Telephoto Lenses slip out of focus: Merry Xmas to all. Was trying to shoot the moon tonight. I have a limited angle of above 65 degrees due to tree line. Tried to use my Vivitar Series...

N4646W

Merry Xmas to all.

Was trying to shoot the moon tonight. I have a limited angle of above 65 degrees due to tree line. Tried to use my Vivitar Series 1 200/600mm and Tamaron 150/500mm AI lenses. Both would slip out of focus at that elevation from their own weight.

Has anyone come up with a solution for this? So far I've found nothing searching in the forum or on google, but I'm probably not presenting it in the correct way.

Ron

rvenegas

If these are not worn out through use or abuse, try Leitz (Leica) or Zeiss lenses. You get what you pay for.

letmedance Loc: Walnut, Ca.

rvenegas wrote:

If these are not worn out through use or abuse, try Leitz (Leica) or Zeiss lenses. You get what you pay for.

Lens creep is common on big lenses. Some have used wide rubber bands to keep their lens from slipping . Here is one that is on the market,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCs91ofsj-s

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

N4646W wrote:

Merry Xmas to all.

Was trying to shoot the moon tonight. I have a limited angle of above 65 degrees due to tree line. Tried to use my Vivitar Series 1 200/600mm and Tamaron 150/500mm AI lenses. Both would slip out of focus at that elevation from their own weight.

Has anyone come up with a solution for this? So far I've found nothing searching in the forum or on google, but I'm probably not presenting it in the correct way.

Ron

That's pretty common with bayonet focus type of long lenses. The screw focus types are largely immune to it.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

N4646W wrote:

Merry Xmas to all.

Was trying to shoot the moon tonight. I have a limited angle of above 65 degrees due to tree line. Tried to use my Vivitar Series 1 200/600mm and Tamaron 150/500mm AI lenses. Both would slip out of focus at that elevation from their own weight.

Has anyone come up with a solution for this? So far I've found nothing searching in the forum or on google, but I'm probably not presenting it in the correct way.

Ron

I've not experienced focus shift with any lens, but did have a Tokina 80~200 AT-X AF that suffered from zoom shift when pointed up or down. A small twig wedged between the zoom ring and tripod plate solved the problem temporarily. My permanent solution was to give the lens away and buy a manual focus Tokina 80~200 AT-X SD, which does not shift even when pointed straight up or down.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

letmedance wrote:

Lens creep is common on big lenses. Some have used wide rubber bands to keep their lens from slipping . Here is one that is on the market,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCs91ofsj-s

This is the answer.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If you want some branded rubber bands, visit lensband.com

N4646W

letmedance wrote:

Lens creep is common on big lenses. Some have used wide rubber bands to keep their lens from slipping . Here is one that is on the market,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCs91ofsj-s

Lens Creep, that is the phrase I was looking for. Thanks. The band sounds like it will do the trick.

Ron

N4646W

mikegreenwald wrote:

That's pretty common with bayonet focus type of long lenses. The screw focus types are largely immune to it.

These are screw focus, but collapsed they are over a foot long and weigh in at over 9 lbs.

Ron

N4646W

CHG_CANON wrote:

If you want some branded rubber bands, visit lensband.com

Thanks,

Ron

N4646W

rpavich wrote:

This is the answer.

Thanks, looks like it will do the trick

Ron

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

N4646W wrote:

Lens Creep, that is the phrase I was looking for. Thanks. The band sounds like it will do the trick.

Ron

I think you have either zoom creep or focus creep. (Lens creep sounds creepy!)

N4646W

RWR wrote:

I think you have either zoom creep or focus creep. (Lens creep sounds creepy!)

Yep, it is a little buggy.

Ron

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Duct Tape to hold it

N4646W wrote:

Merry Xmas to all.

Was trying to shoot the moon tonight. I have a limited angle of above 65 degrees due to tree line. Tried to use my Vivitar Series 1 200/600mm and Tamaron 150/500mm AI lenses. Both would slip out of focus at that elevation from their own weight.

Has anyone come up with a solution for this? So far I've found nothing searching in the forum or on google, but I'm probably not presenting it in the correct way.

Ron

N4646W

PixelStan77 wrote:

Duct Tape to hold it

Yep, that is one of the things that first came to mind. Had my choice of four colors, black, red, green, and tried and true silver. Black tended to blend, but red, green and silver were more festive. Tried it, but had enough slack that the lens would come out of focus. Tried to compensate for slack in tape, but it was too frustrating. Then cleaning the residue off of the lens was a pain.

Ron