p.1 #1 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
Found a great website that has specs for the old Tamron Adaptall-2 lenses and Modern Photography tests for many of them. Also has some MP tests for similar OEM lenses such as 180 ED Nikkor and Zuiko as well as 180 Tamron on the 180/2.5 Tamron page.
p.1 #3 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
Go to adaptall 2 on left side and click on the 180/2.5. It has Modern Photo reports for 180 2.8, 180/2 zuiko and 180 ED Nikkor as a comparison to the Tamron. There are no articles, just contrast and res. figures, which is mostly what I'm after anyway. Most of the MP tests are for Tamron, but sometimes there are other manufacturers to compare the Tamrons to, so go to the page for the closest Tamron and see what you find.
But if you want more MP reports, read THIS thread!
p.1 #4 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
Thanks for the kind words. I have probably double the tests that I have posted, I just need to clean up the scans and post them soon, so look for my lens test archive to about double soon.
p.1 #5 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
AmbientMike wrote:
Go to adaptall 2 on left side and click on the 180/2.5. It has Modern Photo reports for 180 2.8, 180/2 zuiko and 180 ED Nikkor as a comparison to the Tamron. There are no articles, just contrast and res. figures, which is mostly what I'm after anyway. Most of the MP tests are for Tamron, but sometimes there are other manufacturers to compare the Tamrons to, so go to the page for the closest Tamron and see what you find.
But if you want more MP reports, read THIS thread!
p.1 #11 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
AmbientMike wrote:
Go to adaptall 2 on left side and click on the 180/2.5. It has Modern Photo reports for 180 2.8, 180/2 zuiko and 180 ED Nikkor as a comparison to the Tamron. There are no articles, just contrast and res. figures, which is mostly what I'm after anyway. Most of the MP tests are for Tamron, but sometimes there are other manufacturers to compare the Tamrons to, so go to the page for the closest Tamron and see what you find.
But if you want more MP reports, read THIS thread!
...its strange how they rate the Oly 18/3.5 above the Tamron SP 17/3.5 when we all know the Tamron is better.
Perhaps they used the wrong adapter (the Tamron is sensitive to adapter thickness changing registration distance) or perhaps they just had a very bad copy?
They make a point of mentioning the Pentax 18/3.5 vignettes in the corners, but so does the Oly 18/3.5 and yet they did'nt mention it!...I think this discredits their test results from the start.
p.1 #12 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
Alf, I'm confused.
AmbientMike thinks it is fabulous that Ed Sawyer posts old photo tests for us to see, but you disagree that it is fabulous and link to some completely unrelated website (unrelated to Ed's site, anyway) ?
BTW, if you look at the respective Modern Photo tests for the Tamron 17/3.5 and Oly 18/3.5 (both posted on Ed's site) you will see that they show exactly what you and I would expect; the Tamron is better. One thing to note about the Modern Photo tests (as opposed to most other "tests" out there) is that they always tested multiple samples of each lens.
p.1 #13 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
cogitech wrote:
BTW, if you look at the respective Modern Photo tests for the Tamron 17/3.5 and Oly 18/3.5 (both posted on Ed's site) you will see that they show exactly what you and I would expect; the Tamron is better.
Not exactly. They show the Oly as having significantly more contrast, but the Tamron is sharper, center and corner.
That jives pretty well with the Tamron 17 I have: Surprisingly sharp but a little low in contrast for my tast. - But I have yet to play much in post, where things could get interesting. Paul, the shot you posted on that Tammy thread seem incredibly rich. I know you used a film plugin so maybe that did something to the contrast as well?
Luckily, you CAN do some things with low contrast in post (sort of) but not lack of resolution.
p.1 #14 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
Cableaddict wrote:
Paul, the shot you posted on that Tammy thread seem incredibly rich. I know you used a film plugin so maybe that did something to the contrast as well?
.
It isn't really a film plugin, but a custom tone curve for Bibble that I converted with a perl script from a PS curve created by Petteri Sulonen . The curve does affect contrast a bit but my copy of the lens is very contrasty by default. Your comments about contrast have me puzzled. Look at any of the samples in the Tamron 17 thread and you'll see the same thing. Look at Nate's (Twok) and Alf's shots.
Regarding the contrast results from Modern Photo, you might look again and see that the Tamron has more contrast in the corners (at f5.6, f8 and f11) than the Oly (and at f16 it is on par). Just like with resolution, the Tamron is much more consistent across the frame, which is exactly what I would prefer in a lens such as this.
p.1 #15 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
There are also "tests" for the Tamron SP 180/2.5. According to those results, it should be great performing lens. I tried two copies and didn't see anything special in either. Just as with the Tamron 17, I think the tests don't transfer over to FF digital digital (or maybe even real world film) results.
I was on Minolta and Olympus OM lists before going digital and neither group thought much of the Tamron 17/3.5 for their film cameras. The same can also be said for Leica film users.
p.1 #16 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
I see your point, Cableaddict. However, I find a bit of global contrast dead simple to add in post and for the price I think the Tamron does just fine up close:
p.1 #18 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
Thanks!
They both look much better at less than 17mm, though (as does everyone)
The youngest has a big incisor missing right now and she is going through a bit of the "ugly duckling" stage. Every time she smiles I feel sorry for her. I hope she doesn't know it. She doesn't seem to care a bit about the missing tooth, though. Gotta love the innocence of youth! Every time she smiles, I learn more about myself. If she doesn't care, why should I worry?
Sometimes the Buddha can been seen in the face of a child.
p.1 #19 · Tamron specs and Modern Photography tests adaptall-2
cogitech wrote:
Alf, I'm confused.
AmbientMike thinks it is fabulous that Ed Sawyer posts old photo tests for us to see, but you disagree that it is fabulous and link to some completely unrelated website (unrelated to Ed's site, anyway) ?
Of course its related...The link I referred to is the first link at the top of the page on Ed's site, ie:
"Tests of 18mm lenses from an older Italian(?) photo magazine."
)
(as does everyone)