Tamron 80-250/3.8 Adapt-a-matic

[luisalegria]

This huge old zoom is actually one of the more common Tamron Adapt-a-matic lenses. It is in general a typical zoom of its time (probably made in 1973, as it seems to be a late production version), with separate focus and zoom rings, a tripod mount and no "macro" feature.



It is built to the high standard of workmanship common to the Adapt-a-matic series, a very solid piece of work. Considering its size though it is lighter than one would think, actually being lighter than the smaller Sun 80-240 I tried earlier.

It has a rather large aperture for a 250mm and it focuses quite close for its length and time, 6feet/2m. Its quite pleasant to use and carry, in spite of the size. This one seems to be in perfect condition, save for loose rubber on the zoom ring.

As for optical quality, I am sad to say that I am disappointed. it is rather soft wide open, and does not handle highlights well at all. It isn't particularly sharp stopped down, though its not bad. It does have very good contrast and isn't particularly prone to flare. On the whole I would class it as mediocre. In the Japanese Monster Zoom battle, even if this is Gojira, being the biggest, it is certainly not the king of the monsters.











The bird - another bird -



crop -

[Ballu]

Ah.. I missed this thread... I have this lens, my first Tamron lens. I found this lens really good on the tele-range, but less than acceptable on wider side (pretty unusable around 80mm).
This is my set of this lens on Flickr,
http://flickr.com/photos/asbalyan/sets/72157600043409325/

[yalcinaydin]

It is handsome