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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 6627
Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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 Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 3:47 am Post subject: Tamron Adaptamatic 70-220 f/4 - old monster zoom |
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luisalegria wrote:
This is a superbly-made lens -
Its evident that with this line, in the late 1960's, Tamron tried to make its product line fit its desired image as a high-quality manufacturer. The fit and finish are just lovely, second to none among even the professional equipment of the day. The Adaptamatics are probably the best-made Tamrons.
I am collecting the Adaptamatics for this reason, and also because they tend to be quite cheap. People are scared off by the mount I suppose. This one came with the Minolta mount, which is one of the more complex of these. It really isn't a problem swapping it for an M42, which is much simpler.
This particular lens is the little brother of the mighty 80-250/3.8 -
http://forum.mflenses.com/tamron-80-250-3-8-adapt-a-matic-t9587,highlight,adaptamatic.html
This model, along with the 80-250, is one of the most common Adaptamatics, its very easy to find on Ebay. Both of these are actually older designs from the early-mid 1960's, when both were introduced in fixed mounts and also sold by other vendors. When they were put in the Adaptamatic line they were already rather old-fashioned.
This one is only a little smaller and not much lighter than the 80-250. It is absurdly huge and heavy for its specification by todays standards. It has a tripod mount, which is a good comment on the size of this, you won't find tripod mounts on similar lenses in later days.
That said, it is a perfectly nice lens to use, I have no problem with the ergonomics, and (this is just me probably) its not really a problem carrying this for a few miles. On the whole though, I would rather be carrying the Kiron/Vivitar 85-205/3.8 .
As for performace - that is at best adequate. It is a better lens than its big brother, the 80-250. Its minimum focus is reasonable at 7 feet/2m, it is a constant-aperture and it retains focus reasonably well when zooming. There is a strong tendency to red fringing and it isn't quite sharp enough for me at f/4. That said, it does a good job stopped down a bit - which raises the question about why one would want to carry such a monster, as there are so many other smaller zooms in this class with a bit smaller aperture.
Most of these at f/4 - It has been mostly foggy or overcast these days -
The bird - a rather sleepy duck, in this case -
crop -
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I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work. |
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sichko
Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 2475
Location: South West UK
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:33 am Post subject: |
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sichko wrote:
Another masterly demonstration. Many Thanks.
Does the Tibouchina (purple flower) grow outdoors ?
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John |
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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 6627
Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 5:18 am Post subject: |
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luisalegria wrote:
Hi Sichko,
Yes, the Tibouchina (never knew what they were, thanks !) are a quite common garden flower here, you see them all over.
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I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work. |
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Gurdie
Joined: 29 Jul 2008
Posts: 997
Location: Finland
Expire: 2013-02-20
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 9:39 am Post subject: |
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Gurdie wrote:
Excellent photos (as always)!
Wheres your friend the seagull? On vacation? 
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Markku
Give me two hours a day of activity, and I'll take the other twenty-two in dreams.
― Salvador Dali
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yalcinaydin
Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 825
Location: Izmir, Turkey
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:40 am Post subject: |
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yalcinaydin wrote:
Great results Luis!
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My name is "Yalcin", and exactly "Yalın" and here you can find my MF samples:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yalcinaydin/sets/
Right now switching back to AF because of work needs but I still love the MF lenses  |
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Laurence
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
Posts: 4809
Location: Western Washington State
Expire: 2016-06-19
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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Laurence wrote:
Luis, your images are always very fine. I love the color and the clarity of the first image.
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Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,you re straightway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.
Emily Dickinson
Cameras and Lenses in Use:
Yashica Mat 124 w/ Yashinon 80/3.5,
CV Apo-Lanthar 90/3.5SL, (Thank you Klaus),
Pentax 645,
Flek 50,
Pentax-A 150
Pentax-A 120 Macro
Voigtlander Vitomatic I w/Color Skopar 50/2.8
Konica TC and zoom lenses (thanks Carsten)
Contax AX
Yashica ML 50/2
Yashica ML 35/2.8
Carl Zeiss Contax 50/1.4
Tamron Adaptall SP 17/3.5
Tamron Adaptall 28/2.5
Tamron Adaptall SP 300/2.8 LD (IF)
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kissel
Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Posts: 35
Location: Ukraine
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| Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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kissel wrote:
Great pictures!
I actually bought the same lens on ebay after seen them and reading this thread. I will finally get the lens in May, but already looking forward to that moment!
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Nikon D600, Tamron 20-40/2,7-3.5, Sigma 12-24/4.5-5.6, Nikkor 85/1.4D, 50/1.8G, AF-I 300/2.8
Panasonic GX7+14/2.5+14-42(II)+45-150.
