Hello Everyone,

I have a chance to pick these tubes and would like to ask some opinions.
If anyone had or has one of those could you please let me know what do you thinnk of them.

I do no know what model number they are at this point. All I know is they are 12,20,and 36mm.


any imput appriciated

I know that the Kenko tube set works fine and that there are similar sets sold under different names. Older, less compatible sets are still in the market as well. Considerations are whether the tubes are AI coupled and/or have electrical contacts, and which lenses and bodies will be used.

EBH

I don't think there are any modern Vivitar tubes anymore. I may be wrong though. What this means is that the tubes do not have any electrical contacts, only a mechanical mechanism to connect the camera aperture lever to the lens aperture lever. This means you will have to use any lens completely manually, or at best using only A mode (on some bodies) if the lens you use and the tubes you buy are AI or newer. You cannot use these tubes with a G type lens (no aperture ring).

That being said, I have a old set of Vivitar AUTO tubes with those lengths. They are wonderful and very solid and work great for manual focus and older lenses.

Also be warned that if the tubes are nonAI or PreAI type, they will damage any camera *except* the D40/40x/60 (and 5000 I think).

thank you very much for feed back. I just found out that they are AT-3/AI version.
I will probably not take a chance of them with my D700

Anyone selling Kenko PRO DG Tubes here - I wili take

One more time thank you very much to all of you for your help
oleg

I have the AT-3 set but it is a non-AI version. If that set truly is AI, it would be safe on the D700. You would loose all autofocus and TTL but would retain some metering so that Aperture Priority would still work. They should be no more than $50, which is a great price to get really nice tubes. All depends on the type of shooting you do and the type of len(s) you would use with the tubes.

Good Luck!

well i will be using it on my Tokina 100mm macro lens and maybe sometimes 80-200 D
I have no confirmation that it AI - all I have to do is to trust his word... well until I see it.

maybe i should consider it .....hmmm

I have to think about it - he wants 30$ for it.

I have the AI set. They are good, sturdy tubes. Nothing to take a chance with here, really. Just a hunk of metal. For $30 they should be AI and look like new.

Elan II wrote:
I have the AI set. They are good, sturdy tubes. Nothing to take a chance with here, really. Just a hunk of metal. For $30 they should be AI and look like new.




I have two sets of the AI version, though some of them became sticky after a few years. Mainly I used the 36's stacked on micro lenses.

EBH

For $30 go for it, providing the two lenses you mention have aperture rings.

Hi everyone.
I have the Kenko tube set and the mentioned Vivitar, non A-i tube set. I use a D300 body. First said-the non A-i tube set fits and works on my D300 perfect. The rear of the three tubes is rather flat-not interfering or contacting the body auto indexing pin. If one runs their finger nail across the rear of the tuble, theres just a extremely slight lip produding, not anything like an non AI lens. etc. My 12MM tube, however, is a problem with its inside(female) depth. My two AF lenses, Nikon 300 F4 and Sigma180 macro lenses-will not mount on the 12 tube, its too shallow. All my modified, AI and Ais lenses mount and work fine on each of the three Vivitar tubes. Kenko AF tubes, seem the best answer. If your Vivitar set, is like mine, it will mount or, and work on a D300 type body.

I had the 12mm AI Vivitar. Work excellent on my D2H with the lenses I tried it with, AFS, AFD, AIS.

For $30 I'd take them. I actually don't see the point of paying for Kenko or other electronic enabled tubes. When you shoot with tubes you will be shooting slow so AF and metering is irrelevant.