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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008 Posts: 6627 Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 10:11 pm Post subject: Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm 23A |
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luisalegria wrote:
I picked this up a year ago, very cheaply as part of a lot.
I have actually had a broken one for several years, that will not be released from macro mode, and I have played around with fixing it so far with no success.
This "new" one however is in perfect working order.
I have grown to appreciate this a great deal and I now use it regularly. I find it extremely handy and versatile. The Pentax Forums entry of this says it "has been referred to as a "swiss army knife" of a lens due to it's versatility" and thats my opinion as well.
Its a very common, very popular, much reviewed lens, and doesn't really need another writeup, so I will just cite a number of good reviews, some by members -
http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/tamron-adaptall-2-sp-60-300mm-f-3-8-5-4-23a.html
Note in particular the review there by member cootouch who has used these things a very great deal, and the macro test he posted linked to his review -
http://michaelmcbroom.com/blogistan/?p=56
and his post on mflenses -
http://forum.mflenses.com/tamron-60-300-3-8-5-4-lens-test-t15756.html
and of course on the mflenses pages -
http://www.mflenses.com/tamron-sp-60-300-review.html
Adaptall-2 said it was a "somewhat above average performer", which I think is faint praise for such a useful thing.
http://www.adaptall-2.com/lenses/23A.html
Like the Swiss Army knife (see above), this is a reasonably effective lens that replaces, possibly, several specialized lenses, at the cost of some extra weight and size. Its generally a good tradeoff. Its a decent if fairly clumsy macro lens, especially for 3d subjects, a very capable 300mm that is competitive with many primes in that class, and down to very credible "portrait" territory on APS-C. There are many decent "macro" 70-200 lenses of course, but, personally, I am addicted to "just a bit longer" and will always go for as long a lens as I can get. 300mm is very much worth the extra weight and size vs 200mm.
As a walk around tele its very hard to beat, which will handle any desire short of wide angle or f/1.4-1.2 jobs, the proverbial beautiful women in dark cafes. If you are wandering about in daylight this should suffice for whatever comes along.
Its not perfect of course, with some CA and color fringing under the usual conditions especially in the longer settings. There seems to be some tendency for it to get stuck in macro mode or for it to refuse to be set to macro mode. Best to check that.
Samples of the versatility of this thing -
_________________ I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work. |
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Eddie46
Joined: 05 Dec 2016 Posts: 135 Location: cardiff,UK
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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Eddie46 wrote:
One has just turned up on Ebay UK. |
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devinw
Joined: 19 Aug 2016 Posts: 207 Location: Portland, OR
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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devinw wrote:
Looks good!
That is a pretty useful and large range for sure! _________________
Camera: Sony a6300
E-Mount: Zeiss/Sony 16-70 f/4, Samyang 12mm f/2
Rokkor: MD PG 50mm f1.4, MD 100mm Macro f3.5, MD 135mm f2.8, MD Zoom 35-70mm f3.5, MD Zoom 75-150 f4
Canon FD: nFD 50mm f1.4, Tokina AT-X 100-300mm f4
My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/westonde/
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marcusBMG
Joined: 07 Dec 2012 Posts: 1304 Location: Conwy N Wales
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:54 pm Post subject: |
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marcusBMG wrote:
More good pics Luis. Yep, one of my favourite adaptalls. Easily picked up on ebay (UK) for around £30+/-, which puts it in the "everyone should have one" category IMO.
Still holds its own against modern lenses see 70mm comparison here.
Note that one of those cheap 65/66mm ID alloy tripod mount rings from China fits nicely around the end of the zoom/focus ring for tripod mounting for macro work (in macro the zoom/focus ring doesn't rotate). However for normal use the TM ring needs to be modded, or use packing, to fit around the barrel in front of the aperture ring (reduces zoom range to ~ 100-300mm). _________________ pentax ME super (retired)
Pentax K3-ii; pentax K-S2; Samsung NX 20; Lumix G1 + adapters;
Adaptall collection (proliferating!) inc 200-500mm 31A, 300mm f2.8, 400mm f4.
Primes: takumar 55mm; smc 28mm, 50mm; kino/komine 28mm f2's, helios 58mm, Tamron Nestar 400mm, novoflex 400mm, Vivitar 135mm close focus, 105mm macro; Jupiter 11A; CZJ 135mm.
A classic zoom or two: VS1 (komine), Kiron Zoomlock... |
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-rageQuit-
Joined: 26 Dec 2013 Posts: 22
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 1:20 am Post subject: Re: Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm 23A |
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-rageQuit- wrote:
luisalegria wrote: |
As a walk around tele its very hard to beat, ... If you are wandering about in daylight this should suffice for whatever comes along. |
As long as you are shooting film/full frame I concur: wandering around a city buildings fit the normal end from a distance, then you can zoom in for the crafted details. I'd venture that it's excessive on a crop sensor.
The issue for me is that the viewfinders of APS-C dSLRs I've owned haven't allowed accurate focussing (given its weight, Live View is unwieldy hand-held). Using a monopod to support the camera body offers little improvement - I've not tried an adapted tripod mount on the lens itself. It's trying to use the lens at the limits of its capability (60mm macro and 300mm) that makes this particularly frustrating.