M42: EBC Fujinon 50/1.4, EBC Fujinon-SW 24/2.8, EBC Fujinon 135/3.5, EBC Fujinon 75-150/4.5, MC Volna-9 (50/2.8, macro)
Fujinon x-Mount: Fujica AX-5, EBC x-Fujinon (Porst) 50/1.2, EBC Fujinon-T 135/3.5, EBC X-FUJINON-Z 35-70MM F2.8-3.7 DM |
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glasslover
Joined: 17 May 2011
Posts: 143
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Expire: 2013-10-19
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| Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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glasslover wrote:
Hi!
I have one of these and agree with Luis on basically all points. In case someone wants one of these, I just saw it for about $60 BIN OBO on eBay, USA, Vermont:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Minolta-Auto-Tamron-70-220-mm-1-4-Great-Vintage-Zoom-Lens-Made-in-Japan-/160849773321?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item257364c309
I have no affiliation with the seller.
Cheers!
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--Glasslover
I have a panasonic gh2 and olympus om-d e-m5 (both m43) and use mf lenses of many types |
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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 6627
Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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| Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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luisalegria wrote:
That's way overpriced for this. I would look for $10-20. They can be useful for the mount if you have a more desirable Adaptamatic lens without a usable mount.
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I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work. |
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TijmenDal
Joined: 22 Sep 2011
Posts: 206
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| Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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TijmenDal wrote:
Holy mohter of sharp zooms! Nice one! Especially for the price.
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http://cargocollective.com/tijmendal |
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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 6627
Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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| Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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luisalegria wrote:
Its not actually sharp. Its only OK at f/4. There are much better zooms in this range.
Collectors item mostly.
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stevemark
Joined: 29 Apr 2011
Posts: 3754
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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stevemark wrote:
| luisalegria wrote: |
As for performace - that is at best adequate. It is a better lens than its big brother, the 80-250. Its minimum focus is reasonable at 7 feet/2m, it is a constant-aperture and it retains focus reasonably well when zooming. There is a strong tendency to red fringing and it isn't quite sharp enough for me at f/4. That said, it does a good job stopped down a bit - which raises the question about why one would want to carry such a monster, as there are so many other smaller zooms in this class with a bit smaller aperture.
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| luisalegria wrote: |
Its not actually sharp. Its only OK at f/4. There are much better zooms in this range.
Collectors item mostly. |
Well said, indeed.
I recently got a mint looking sample of the Auto Tamron Zoom 1:4 f=70-220mm. The lens is very well made, but it's performance may have contributed to the not-so-good reputation of both Tamron and zooms:
Stephan
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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 6627
Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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| Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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luisalegria wrote:
Good test.
Corner quality wide open is a good way to distinguish lens quality overall.
For a zoom like this though, there is a question of how much you need corner quality. There are good uses for long focal lengths in landscape photography, but I find that I use these mainly for objects.
Anyway, this old Tamron is best considered a relic.
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Focusthrow
Joined: 12 Sep 2017
Posts: 209
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| Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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Focusthrow wrote:
Very nice job, Luis, of presenting this classic lens, in words & pictures--I enjoyed! Best, jt
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Sacittapariyodapanaṃ etaṃ buddhāna sāsanaṃ. DHP |
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D1N0
Joined: 07 Aug 2012
Posts: 2491
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| Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:16 am Post subject: |
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D1N0 wrote:
For close up work it seems quite good. Rendering reminds me of my 200mm 3.5 Adapt-A-matic. I believe the adapt-all lenses were the first ones Tamron designed with the aid of a computer.
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vivaldibow
Joined: 23 Jun 2018
Posts: 837
Expire: 2021-03-09
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| Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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vivaldibow wrote:
| stevemark wrote: |
Well said, indeed.
I recently got a mint looking sample of the Auto Tamron Zoom 1:4 f=70-220mm. The lens is very well made, but it's performance may have contributed to the not-so-good reputation of both Tamron and zooms:
Stephan |
Thanks Stephan for the comparison. Do you happen to own any Vivitar series 1 70-210mm and compare with Zeiss 70-210? |
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stevemark
Joined: 29 Apr 2011
Posts: 3754
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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stevemark wrote:
| vivaldibow wrote: |
| stevemark wrote: |
Well said, indeed.
I recently got a mint looking sample of the Auto Tamron Zoom 1:4 f=70-220mm. The lens is very well made, but it's performance may have contributed to the not-so-good reputation of both Tamron and zooms:
Stephan |
Thanks Stephan for the comparison. Do you happen to own any Vivitar series 1 70-210mm and compare with Zeiss 70-210? |
I think somewhere in the attic there might be a Series 1 70-210 ... however, there are quite few "Vivitar Series 70-210" lenses from different manufacturers - and even the classical first f3.5 Version, manufactured by Kino, appears to come in different flavours. The second f3.5 version was made by Tokina. The third version, the Komine f2.8-4, may be best, according to some web sources, but I have never tested the Vivitars carefully. The last version by Cosina is a f2.8-4, too.
