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Tamron Adaptamatic 85-205/3.5 - The best Adaptamatic zoom ?
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:41 am    Post subject: Tamron Adaptamatic 85-205/3.5 - The best Adaptamatic zoom ? Reply with quote

I picked this up with M42 mount at the usual low price -



This is the smallest of the Tamron Adaptamatic zooms, and it seems to have incorporated some technical advances. It is more compact than its big brothers -



L-R - 85-205/3.5, 70-220/4, 80-250/3.8

So far I have all but one of the Adaptamatic zooms, missing only the gigantic and expensive 200-500/6.9 .

It lacks a tripod mount, the only Adaptamatic of this size without one. It does have a built-in hood, but its rather small (like a lot of Tamron hoods) and I consider it useless. It is in most other respects very much like its brothers, and all the Adaptamatics, in its excellent construction and finish. Because of its more reasonable size and weight, it is the most practical of these monsters. It is also relatively more difficult to find than the larger zooms.

As a lens of its era, it is still on the large and heavy side. The equivalent lenses of the early 1970's from Kiron, Tokina, Sun and Sigma were even smaller and lighter, although they were of smaller aperture. This one focuses down to 6ft/2m, which is pretty limited by later standards though typical of the day - but Kirons 85-205/3.8 was already beating this easily. Also interesting is that although the two larger lenses were also continued as Adaptalls (strange but true), this one wasn't.

I find it a decent enough zoom, the extra weight making it quite steady. It also is nice to have a larger aperture for focusing, f/3.5 is visibly better to work with than the typical f/4.5. I do miss the lack of close focus. As for sharpness and other optical qualities, this seems to be reasonably good even wide open, though its a bit soft until about f/5.6.

















The bird -



crop -



PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, it's in fantastic condition! Nice purchase Very Happy

I love those old 70s and 80s Tamron zooms, they have bags of character. I think this is the first time (in the last two decades) I've seen any photos taken on an Adaptamatic... and they're stunning!

I have the slightly later Adaptall-2 80-210 f3.8-4 (03A) and it's my favourite lens. I've had it since the early 90s, originally on a Praktica B mount. I don't think I could be without a Tamron zoom.

No need to tell you to enjoy that lens, looks like you already are Wink


PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 5:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One is on sale now Click here to see on Ebay