Lastly, since it's a push-pull zoom and in macro mode focussing is accomplished by pushing/pulling, you can have the equivalent of 'zoom creep' at high angles, causing focus on macro subjects to slip away. |
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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008 Posts: 6627 Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 1:51 am Post subject: |
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luisalegria wrote:
I use this on a Pentax K30 actually, I'm a huge fan of the Pentax APS-C DSLRs.
And of Pentax everything of course, going back to the 1970's.
Been doing MF on them since the K100D and the K-x
And with both macro and long tele, me being a tele fan, as I'm narrow minded.
So this 300mm is really a 450mm equivalent in angle of view, and I like it that way.
I got used to accurate (enough) focus with the stock screens (I don't know, I got the knack after an hour or two, maybe its some powers of extra-sensory perception) , but life has been even better since I got a plain groundglass focus screen.
Much better.
Yes, some of us Pentax guys are a little odd. _________________ I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work. |
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kds315*
Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 16544 Location: Weinheim, Germany
Expire: 2021-03-09
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:43 am Post subject: |
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kds315* wrote:
well done!! _________________ Klaus - Admin
"S'il vient a point, me souviendra" [Thomas Bohier (1460-1523)]
http://www.macrolenses.de for macro and special lens info
http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos for UV Images and lens/filter info
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kds315/albums my albums using various lenses
http://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.com/ my UV BLOG
http://www.travelmeetsfood.com/blog Food + Travel BLOG
https://galeriafotografia.com Architecture + Drone photography
Currently most FAV lens(es):
X80QF f3.2/80mm
Hypergon f11/26mm
ELCAN UV f5.6/52mm
Zeiss UV-Planar f4/60mm
Zeiss UV-Planar f2/62mm
Lomo Уфар-12 f2.5/41mm
Lomo Зуфар-2 f4.0/350mm
Lomo ZIKAR-1A f1.2/100mm
Nikon UV Nikkor f4.5/105mm
Zeiss UV-Sonnar f4.3/105mm
CERCO UV-VIS-NIR f1.8/45mm
CERCO UV-VIS-NIR f4.1/94mm
CERCO UV-VIS-NIR f2.8/100mm
Steinheil Quarzobjektiv f1.8/50mm
Pentax Quartz Takumar f3.5/85mm
Carl Zeiss Jena UV-Objektiv f4/60mm
NYE OPTICAL Lyman-Alpha II f1.1/90mm
NYE OPTICAL Lyman-Alpha I f2.8/200mm
COASTAL OPTICS f4/60mm UV-VIS-IR Apo
COASTAL OPTICS f4.5/105mm UV-Micro-Apo
Pentax Ultra-Achromatic Takumar f4.5/85mm
Pentax Ultra-Achromatic Takumar f5.6/300mm
Rodenstock UV-Rodagon f5.6/60mm + 105mm + 150mm
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TrueLoveOne
Joined: 30 Sep 2012 Posts: 1840 Location: Netherlands
Expire: 2013-12-24
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Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 8:36 am Post subject: |
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TrueLoveOne wrote:
Hope you do not mind me hi-jacking this topic with some of my samples, i thought it'd be a overkill to open a new topic on this great Tamron SP lens. I bought it some time ago, complete with hood, manual and (french) bill! It's as good as a new one.
I've used it on several occasions now and i must say it really is an excellent zoomlens! Maybe it's the handling maybe it really is better but i prefer it over my Minolta MD 5.6/100-300, and that coming from a real Minolta addict......
It's easy to focus, in good light it's easy to shoot handheld and it is indeed very versatile! Take a look at no.6: unprocessed camera-jpg, wide open.
If you see one : grab it!
1.
nibble nibble ! by René Maly, on Flickr
2.
Cutting trees by René Maly, on Flickr
3.
(ab)used by René Maly, on Flickr
4.
Fast little stallion by René Maly, on Flickr
5.
6.
This last one is an unprocessed wide-open shot, straight out of Sony A7 JPG picture
_________________ My Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chantalrene/
Sony A7, Canon 5D mkII, Minolta 7D + RD3000 and some more.....
Minolta and Konica collector.... slowly selling all the other stuff! |
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cooltouch
Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas
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Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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cooltouch wrote:
Wow, some very nice photos Luis and René! It's really nice seeing that others are able to wring such great photos out of this lens. Kinda gratifying.
It was kinda fun going back and reading that thread I started years ago. Yeah, I continue to be a big fan of this lens. Pair this 60-300 with the Tamron SP 24-48 if you're shooting film or full frame, and you've got a pair of walking-around lenses that'll handle most any photo situation you're likely to come across. And on a crop-sensor camera, you're at about 85-400 or so, relatively speaking.
Luis, I agree about the comments at adaptall-2.com. Rather faint praise, while he extolls the 70-210/3.5 to high heavens, but if you look t the MP test results, the 60-300 clearly outperforms the other.
I'm not gonna bother posting any photos here. You can click on the review link at the Pentax Forums that Luis has provided and you'll see some of my photos over there, so there's no point in duplicating them here.
Good deals still exist on eBay for this lens, so if you're tempted I'd say go for it. _________________ Michael
My Gear List: http://michaelmcbroom.com/photo/gear.html
My Gallery: http://michaelmcbroom.com/gallery3/index.php/
My Flickr Page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/11308754@N08/albums
My Music: https://soundcloud.com/michaelmcbroom/albums
My Blog: http://michaelmcbroom.com/blogistan/ |
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