Tamron 95-205/6.3 - The Ford Model "T" of Zooms !

[luisalegria]

This Tamron Model 910P was the first of a horde of consumer zooms.



In the early days of 35mm zooms, one had professional equipment and/or very expensive curiosities made by some of the highest quality makers in the business, Kilfitt, Voigtlander, Nikon, etc. The humble photo-hobbyist or down-market professionals wouldn't have been a market for such costly and exotic toys.

This Tamron was the first cheap, mass produced item that made zooms something the common man could consider buying, even if it was just something of a gimmick. By the late 1970's almost every new SLR was equipped with a zoom and many millions were made. Now they inhabit garage sales and thrift shops, and of course ebay.

This model first came out in 1961 - my copy here was made in 1963 I believe, based on the JCS sticker. This is not a difficult lens to find, its clear that Tamron sold quite a lot of them.

It is designed with economy in mind, lightly built and cheaply finished in plain flat paint in the "zebra" style of the day. But it includes all the features of the first generation of consumer zooms that would be copied by the Japanese third party makers in the next decade, Tokina, Kiron, Komine, Sun, and of course Tamron, among so many others, all of which went on to make much better products. Its classic layout, close focus capability (4 ft-1.5m) and other design elements are identical to many later zooms. Its a preset, and its maximum aperture is a paltry f/6.3, but, well, the first of anything isn't likely to be the best.

It is, however, one up on most of the early zooms - its a "one-touch", not a "two-touch" - you pull on the focus ring to zoom. This became standard only by the late 1970's.

I haven't done the usual round with this yet, but its obvious just shooting around the house that its a pretty dreadful lens, by conventional standards. Soft, with all kinds of aberrations, you name it, its got some fault in that category. I suppose I will presently add some more dreadful pictures. As I said above, when this was new it was more of a novelty than a serious lens.

All wide-open at f/6.3, which may be unfair to this thing.

[Attila]

Nice presentation! Impressive , many thanks!

[Richard_D]

I rather like the abberations in the third shot

[luisalegria]

I took the time to clean this lens up a bit, and take it out for a more thorough try.

I have to reverse my opinion of its quality - its really a very competent, sharp performer, and not at all just a curiosity. It does compare well with even 1970's zooms, within the limits of my cameras sensor. The only fault I can see is that contrast is rather low.

Most of these were shot on a dull and foggy day.











The bird -



crop -

[ManualFocus-G]

I also purchased a copy of this beautiful lens back in 2008, my copy cost me £3.50 from a car boot sale

Here's some samples from my full frame 6D:

#1


Hunting for fossils by <<BackToTheFuture>>, on Flickr

#2


Beach scene by <<BackToTheFuture>>, on Flickr

#3


Building up to another round of fishing by <<BackToTheFuture>>, on Flickr

#4


75p for a full day's hire by <<BackToTheFuture>>, on Flickr

#5


Original Devon ice cream by <<BackToTheFuture>>, on Flickr

#6


Sitting proud and ready for action by <<BackToTheFuture>>, on Flickr

It's still a bit soft wide open and a little low on contrast, but the images have a lovely film look about them in my opinion. Plus, it's damn cheap photography for £3.50

[mo]

The colors look good regardless of all its little "issues".

[kansalliskala]

One thing I don't understand technically how some of these zooms (Tamron etc.) are longest at 80mm but some others (like Tokina 70-210) are longest at 210.