Roadiepig's Fotothing

This is what is left of my old Vivitar 28-210mm lens.

How did it end up this way?

Well... it's a sad, stupid story.

I was on my way outside to take pictures of the lunar eclipse the other night. Unfortunately, the camera and lens didn't make it outside. I had the digital Rebel attached to my tripod, and for some stupid reason I didn't wrap the neck cord around my hand.

Big mistake. Just before I reached the bottom step, Rex (our Pit Bull/Black Lab puppy) ran past me, knocking the whole camera/lens/tripod assembly out of my hands. The camera hit the floor lens first, falling from about 7 feet high. The lens broke free of the camera, spilling its insides all over the floor. The battery cover on the digital Rebel also broke, which means until I pick up a new cover I have electrical tape keeping the battery inside the camera. Very Hillbilly chic, if you ask me.

After putting another lens onto the Rebel, I went outside and took the photos I posted over the past few days. So I think the camera is still fine.

The lens? D.O.A.

The lens was bought for me by Lease back in the early 1990's. It was for my original Canon Rebel film camera. I have shot all of my weddings using this lens for most of the portrait shots. It wasn't a very expensive lens, but it had very sharp details for close-up shots. Vivitar is out of business now (I am pretty sure somebody bought them out years ago), so replacing this lens with another just like it is problimatic. I found one used on on Ebay for $100, but it has to be about as old as mine was, so I would bprobably be buying someone else's junk.

Time to do a little research- I haven't spent any of my overtime (now at 230+ hours for the winter) yet, so I guess it's time to upgrade my lens collection...