Tamron 17A 35-70mm f/3.5 - a lot of pictures

[PhantomLord]

Hi,

Few months ago I've visited my parents and bought Tamron 17A 35-70mm f/3.5 (Adaptall->PK mount orig. Tamron adaptor included) at local antique shop in Kettering. I spend blindly £20 for it, which I thought was quite expensive especially I didn't bring my camera to test it. However when I got home and start shooting I realized it's great.
To be honest if I lock it on camera it stays there for a long time despite bag full of lenses.
It's quite sharp wide-open at 35mm, at 70mm need to be stopped to at least f/4 to become sharp, however it's completely useful wide open throughout whole range.
I love it at f/5.6-8.0 as this seems to be it's sweet spot, but I use f/3.5-4 quite a lot as well.

I posted a lot of pictures taken with it, because I would like to show you how it behaves at different conditions (and at different countries as well ).
All pictures are JPGs straight out of EOS 600d body with sharpness and saturation +1 in camera standard mode.
All pictures are posted at this set at flickr.com: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjGxxrMB

First, lens itself:







Photos taken at Little Stanion and Stamford (UK):

Macro mode around 50-70mm at f/4.5


Around 35mm at f/5.6


Macro around 50-70mm at f/5.6


Around 35mm at f/4


Around 50mm at f/5.6-8


Around 50mm at f/5.6-8


Around 35mm at f/5.6


Around 35mm at f/5.6


Around 35mm at f/4


Macro mode at 70mm f/3.5 (indoor shot)



A few photos taken at Gdańsk (Poland):

Around 50mm at f/8.0


Around 70mm at f/8.0-11


Around 35-50mm at f/8.0-11


Around 50-70mm at f/4-5.6


Around 40-60mm at f/4-5.6



Photos of UK's Bembridge Pilot ship and Port at Szczecin (Poland):

35mm at f/5.6-8.0


70mm at f/8.0


35mm at f/4


35mm at f/5.6


Around 35-50mm at f/5.6 (storm was coming so I was in hurry and missed a focus a little bit)


Around 35-50mm at f/3.5-4


70mm at f/4.5-5.6


70mm at f/4.5-5.6


Bembridge is a beautiful and famous Pilot ship from 1938 saved from scrapyard in UK, transported and restored in Szczecin (Poland). It has great history, if you are interested follow: www.bembridge.pl or +48691770850.

[ManualFocus-G]

Firstly, what a fantastic set of photos, many thanks for taking the time to share them! Secondly, this lens is an excellent performer. I owned one before and found it was sharp, light and very underrated. And like many Adaptall-2 lenses it has a nice close focus mode

[Lloydy]

I like mine, but it does take second place to the Minolta 35-70 so I don't use my Tamron as much as I should. Looking at your excellent pictures I really should.
It's a nicely made lens as well, it's got a lot going for it.

[PhantomLord]

Thank you guys. I like this lens a lot, it's great for casual portraits as well. Like to use it when get together with couple of friends, but I didn't want to post those pictures as I don't know if they're ok with it .
What's more photos taken with this Tamron are fantastic to work with in PP, as they're in really good place at starting point, so PP is real pleasure as well as quick to do.

[LucisPictor]

I also had one and liked it a lot but just recently sold it. I also have the SP 35-80 and thus the 35-70 had to go.

[Lloydy]

I just found this, I took the Tamron out a week or so back and got some good results.

[drjs]

Close cousin and the consumer version of the SP 35-80. Has excellent reviews like its bigger brother. These photos are stunning. Thanks for sharing.

[ChromaticAberration]

I just recently found that I had been using my Canon with a "flat" picture style mode where it looses a bit of sharpness and maybe that is why my SP 35-80mm never really impressed me where yours seems sharp as hell!

[PhantomLord]

Hi,

ChromaticAberration - this isn't SP version, but, in those years, less expensive consumer version - 17A.

I never use faithfull or neutral style in Canon, because I usually shot RAW+JPG, so if I need to have as much information on the photo as camera could provide I take RAW, if in another hand I need quick picture without any PP I use camera JPG of the same photo, but with Standard Picture Style tweaked a little bit (sharpness and saturation +1) to make JPGs look better for me.

Anyway, here we go: both pictures shot with Canons Faithful picture style in the shady conditions ISO 200, 1/200s f/5.6, distance was about 1m to this center-reddish flower, hope this allow you to compare your lens in similar conditions

// And please do not comment my plants as I really know I should water them more often //

35mm f/5.6


70mm f/5.6