed) was loose at one point allowing the front element to rattle to and from. I retightened the ring and it was fine.

I can't say much else though, anything I've opened tend to get turned into a paperweight. Good luck with reviving the lens!

[hifisapi]

all true zoom lenses should hold focus as you zoom the focal length. you should NOT have to refocus every time you zoom.

[frenched]

[PhantomLord]

kryss - Well, I'm looking for 19AH as I enjoy other Tamron Adaptalls I had/have, but not only me, so it's quite a bit pricey.
frenched - thank you for that information, in my copy when I set correct focus at let's say 210mm and carefully adjust to 70mm it becomes blurry.

Well, I disassembled lens to pieces and put it back together. I didn't touch aperture blades and mechanism as they work like a charm.
Below I pasted cut-through the lens from Parts List of Vivitar and lens number:
1. I cleaned from both sides and it is placed correctly
2,3. Those are glued together, so I clean exterior sides and it is placed correctly, there is no bubles or haze between elements
4,5. Are glued together as well as 6,7. But the thread that enables to disconnect 4,5 from 6,7 was glued (by factory), so I cleaned outside elements only. There was no dust/haze between elements and outside elements (4 and 7) are placed correctly, don't know about 5 and 6.
8/9,10. The same as above, I couldn't unscrew part that holds 8 and part that holds 9,10, but 8 and 10 are placed correctly.
11,12,13,14. I could access only lenses 11 and 14 from outside and they are placed correctly and clean.



When I put everything back together I only messed up infinity focus, as the lens is now focusing quite a bit after infinity.
However quality of picture didn't improve. All the slots and rolls that are responsible for zooming seem ok and in good shape. Nothing was broken or missing, there was no sign of tampering inside other than by myself.

Really don't know what's wrong. Maybe just a bad copy, but I could not accept that fact

[luisalegria]

When reassembling a lens there are several things to worry about.
One is decentering.
Another is spacing.
The distance between groups can make a big difference.
Sometimes there is even a way on some lenses to make fine adjustments in spacing.
Maybe one of your groups is not correctly spaced ?

[PhantomLord]

luisalegria - Well, from what I saw in the lens itself it doesn't look like I had possibility to place elements out of center unless I would broke threads, but this didn't happen. Spacing of moving lens groups is done by slots and rolls (7 of them actually), so there is no place for correction either. The only thing I come up with is that those lens groups that are screwed together and threads are glued in the factory include some misplaced lens or maybe wrong type of the lens, but this would be unusual.

When I got home I'll try to post my step by step photos of disassemble, maybe someone will notice any mistakes/troubles.

I must say I don't have luck with Vivitar. Especially with 37xxx Tokina made Some time ago I bought 37/2.8 and it turned out to be a lemon: http://forum.mflenses.com/vivitar-35-2-8-test-shots-and-comparison-t60808.html

[kryss]

PhantomLord..I have 2 19AH and would be willing to sell a fellow member 1 at a good price,as you know the Vivitars were King at one time but then everyone discovered the 19AH(mainly thanks to this forum) and the Vivs dropped to $50 and 19AH goes for $200-$240 on Evilbay.Both my copies are in excellent condition and like most they have zoom creep which is easily fixed by peeling grip back and tightening screws.I can PM you with attractive price if interested + shipping at my cost and I accept Paypal.Regards kryss.I will also throw in anAdaptall 2 mount.FD.OM.MD,C/Y,PK,Nikon or Konica your choice.

[PhantomLord]

Hi kryss,

Actually I could be interested, but it all depends on price as I'm a little short on money for now. Anyway I surely would like to receive PM. Just remember that postage would be to Poland, so from Canada it could cost.

Mateusz

[frenched]

[RAART]

[ovim]

I haven't been very active here recently but I might be able to help...

All zoom lenses have two infinity focus adjustments. One for the short end and one for the long end, when both are adjusted correctly the lens will hold focus when zooming. It might be that if one or both of these adjustments is off considerably, it might start to degrade image quality across the zoom range.

I've repaired this lens succesfully once and might have some repair notes /instructions if you're interested, pm me.

[PhantomLord]

frenched: Well, I hope not as accidents happen and lenses fall of

ovis: That's really interesting, I've sent you PM. Thank you.