I'll check and see whether there's one in my inventory ...
Stephan
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stevemark
Joined: 29 Apr 2011
Posts: 3754
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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stevemark wrote:
While i was looking for the Vivitar Series 1 (Kino) 3.5/70-210mm, i found also a Tamron SP 3.5-4/70-210mm (52A), another "revolutionary" tele zoom construction (because of its 1:2 macro).
1) Canon nFD 4/80-200mm L
2) Vivitar Series 1 3.5/70-210mm (first version, Kino made, SN starting with 22)
3) Tamron SP 3.5-4/70-210mm (model 52A)
4) Zeiss Varion Sonnar CY 3.5/70-210mm
I have compared them, for time being, at their long end (f=200mm or f=210mm).
100% crops from the extreme corner of the 24MP full frame JPG from the Sony A7II.
Click on the image below and then enlarge it to full size to see the 100% image!!
Stephan
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aidaho
Joined: 29 Apr 2018
Posts: 456
Location: Ukraine
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| Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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aidaho wrote:
Looks like both Zeiss and Tamron could've just skipped the whole aperture thing.
I wonder, why some of the longer lenses are so unresponsive to the diaphragm setting?
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vivaldibow
Joined: 23 Jun 2018
Posts: 837
Expire: 2021-03-09
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| Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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vivaldibow wrote:
| stevemark wrote: |
While i was looking for the Vivitar Series 1 (Kino) 3.5/70-210mm, i found also a Tamron SP 3.5-4/70-210mm (52A), another "revolutionary" tele zoom construction (because of its 1:2 macro).
1) Canon nFD 4/80-200mm L
2) Vivitar Series 1 3.5/70-210mm (first version, Kino made, SN starting with 22)
3) Tamron SP 3.5-4/70-210mm (model 52A)
4) Zeiss Varion Sonnar CY 3.5/70-210mm
I have compared them, for time being, at their long end (f=200mm or f=210mm).
100% crops from the extreme corner of the 24MP full frame JPG from the Sony A7II.
Stephan |
Thank you very much for the comparison shots. Kiron made Vivitar lags behind in this test. As it is said Tokina/Komine made Vivitars are better, the gap could be smaller. |
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GoldMark
Joined: 21 Aug 2012
Posts: 185
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:32 pm Post subject: |
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GoldMark wrote:
all have chromatic abberiation
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Bernhard
https://deramateurphotograph.de/ |
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stevemark
Joined: 29 Apr 2011
Posts: 3754
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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stevemark wrote:
| aidaho wrote: |
| Looks like both Zeiss and Tamron could've just skipped the whole aperture thing. |
Depth-of-field and vignetting are clearly changing when stopping down the Zeiss 
And at other focal lengths, the difference is more pronounced ...
| aidaho wrote: |
I wonder, why some of the longer lenses are so unresponsive to the diaphragm setting? |
Me too ... but you have given us some valuable hints before. Obviously the position of the aperture has a strong influence, and mechanical reasons may be a severe obstacle for the optimal position.
S
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stevemark
Joined: 29 Apr 2011
Posts: 3754
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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stevemark wrote:
| GoldMark wrote: |
| all have chromatic abberiation |
Yes, but the Canon 80-200 L with its fluorite lens clearly has fewest lateral and longitudinal CAs!
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aidaho
Joined: 29 Apr 2018
Posts: 456
Location: Ukraine
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| Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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aidaho wrote:
| stevemark wrote: |
| aidaho wrote: |
I wonder, why some of the longer lenses are so unresponsive to the diaphragm setting? |
Me too ... but you have given us some valuable hints before. Obviously the position of the aperture has a strong influence, and mechanical reasons may be a severe obstacle for the optimal position.
S |
Yeah, but that was a specific guess for a specific IF lens (first of it's kind at that).
As I see more and more test results from you, I'm hesitant to buy my own argument.
Not just IF lenses appear sluggish to respond to aperture, and not just one manufacturer is guilty.
If vignetting does respond to stopping down, but CAs and resolution do not, it means the aperture is somewhere around the correct position, but excluding the outer portions of glass does not reduce optical errors.
As to why is it so, the simplest speculation would be: these lenses were very well (as in: uniformly) made, at the limits of what was possible.
As there wasn't that much difference between the outer and inner glass surfaces, not much could be improved by stopping down.
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stevemark
Joined: 29 Apr 2011
Posts: 3754
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2021 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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stevemark wrote:
I just got another sample of the Tamron Adaptall 4/70-220mm lens, this time an (earlier?) version with a metal focusing and zoom ring (not the rubber grip version shown in the very first posting). Testing this second sample confirms the rather limited performance of the Tamron 4/70-220mm; thus I'm quite confident that my test results shown above are representing the actual perfomance of the lens, and that they are not an outlier.
Shown below the second sample with metal focusing and zoom rings:
S
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