Focus ring feel of some AF lenses

[clarnibass]

Hi

This is not exactly abotu MF lenses but I thought it would be a good place to ask because it's about the manual focus ring of some lenses.

Does anyone have experience with the feel of the focus rings of these lenses:
- Tamron 90mm macro (previous model with AF but without VC)
- Tokina 100mm macro Pro D
- Nikon 105mm AF D (previous model without VR)

I already decided to get one of those. I'd use it 99% of the time in manual focus only so the feel of the ring is important. The Tamron is cheapest here and is the most likely to find used. The Nikon is the most expensive and very difficult to find used. The Tokina is more or less in between in price and availability.

I'm especially interested in the difference in feel of the first two.

Also, how they compare (in focus ring feel) with my Nikon 55mm f/3.5 MF micro lens (which feels excellent).

Thank you

[sichko]

I have the Tamron. Most of the time I use AF but sometimes MF is either desirable or necessary. I find MF to be smooth with a moderate degree of damping. There is some "whispering" but the lens is over two years old and has been heavily used. So maybe there's some wear on the helicoids. Or maybe the lubricant has dried - if there is any.

It's difficult to know what to compare it with. But I have a Nikon Nikkor 28 mm f/2.8 Ais which is deliciously smooth, and the Tamron is close. However even the Nikon is not completely silent - indicating a need for a relube.

The Tamron uses a push-pull mechanism for switching between AF and MF. Not everyone likes it.

[cooltouch]

I have an older Tamron 24-70 Aspherical zoom that has a pretty wide and well-damped focusing collar. It works well in manual mode. I do not know, however, what the newer Tamrons are like.

I own a D-series Nikkor -- the 85-300mm f/4-5.6 zoom. If the D-series 105mm is anything like my zoom, I think you'll be pleased with it. My zoom is as comfortable to use as a manual lens as any of the manual-focus Nikkors I own. The focusing collar is well-textured and comfortably wide enough to find easily without looking and it is very well damped, feeling like a good quality manual focus lens when focused, in fact.

[SkedAddled]

I owned a Tamrom 18-200 AF lens a couple years ago, and it worked great on my EOS 40D,
except for low-light focusing.

Overall, I was quite happy with the lens, as it made for a great everyday-use lens.
I could get rather wide shots and very long shots with it, and I could easily MF with it.

I remember the MF aspects being a bit confusing, however.
I seem to remember that the focus ring rotation direction may have been opposite
of the rest of my lenses. If you expect to turn clockwise, then turn counter-clockwise.
Or maybe I'm misremembering.
But I do remember the width of the focusing ring being rather small.
Once I learned where it was on the lens barrel, however, it was no problem for me,
easily finding it by touch.

[visualopsins]

I don't know about your lenses. The Tamron may be an exception -- typically, the focus rings on AF lenses turn less to make the same focus changes -- AF motors are very accurate, and for fast AF, the turn amount can be less. AF lens can be harder to fine focus.