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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

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testing my lenses - part 74 - Tamron 85-210mm/4.5
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:01 pm
Post subject: testing my lenses - part 74 - Tamron 85-210mm/4.5
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:01 pm
Post subject: testing my lenses - part 74 - Tamron 85-210mm/4.5
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adaptall lens CZ-210M



















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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:06 pm
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:06 pm
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Other than the fly picture whose colors look a bit weird but still denotes very impressive macro capabilities, all pictures look surprisingly sharp for a non SP zoom lens.


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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:11 pm
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:11 pm
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it goes to 1:3 magnification.
i got this lens on thursday so this was my first outing with it, and as i used it more i got sharper results


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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:20 pm
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:20 pm
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Did you need to sharpen these quite a bit? I had one previously and sold it on straight away as it wasn't a patch on the later 80-210/3.8-4. Love the B+W image and the macro though Smile


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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:25 pm
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:25 pm
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minimal sharpening, same settings as for all other lenses


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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:46 pm
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:46 pm
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Wonderful horse.

Great candidate for B&W process.


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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:04 pm
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:04 pm
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luisalegria wrote:
Wonderful horse.

Great candidate for B&W process.


well...the horse is already gray Wink... but here is quick conversion



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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:22 pm
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:22 pm
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I wasn't aware of the sharpening on post processing. I can't agree on that since I think it is like steroids for the lenses. Still looks like having a nice price-quality ratio.


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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:34 am
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:34 am
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ChromaticAberration wrote:
I wasn't aware of the sharpening on post processing. I can't agree on that since I think it is like steroids for the lenses.

any postprocessing is steroids for the lenses...sharpening, contrast adjusting, levels adjusting, removing CA...they all change what you get from the lens originally...and on the image that you get from certain lens ,before PP, also many other things influence the results, like correct focusing and camera shake, which are faults made by user not by the lens...also on different digital cameras you don't get uniform results from the same lens...i now use Olympus E-520 and plan to get myself Olympus E-5 which has better sensor, lighter AA filter and so on, so images from the same lenses will be sharper using E-5 than when using E-520... also difference with crop sensor and full frame sensors, where certain lens on crop sensor gives good results, but on FF sensor it might have vigneting...

even in film days many things influenced sharpness of the results from certain lens, from correct focusing over choice of film to developing the film to quality of the lens on the aparature for developing the photos

so sharpness of the certain lens can precisely and scientifically be measured only with measuring equipment, because in use many other things influence the results you get from certain lens.

my series of threads is not a scientifical testing of the lenses rather a show of what results i get from my camera with certain lens. that's why i post only samples without using any bombastic lines like "it's a sharpest lens i have" or such. it may be useful to someone to choose to acquire certain lens to see if it performs well on their camera.


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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:28 am
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:28 am
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WolverineX wrote:

my series of threads is not a scientifical testing of the lenses rather a show of what results i get from my camera with certain lens. that's why i post only samples without using any bombastic lines like "it's a sharpest lens i have" or such. it may be useful to someone to choose to acquire certain lens to see if it performs well on their camera.


Well it is pecisely because of that that I don't think you should post process the pictures, since you are trying to show the capabilities of a lens just re-shoot the scene (if possible) to get better lightning/focus/whatever.

I may be wrong though but please keep 'em coming =)


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Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:37 pm
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Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:37 pm
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new samples using E-M5









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Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 10:31 pm
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Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 10:31 pm
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Yes, keep the testing going. The minimal PP you do is nothing more than most of us do anyway, and you are not using PP to hide anything so the 'real world' tests you do are, in my opinion, more valid than any test chart shots.

Yet another good series of images from a cheap and readily available lens. Great stuff.


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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:31 am
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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:31 am
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There are plenty of lens tests, lens comparisons and lens test reviews on the net for us to check, and I'm sure that if we are interested in a particular lens we do just that.
I personally like the WolverineX approach that shows just what a particular lens is capable of - even if that includes some PP.
If all we had to go on were clinical and scientific readouts, we would not even consider some lenses - based on that alone.
All cameras and lenses produce results that need some tweaking - either in the darkroom, in the digital camera or post image taking on the computer.
So many good photographers would never get started if good images could only be produced with big name lenses.
....... so a thanks from me to WolverineX for his time and trouble and for spreading the joy of photography .........
OH


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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:45 am
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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:45 am
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Oldhand wrote:
....... so a thanks from me to WolverineX for his time and trouble and for spreading the joy of photography .........
OH

you're welcome Very Happy


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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:20 pm
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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:20 pm
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I actually applaud Wolverine for PP his "test" shots. I also applaud him for showing us a variety of subject matter, not the SOS we have seen trillions of times. Flat, low contrast, non PP photos make all lenses look unappealing to me, so thank you again for the effort.


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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 3:52 pm
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 3:52 pm
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I picked up a dirt cheap one of these lenses recently, the rubber grips were missing and I replaced them with leather. I've found that I'm using this zoom more and more, it's a lens that I can trust, there's no surprises when I look at the pictures. I like that from a lens.
This Tamron is a bargain, it sells for next to nothing and is one of the best zooms in this range that I've used. It's not quite up to the standard of my Vivitar Series 1 70-210, but it's certainly not far behind.


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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:47 pm
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:47 pm
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WolverineX... Just about everyone on this forum shoots with digital camera of some sort so why is it wrong to PP pics.I used to spend hours in darkroom producing the type of end print I wanted and now do it in under a minute with software,you don't like PP shoot film only.Great work by the way,you certainly got the best from this lens.
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