It has been a while since my last blog post. I have been caught up with work and family and I lack time and energy for pictures and blogging. Over the Memorial day weekend, I got a chance to test out an old and quite rare adaptall-2 lens in my possession. I got my copy of Tamron SP 24-48mm f/3.5-3.8 (13A) from an eBay seller in UK and I was disappointed to see the scratch and cleaning marks on the front glass. Once I used the lens in two outings, the poor cosmetics and rough marks don't look as bad as it seems.
One thing that I should pay attention is the missing of the Tamron #27FH optional lens hood in my purchase. I did my test shots without the lens hood and lens flare seem to have less contrast in those brightly lighted scenes in my test pictures.
The lens is not a small lens by Pentax standard. It is quite heavy and bulky when compared to a pancake lens. It is well praised in adaptall-2 site on 13A and it is perhaps the smallest at the time. I personally love 24mm in full frame and I think this rare lens is more popular in 35mm film use. I have both this Tamron SP 24-48 f/3.5-3.8 (13A) and Tamron SP 35-80mm f/2.8-3.8 (01A) and they seem to be a solid pair to go together.I did all the following test shots without the lens hood. Lens flare seems to impact some of the pictures.
A view from Angel Island, California
Immigration Station in the past
Immigration Station in the past
A past immigrant housing area
with Chinese poetry writing
carved on the walls
with Chinese poetry writing
carved on the walls
Impressions & Notes
- The lens hood is important to have and it is essential to enjoy this lens. I don't have the original and I use none in the test shots and lens flare seem to be a problem for me. I later found a 58 to 62 step up ring and a 62 inch rubber lens hood and I think I will have better results in next outing
- The lens is not small and lightweight by Pentax pancake standard but still relatively small when compared to other similar lens of its time. You can think of it as a good wide angle prime in 24mm and quite good performer for normal lens in the 48mm.
- The front of the lens can't fit a filter ring easily and the original lens hood number #27FH has a filter thread mount for 77mm. The front is oddly shaped as if the lens is partially broken. The threads on the front don't seem to go well with a filter. I suppose the filter is supposed to be used the original lens hood #27FH is used.
- Unlike the Tamron 35-80mm f/2.8-3.8 (01A), close up is not its strength. The minimum focusing distance is about 0.6 meter.
- On the trip, I set up my SR focal distance at 24mm as that capture most frequent shots and I didn't bother to change the setting. I used the zoom lens as three primes in one as in 24mm, 35mm, and 48mm. I used 24mm for all the wide angle shots, 48mm for the portraits and 35mm for the in between.
- I suspect the lens is prone to flare to a fair degree
- The lens seems to be well controlled in regards to PF/CA
- Overall, I am quite pleased with the lens performance. Sharpness is quite good over its focal range. I imagine it to be more valuable and likable in film use.
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3 comments:
:D nice to finally read you back!
I have the exact same combo to use on a full frame Nikon D600: the 24-48mm and the 35-80mm.
They are great but I also need to find hoods for them, to keep the lenses from flaring.
Great test shots!
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