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Tamron SP 28-80mm (27A)
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:41 pm    Post subject: Tamron SP 28-80mm (27A) Reply with quote
I just got back from a trip to the mountains where I had planned to try out a new telescope. I brought the 300/2.8L, the Telescope and a new-to-me Tamron SP 28-80/3.5 Macro (27A). This may well be the sharpest zoom I own now. Needless to say i ended up spending most of my time shooting with it. I know, I'm easily impressed. but man... Smile

For example if I hadn't processed these myself and thus knew better, I'd totally think they were just sharpened/over-sharpened water shots and therefore kinda lame. Lameness may still be granted them but not for any processing.

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28mm f/4










55mm f/4










80mm f/4 - which is wide open for 80mm on this lens (it nudges via zoom to f/4.2 I think).






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PostPosted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I, too, have one of these (for sale Laughing ) and it's not bad...it's an old school SP after all! It's nothing special wide-open but f/4 is totally usable. Your first shot shows its sharpness from corner to corner and I love the color tones just under the water's surface Cool


PostPosted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have a copy, two in fact, Embarassed for sale as well; there are too many lenses here Smile, no ad yet..soon).

Not a bad lens. A better than average zoom for its era. IQ is much better than the kit 28-80 AF zoom lenses Canon sold with 35mm film and early dSLRs, it is also much larger (67mm filters) and it is built of metal. IQ is similar to Canon's 28-135IS, a modern lens with twice the zoom range.

A good price/performance ratio imho, copies sell from US$30-60 range, sometimes WAY less. Wink


PostPosted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
You're right, it's impressive.
Beautiful pictures. Thanks. Smile


PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
ryan s wrote:
I, too, have one of these (for sale Laughing ) and it's not bad...it's an old school SP after all! It's nothing special wide-open but f/4 is totally usable. Your first shot shows its sharpness from corner to corner and I love the color tones just under the water's surface Cool



Thanks for the feedback Ryan! I't appreciated!Here's two taken with the same 27A lens but in macro-mode. I wasn't counting on doing any insect macros so this is only available light, near f/4.0, and at ISO 100:







That flower is approximately 1.5cm ~ 1.7cm so I guess this little guy is about 8mm 2mm, in body length.











Slightly OOF but I like the image OK. (I wonder what this thing is called - they sure were orange... )








These are about 60% crops BTW.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 7:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
They are very nice shots. Up until now I have preferred my SP 35-80 (01A) but it looks like I will have to find a copy of this 27A to try out Smile


PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Tesselator, maybe the insect is of the syrphidae family.

http://tolweb.org/Syrphidae

http://www.gardensafari.net/english/hoverflies.htm


PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
martyn_bannister wrote:
They are very nice shots. Up until now I have preferred my SP 35-80 (01A) but it looks like I will have to find a copy of this 27A to try out Smile


I would sure love a comparison on those two since the one you currently one is (as far as I understand) a legend on the zooms of it's class but this 28-80 is a bit broader and way cheaper.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
ChromaticAberration wrote:
martyn_bannister wrote:
They are very nice shots. Up until now I have preferred my SP 35-80 (01A) but it looks like I will have to find a copy of this 27A to try out Smile


I would sure love a comparison on those two since the one you currently one is (as far as I understand) a legend on the zooms of it's class but this 28-80 is a bit broader and way cheaper.


Well, if I remember correctly, I picked up my 35-80 at a car boot for 5. I've just sourced a 28-80 from ebay for 26 inc shipping, so I hope I haven't bought a pup Smile Apparently it needs a clean, but I can certainly do a comparison before I butcher it Smile


PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 3:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Do clean it before you do the comparison tho. Wink

Here's some comments from another forum which appeared one after the other:

Quote:
debuggerus wrote:
Looks nice, BIF. Looks like you got a nice copy which is all that matters.
My copy, though not bad, didn't give the WOW factor (on full frame) I barely touched it.
The 35-80/2.8-3.8 and the 24-48/3.5-3.8 are picked more often.

Peire wrote:
I tried 35-80/2.8-3.8 and 28-80/3.5-4.2 SP Tamrons - both very sharp plus useful macro function.If I hadn't Zeiss VS 35-70/3.4 I would probably have kept one of them.The only shortcoming I noticed was poor flare resistance,but it's not a major flaw especially for that price/built quality.




Here's some more with the same lens taken on the same day. Smile I think these are still all at f/4.0 - again unless the zoom was at 80mm where it nudges it over to 4.2.




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The Sun came out for just long enough for this one. It almost felt like an intrusion. Smile






































[/center] <--- I sure wish this site had centering! I put this here as a mild request and in hopes that some fine day they will be added. Smile
.


PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
It is very good to me !

First pictures show a lovely place with these green surfaces and these lovely houses.
Are these thatched roofs ?
They make me think about the lord of the ring.


PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 11:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks Oli,

Yup, those are thatched roof houses. There's quite a few different styles of traditional Japanese homes. Several thatched types, a few mud types, and some mixtures of the two. These are mud walled thatched roofed homes traditional to northern Gifu prefecture - about a day's walk at full pace or an hour and forty five minutes by one of them new-fangled contraptions some refer to as automobiles. Very Happy


PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Tesselator wrote:
These are mud walled thatched roofed homes traditional to northern Gifu prefecture - about a day's walk at full pace or an hour and forty five minutes by one of them new-fangled contraptions some refer to as automobiles. Very Happy

Laughing

We have thatched roof in France too.
For instance, in Normandy : http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/186afd52-7c1f-11e0-a386-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Oy4vUaLo


PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Olivier wrote:
Tesselator wrote:
These are mud walled thatched roofed homes traditional to northern Gifu prefecture - about a day's walk at full pace or an hour and forty five minutes by one of them new-fangled contraptions some refer to as automobiles. Very Happy

Laughing

We have thatched roof in France too.
For instance, in Normandy : http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/186afd52-7c1f-11e0-a386-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Oy4vUaLo



Very cool! Thatching is a construction I don't know about yet and so interests me quite a lot.


PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 6:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
This is a very impressive lens. I took a look at the Modern resolution/contrast tests for it over at adaptall-2.org and was amazed at the numbers. But I shouldn't have been, given the photos you've posted.


PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
This is a very impressive lens. I took a look at the Modern resolution/contrast tests for it over at adaptall-2.org and was amazed at the numbers. But I shouldn't have been, given the photos you've posted.

Hi Michael.

I don't know exactly these tests. Do you know what would be considered as the best figures in these resolution/contrats test ?

What do you think about the Tamron SP 35-80mm figures ?
http://www.adaptall-2.org/lenses/01A.html


PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 11:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Olivier wrote:
cooltouch wrote:
This is a very impressive lens. I took a look at the Modern resolution/contrast tests for it over at adaptall-2.org and was amazed at the numbers. But I shouldn't have been, given the photos you've posted.

Hi Michael.

I don't know exactly these tests. Do you know what would be considered as the best figures in these resolution/contrats test ?

What do you think about the Tamron SP 35-80mm figures ?
http://www.adaptall-2.org/lenses/01A.html


Typically a resolution number over 60 is excellent, more than excellent, really. You just don't see many lenses that score resolution numbers that high. I consider contrast numbers over 50% also to be excellent.


PostPosted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 1:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you Michael.

So, this 28-80mm is empressive at 28mm !


PostPosted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, very. And if you look at the 35-80's numbers, it's even more impressive. There are many primes that don't score as high as that 35-80 does.


PostPosted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 9:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
This is a very impressive lens. I took a look at the Modern resolution/contrast tests for it over at adaptall-2.org and was amazed at the numbers. But I shouldn't have been, given the photos you've posted.


Thanks, I had totally forgotten adaptall-2.org. Good on you for bringing it up! Here's the direct link for the 27A for those looking into it:

http://adaptall-2.org/lenses/27A.html

And here's the similar 01A for reference:

http://adaptall-2.org/lenses/01A.html

I'm going to keep my eye out for the 01A as while the 27A is a little better at the wide end the 01A is a little better at the long end. The 01A seems to have no macro tho and that's kind of a bummer - I dig macro and 1:3.4 at 30mm zoom to 1:1.7 at 80mm with a working distance of 1.18 feet (36cm) is just about right for most hand-held stuff I do in the field or around the house! I've found that at much over 1:1 (1x) I start needing my tripod and macro-rails for framing and focus. It also looks like the 27A is more flat-field too and that's always good for a number of photography types!

Just to keep it fun here's a 90% crop of a little froggy I caught up in the mountains and released in a local park after not being able to figure out how to set up a shot on my macro table. This guy's got jump skills and a half! Smile




This is wide open at the widest end of the macro (about 30mm) from about 1.5 feet away. The frog is small enough to easily fit through the mouth of a coke bottle - which was his transport container and home for two days.



.


PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2019 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Which would be the better lens this 27a or the 28-135mm 28a? I am looking for a good 28 to something vintage manual zoom an the Vivitar Kiron/Komine versions are hard to find and expensive for K-mount. Native pentax there is not a lot of choice. Plenty of Pentax/Takumar-a 28-80mm's but those have no SMC coatings. I already have the excellent Pentax-m 35-70mm 1:2.8-4 but want something wider.


PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hello

An old topic revived !
I like this site for that. Wink

The 28-135mm is f4-4.5 when the 28-80mm is f3.5-4.2.

I have this SP 028A 28-135mm f4-4.5 and like it very much. It is very pleasant to use and very versatile, and its image quality is great.

Here are some sample shots taken with it :
http://forum.mflenses.com/tamron-sp-28-135mm-f4-4-5-t53890,highlight,%2Btamron+%2B28a.html


PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The 28-135mm is pretty heavy.


PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2019 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
uddhava wrote:
The 28-135mm is pretty heavy.

I have one already but it is broken in so many ways and the seller is not responding. I am on the verge of a 1 star review. I don't think it is too heavy though.


PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2019 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've not used the 28-135, but like cooltouch, I own 2 copies of the 28-80.
One is in excellent condition, the other even better. Performance of both seems equal.

I love the 28-80 (27A). It's compact and lightweight, yet constructed solidly enough
to take some real abuse. Physically, it operates with extreme precision; optically,
it delivers excellent results. I love its color rendition, sharpness and focal range.
It's an excellent all-purpose zoom lens.



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