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Archive 2015 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Gizmaldo
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

I recently sold my Canon 7D and 100-400 L to fund the purchase of a Sony a7. I now only use adapted lenses on this system and it has really slowed me down and I am absolutely loving the shots I have been producing. I have been using an olympus 50mm 1.4, nikon 35mm 1.8, rokinon 85mm 14, samyang 14mm 2.8, and a canon fd 135mm 2.8. I began to realize that I was truly missing my telephoto reach that I was used to with my 7d+100-400 L combo. I began to search for a cheap but comparable solution keeping in mind that I was ok with the loss of autofocus, image stabilization, and auto aperture.

Well, I did a good amount of research and came across a Tamron 300mm 2.8 (60B). I couldn't find much information about it, but the little that I was able to find led me to believe that it was a great option, at least back in the film days. I found an excellent copy on ebay for $450 that included the original case, tripod mount, and a 2x converter that originally was sold along side it back in the 70's. Within minutes of opening the box and trying it out, I was amazed. This lens is incredibly sharp and is really smooth to focus. I never thought I would be able to successfully take wildlife shots on this camera but this lens has really opened the door for plenty of possibilities. I was lucky enough to escape the cold weather this past week and travel down to the everglades for some relaxation and photography opportunities. Here are some samples from the 300mm 2.8 and with 2x teleconverter. These were all handheld and shot wide open either at 300 2.8 or 600 5.6 (with the TC). If you have any questions let me know! I'd love to chat more about the a7 or legacy lenses.

http://i.imgur.com/Ppy1TnY.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/A4HhPuV.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/bsvGT9u.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/orTSZeU.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/dLqYnOo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/aE19Y6v.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/wSQdkpU.jpg

Edited on Jan 13, 2015 at 03:29 PM · View previous versions

Jan 09, 2015 at 10:24 PM

matthewm
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Shut your dang mouth! You shot these with that old thing!? Hurry up and delete this post before you drive the cost up further!!!

Beautiful images.

You said in your post that it is really smooth to autofocus. Does this lens have AF? And are you using a Metabones adapter? Or a Sony Adapter? If not, which mount did you pick up?

Thanks,
Matthew

Jan 13, 2015 at 02:39 PM

Gizmaldo
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

matthewm wrote:
Shut your dang mouth! You shot these with that old thing!? Hurry up and delete this post before you drive the cost up further!!!

Beautiful images.

You said in your post that it is really smooth to autofocus. Does this lens have AF? And are you using a Metabones adapter? Or a Sony Adapter? If not, which mount did you pick up?

Thanks,
Matthew

Thank you! The lens is completely manual. No autofocus, no auto aperture, and no focus confirmation chip. Its a tamron adaptall mount which can be adapted to any mount. They sell $10 adaptall to e mount adapters for next and alpha cameras. There's no glass in the adapter it is simply just a metal extension tube to compensate for the flange distance.

I must have mispoken when I said it was smooth to autofocus! I meant the manual focus ring is super smooth. Regardless this lens rivals the best 300mm 2.8s on the market. If you can develop some muscle memory for manual focusing, you can really create some great shots with this lens.

The price hasn't gone up yet

Jan 13, 2015 at 03:28 PM

matthewm
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Gizmaldo wrote:
Thank you! The lens is completely manual. No autofocus, no auto aperture, and no focus confirmation chip. Its a tamron adaptall mount which can be adapted to any mount. They sell $10 adaptall to e mount adapters for next and alpha cameras. There's no glass in the adapter it is simply just a metal extension tube to compensate for the flange distance.

I must have mispoken when I said it was smooth to autofocus! I meant the manual focus ring is super smooth. Regardless this lens rivals the best 300mm 2.8s on the market. If you can develop some muscle...Show more →

Thanks for the reply. I was toying with the idea of a Canon FD 300mm f/4 lens, but now you've got me interested in this other guy. Hmm...

