p.1 #1 · I'm liking this new Tamron 70-200 f2.8 LD
I hadn't given a lot of thought to it's macro type applications, but my wife yelled to me as she was in the garden at sunset and said "get out there with your camera...there's a praying mantis"....so I ran out the door with my D700 loaded with this lens, racked it out to 200mm, cranked up the f stop just a bit (obviously not quite enough but hey...I was in a hurry) and took this. Was in such a hurry just popped up the built in flash as well just in case as it was getting dark. For my first attempt at sunset handheld it ain't half bad. I am obviously going to have to get out more Focus was on his head and the focus system nailed it....which surprised me with the so called reputation this lens was getting for being slow to focus. I feel it did the job. Now I need to do more........
p.1 #3 · I'm liking this new Tamron 70-200 f2.8 LD
I was hoping the officianado's weren't going to beat me up to bad. Hey guys, this was a grab shot with a few seconds notice and I was anything BUT prepared. Also done handheld with low light....all the things this lens is NOT supposed to be able to do (don't tell the reviewers). Anyway I"m pretty darned pleased.....
p.1 #5 · I'm liking this new Tamron 70-200 f2.8 LD
Yep, right on the head it was focused. I figured f16 might be enough, but I could have gone further to get more of the body in focus, but I was in a REAL hurry and nervous as I'd not done this combo before. I'd say the critter was approximately 3 feet from the front of the lens. The Tammy is build as a "macro" lens with a 1:3 reproduction for whatever that's worth. All I know is you CAN get closer than other 70-200's out there. That is what I really wanted to try here. Tomorrow my wife says she'll be out in the back garden and I should get some bumblebees as they like to hang around her as she works. I swear they talk to her
p.1 #9 · I'm liking this new Tamron 70-200 f2.8 LD
Mighty impressive for handheld at F16! Everyone talks about the slow focusing, is it really that bad? Do you have a gut feeling how it would be for action sports like football, large birds in flight etc? I am attracted by the IQ, light weight etc. I have thought about picking one up.
p.1 #10 · I'm liking this new Tamron 70-200 f2.8 LD
Well, I must admit I have not yet tried tracking birds in flight nor a sports game, but I can tell you this, in GOOD light it is pretty instant to focus. It's just in lower light things get slower, but I don't think it's as slow as some like to report. After the back focus adjustment it's even better as far as consistency nailing each and every shot taken. I applied a +10 to my D700's focus adjustment setting and it's dead on each and every time now, as is the 28-300vc which I settled on a +15 for perfection. Hey, it's there and Nikon engineered it in as no doubt they knew it would save their customers time as well as hassle trying to factory calibrate each and every lens. Heck, even my 24-70 f2.8 uses a +10 setting for perfection...this way at both the 24mm and 70mm end it's dead on no problems. I've seen lots of whining over these issues, but fortunately this has been a fast and easy solution.
p.1 #12 · I'm liking this new Tamron 70-200 f2.8 LD
Thought I should report that I discovered during use today that NONE of my lenses actually require any focus adjustment to be right on. It was ME the whole time. You see as some of you know I had PRK surgery on my eyes about a month ago and it is indeed a long recovery process before so called perfect sight is restored. My wife gave me a large magnifying glass to use so I could reliably view the LCD and what it revealed was I misjudged what I was seeing. NONE of the lenses are off in regard to focus to achieve maximum sharpness. I feel pretty dumb right now but learned a lesson. My eye sight is not there just yet. Oh well. Both of those Tammy's are wonderful lenses however. I can rank even the 28-300vc out all the way wide open and see peoples faces over a block away. Pretty impressive. The 70-200 f2.8LD is sharp enough wide open, but man if you stop it down to f3.5 or f4 you can do surgery with it....even with MY eyesight.
Focus was on his head and the focus system nailed it....which surprised me with the so called reputation this lens was getting for being slow to focus. I feel it did the job. Now I need to do more........
Joe