Tamron adaptall lenses.

hoanpham · Expire: 2015-01-18

The 70-150 soft focus is also my favorite.
500/8 55BB image quality is on par with canon 500/8, but it has close focus, while the canon has longer focus throw on the far end.
300/2.8 360B is on par with canon fd 300/2.8 L. Tamron 'adapt all too'

Xpres · Expire: 2014-10-28

I've collected all of them since joining this site and had some tremendous enjoyment out of them along the way and found my favoutites to be the 70-150 soft and the 35-80. But GAS or no GAS it's a rewarding journey and I'm slowly getting rid of some to settle on a few keepers that I'll actually use.
There's little to add to what's already been said except a vote for the compact 75-150, in all its versions, which is often overlooked and very cheap.

drjs · Joined: 25 Feb 2013 Posts: 484 Location: USA

marcusBMG · Joined: 07 Dec 2012 Posts: 1316 Location: Conwy N Wales

Rense · Expire: 2016-12-25

Rense · Expire: 2016-12-25

Rense · Expire: 2016-12-25

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

SXR_Mark · Joined: 12 Jun 2010 Posts: 506 Location: England

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

I dunno about second and third, but the first and fourth definitely post-date adaptall-2.org. B&H still has NOS copies of the 28-105 f/2.8 in stock for about $500 a pop. And I own a copy of the 171A 28-200. It looks like an AF lens that takes an adaptall-2 mount. By "AF lens" I mean, it has that sort of rounded look and is made mostly from plastic. Currently its waiting for me to repair the mount. A little pin made from plastic broke off, rendering the mount unusable. I plan to take a big paper clip, unbend it, then heat up the straightened end, and sink the hot end into the plastic base the pin broke off from, then clip the metal paper clip shaft off to the correct length. Hopefully, that'll work.

Only reason why I'm even bothering with this plasticky feeling lens is because it is an aspherical lens. I have a tamron 24-70 AF aspherical lens that is excellent. So maybe this one has possibilities.

The 24mm f/2.5 01BB is listed at adaptall-2.org, but not on the title page. It's mentioned in the description of the 01B as a cosmetic update. I have this lens also. On my APS-C crop body, it out-performs my Nikkor 24mm f/2.8, but from what I've read, it tends to get softer in the corners than the Nikkor, although that Nikkor gets pretty soft in the corners also.

marcusBMG · Joined: 07 Dec 2012 Posts: 1316 Location: Conwy N Wales

Rense · Expire: 2016-12-25

Rense · Expire: 2016-12-25

biggles3 · Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Posts: 61 Location: Crickhowell, Wales

Many of my favourites have been mentioned - 52BB, 55B & BB, 23A and 51A.

I have to put in a plea for the 51B 17mm f3.5 - the original one with in-built filters (where can you find that elusive hood!!??); the misunderstood 54B 300mm f5.6 TeleMacro - a very clever design to allow macro work from a fair distance; and the 19AH which is nearly as good as the best 70-210 ever made - the Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 70-210 f3.5 Macro - and is on a par with the uber-rare Yashica ML 70-210 f4.

Finally, I must put a word in for the Tamron lens that most surprised me for its outstanding optical and build quality - the 05A 70-350 f4.5 (late model - NOT the CZ-735!); why this lens was not designated SP amazes me as it's one of the best extreme telephotos manufactured by any company. In its day at the end of the 70s, it was by far the most expensive lens made by Tamron - more costly even than the 31A 200-500mm f5.6 - costing the equivalent of £2400 in today's money. My lens remains in mint condition: super-sharp, even illumination, minimal distortion, mechanically perfect with no zoom creep despite the weight of glass; Zeiss of Oberkochen would have been proud of it... You need a tripod but for natural history (or surveillance which was its favoured use back then) it is quite brilliant and at f4.5, objects pop out of the background... It works superbly on the Fuji X-T1.

marcusBMG · Joined: 07 Dec 2012 Posts: 1316 Location: Conwy N Wales

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

biggles3 · Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Posts: 61 Location: Crickhowell, Wales

I'm pretty sure that your lens is a late version of the Adapt-A-Matic 670Au lens - they were made in 3 versions and I think your one is the final iteration. Nice lens by all accounts...

biggles3 · Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Posts: 61 Location: Crickhowell, Wales

Hi - I'll try to get out and shoot a few piccies in the next few days if the weather relents here in sunny Powys... Glad to find another 05A user; I see one is on Ebay right now for about £195 in fair condition but without its original case - there's also the older CZ-735 for sale at about £95 from Latvia.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Biggles, I think you're right about the Tamron 670au. The one in the pic at adaptall-2.org is, I think, the middle model:

http://adaptall-2.org/lenses/670Au.html

Lloyd's appears to have the slots in the aperture ring, which are indicative of the final version.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

Yes, it's the 67Au, with a slot for the aperture numbers. It's still a very good lens, certainly for £10, I have a few 300's - Tair, Chinon, Soligor, Optomax and this Tamron certainly holds its own. It's great advantage is its lightness, it's an easy lens to hand hold compared to the Tair.

marcusBMG · Joined: 07 Dec 2012 Posts: 1316 Location: Conwy N Wales

Hi Lloydy that 300 is an adaptall isn't it - early versions were simply redesigned direct from the adaptamatic. You can find similar adaptall 200mm (of which I have one see my thread comparing adaptall 200mm) and 135mm of the same kind. All were then replaced by the adaptalls listed on adaptall-2.org.

Major score if you got that or a tenner!

TrueLoveOne · Expire: 2013-12-24

This is the 54B, it's been sitting on my shelf for some time now, i am not really a tele-shooter, this topic made me grab it last saturday. There were some windsurfers doing their thing in heavy rain and wind. For this one i used the A3000.
I must say, it's a great lens, the pictures don't really need PP, even considering the really dull and rainy weather, i'll go out and use it on a sunny day asap!

Tamron SP 5.6/300 54B by René Maly, on Flickr

Speed by René Maly, on Flickr

biggles3 · Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Posts: 61 Location: Crickhowell, Wales

biggles3 · Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Posts: 61 Location: Crickhowell, Wales

Lovely image of the surfer.

This lens was curiously not a popular one when released as most photographers didn't seem to understand the cleverness of the optical formula that provided such an exceptional macro facility and led to this lens being a bit more expensive than similar 300mm f5.6s.

A few wildlife snappers were devotees but it never caught on; now of course, people are beginning to recognise it as a very fine lens. I too was guilty of ignoring it back in the early 80s as I had my trusty Zeiss 300 f4 Tele-Tessar - if only I'd known the Tamron was smaller, lighter, a lot cheaper and yet just as sharp; simply a stop slower.

marcusBMG · Joined: 07 Dec 2012 Posts: 1316 Location: Conwy N Wales

Those quick test images look pretty respectably sharp Biggles. How do you like the fuji? Looks like a well reviewed camera (quick browse...)

I took these with my Pentax K-r last October. Developed from RAW, just default pp for consistency, exif says I was at 300mm.. I was resting the lens on a bean bag on a stone wall.
1. the pic, cropped a bit in LR. Crops: 2. f4.5. 3. f5.6 4. f8

I wasn't too surprised by the PF, but I was expecting the lens to show sharper.