Jan 13, 2015 at 04:33 PM

Gizmaldo
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

matthewm wrote:
Thanks for the reply. I was toying with the idea of a Canon FD 300mm f/4 lens, but now you've got me interested in this other guy. Hmm...

I would strongly recommend you look at this tamron. It is very sharp, and if you decide it isn't, I guarantee if it is stopped down to f/4 to match the FD 300 f4 it will easily beat it. If you want any 100% crops or anything specific let me know!

Jan 13, 2015 at 05:27 PM

Kingfishphoto
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

I had that very lens in my film days and it is extremely sharp if used right. I also had both Tamron matched converters. I was able to AF mine on my Contax AX AF film body (thats the one that moved the film plane). The drop in PL filter had to be purchased from Tamron as it was near impossible to find. I would highly recommend the Canon FD 300L and 400 F4.5 lenses for your A7. Theres been a 400 on B/S recently. I have both and there excellent, even using my 82 year old eyes.

Jan 13, 2015 at 05:52 PM

Gizmaldo
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Kingfishphoto wrote:
I had that very lens in my film days and it is extremely sharp if used right. I also had both Tamron matched converters. I was able to AF mine on my Contax AX AF film body (thats the one that moved the film plane). The drop in PL filter had to be purchased from Tamron as it was near impossible to find. I would highly recommend the Canon FD 300L and 400 F4.5 lenses for your A7. Theres been a 400 on B/S recently. I have both and there excellent, even using my 82 year old eyes.

Awesome to hear from another user of this lens. Any interest in using it on a modern body? I wish they would make a digital body that could move the sensor plane like that contax camera!

Jan 13, 2015 at 05:58 PM

Kingfishphoto
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

I would have kept mine, except i heard about a person who had an EF300 F2.8 and a EF 400 F2.8 for sale because he wanted to upgrade to IS models. I purchased the like new pair for $5,000 , and sold the Tamron and my Contax gear and went to EOS. Your price makes yours a keeper. That Contax AX was not a new idea as there was a stereo camera in the 1950 that had a moveable film plane. I suppose that gave it internal rangefinder focus so to speak. I would think in a large digital body, say med. format, there could be a moving digital sensor to AF all old lenses. The AX was a very large camera body. I guess the movement needed determined in part the body thickness.

Jan 14, 2015 at 10:04 AM

Mescalamba
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Ok, I wasnt aware that Tamron made so good lens.. like ever.

Jan 14, 2015 at 10:37 AM

naturephoto1
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Mescalamba wrote:
Ok, I wasnt aware that Tamron made so good lens.. like ever.

If this is the same Tamron 300mm f2.8 lens that I purchased for about $2000 US in as I recall 1986 it is/was not. I had it and returned it after a short time and replaced it with my brand new Leica R 280mm f2.8 Apo Telyt for $3500

Jan 14, 2015 at 10:52 AM

Gizmaldo
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

naturephoto1 wrote:
If this is the same Tamron 300mm f2.8 lens that I purchased for about $2000 US in as I recall 1986 it is/was not. I had it and returned it after a short time and replaced it with my brand new Leica R 280mm f2.8 Apo Telyt for $3500

(at the time) and it was superior in my estimation.

But, the Tamron that I had was a good lens but not up to the performance of the Leica and I believe the Canon or the Nikon 300mm f2.8 lenses of the time.

Maybe the OP has a particularly good performer...Show more →

Not sure if this helps to identify my model, but it is a the Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 60B to be exact. The serial number is 000749 so I assume it was a very eary production of it...possibly the 749th one? I heard the coatings only got better as the newer lenses came out so take that for what its worth.

Jan 14, 2015 at 03:50 PM

naturephoto1
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Gizmaldo wrote:
Not sure if this helps to identify my model, but it is a the Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 60B to be exact. The serial number is 000749 so I assume it was a very eary production of it...possibly the 749th one? I heard the coatings only got better as the newer lenses came out so take that for what its worth.

At this point, I am not sure, but the photos of the lens that I have found on line look like the one that I had back in 1986 and as I recall, the lens sold for about $2000 new. It did have good reviews at the time and was considered a good relatively inexpensive lens to the Canon, Nikon, and Leica lenses of that era..

Rich

Jan 14, 2015 at 03:56 PM

Mescalamba
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

(at the time) and it was superior in my estimation.

But, the Tamron that I had was a good lens but not up to the performance of the Leica and I believe the Canon or the Nikon 300mm f2.8 lenses of the time.

Maybe the OP has a particularly good performer...Show more →

Ehm, I kinda doubt there is many lens superior to that particular Leica today. If we dont count capability to AF. 2k is kinda a lot for that lens tho..

Jan 14, 2015 at 07:26 PM

Gizmaldo
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Mescalamba wrote:
Ehm, I kinda doubt there is many lens superior to that particular Leica today. If we dont count capability to AF. 2k is kinda a lot for that lens tho..

Here's an mtf chart I found. Not too sure about the accuracy but the Tamron doesn't fall too much behind. Especially considering the price.

http://www.apotelyt.com/img-car/photodo-ranking-300mm-690x460.png

Jan 14, 2015 at 07:33 PM

galenapass
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Might as well get a Canon 300mm f/4

Jan 14, 2015 at 07:49 PM

Gizmaldo
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

galenapass wrote:
Might as well get a Canon 300mm f/4

I agree in terms of sharpness, but that is a stop slower and twice the price on average. I'd argue that the difference between those two in terms of sharpness would not be very noticeable.

Jan 14, 2015 at 07:52 PM

Mescalamba
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Yep, if one needs AF.. (IS version is that much worse? huh..)

Kinda funny if one considers how old is that Leica..

Jan 14, 2015 at 07:54 PM

naturephoto1
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Mescalamba wrote:
Ehm, I kinda doubt there is many lens superior to that particular Leica today. If we dont count capability to AF. 2k is kinda a lot for that lens tho..

I could be wrong about the initial cost of the Tamron 300mm f2.8. It is possible that the lens was between $1500 and $1800 in 1986. The price that I am suggesting though is only from memory.

But the diagram above does suggest the difference in performance between the Leica 280mm f2.8 Apo Telyt and the Tamron 300 f2.8 lens.

There is no question in my mind though that the newer Leica 280mm f4 Apo Telyt lens is sharper than the Leica 280mm f2.8 Apo Telyt lens. I love my Leica 280 f4 Apo Telyt and it is so much more compact and lighter and more convenient to use than my much heavier 280 f2.8.Apo Telyt. There is a reason that the Leica 280mm f4 Apo Telyt has its reputation as one of the finest telephoto lenses ever brought to production along with only 2000 in existence that has also pushed its price through roof.

Rich

Jan 14, 2015 at 08:52 PM

galenapass
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

Gizmaldo wrote:
I agree in terms of sharpness, but that is a stop slower and twice the price on average. I'd argue that the difference between those two in terms of sharpness would not be very noticeable.

I'm not sure which 2 lenses we are talking about here, but the Leica is selling for quite a bit more than the Canon 300mm f/4 - which can be had for $600-700. The top 2 in the graph are Leica followed VERY closely by the cheap non IS Canon L F/4. Minor difference in sharpness, major difference in price. That is why I said "might as well get a Canon L 300mm".

Edit - I just bought the Nikkor AF 300mm f/4 to use on my EM1 (still waiting, seems like the seller sent it on the slow boat from China

). These ratings were based on how well the lens performs on FF, but could be quite a different story for those of us using it on a smaller sensor. I'm sure the Tamron would be excellent, but I prefer the f4 lenses to keep the weight and size down.

Jan 14, 2015 at 09:12 PM

Kingfishphoto
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Birding with the Sony A7 and an old Tamron 60B

The Tamron i purchased in the late 1990s was not as sharp as the one i r ented previousely from Tempe camera. this would lead one to believe (by my experience/owenership) that there was sharpness differences in copies of that lens. My EF 300 F2.8 MK 1 was indeed sharper, but at a higher price.

Jan 14, 2015 at 10:21 PM

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