Tamron 28-75mm XR Di compatability?

[MarkHaldane]

Ok so im not happy with my 17-40mm f/4.0 L at all. Quality is consistently awful. Im returning it to the shop and going to be getting the Tamron in replacement. Its cheaper and allows me to spare a bit of money for getting some nice Canon primes.

BTW - I'm using a new 20D.

When I was in the store the first thing the guy said was that there is ANOTHER new firmware update on the way for the 20D to address issues people are having with it using L glass. I can't see how firmware can affect the issue of my lens being soft and poor quality so im not waiting to find out.

When I asked him to order the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di (after seeing post after post after post about how good it is here lol) he said he would check the compatability for me before he orders it in... He said its an old lens and might need to be chipped to work properly with the 20D??

I know lots of you are now using this lens so if you could let me know if you've had any compatability issues with it and a 20D? Did you have to "chip" it? Did the store/Tamron do it for you?

Any advice will be much appreciated thanks :)

[commando]

Get it. If it doesn't work, return it, otherwise wait for the next 20D firmwate update ;)

[Andy_T]

Mark,

would that be a 'Ritz' or 'Wolf' shop, by any means?

I don't know what the salesperson *exactly* told you, but it sounds like an awful lot of BS to me.
Firmware upgrade so that L lenses work properly ... that's one of the most ridiculous things I've heard regarding the 20D :roll:

Maybe it's time to look for another camera shop.

Just my 2c...

Best regards,
Andy

[chops]

And considering the fact that the Tamron 28-75 came out on the market AFTER the Canon 17-40 did, how in the world can it be an old lens?!

I swear, it amazes me how absolutely stupid these so-called camera salesmen can be, or stay in business for that matter. :evil:

[Cadwell]

When I asked him to order the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di (after seeing post after post after post about how good it is here lol) he said he would check the compatability for me before he orders it in... He said its an old lens and might need to be chipped to work properly with the 20D??


The salesman is talking complete and utter bollox. No two ways about it.

[tumb]

An old bridge, 20D, Tamron 28-75 wide open (straight from raw, resized only):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/mdwsr/IMG_1225Raw.jpg

A 100% crop:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/mdwsr/IMG1225cropRaw.jpg

I should have more later that are 25-30 second shots at f11 but will need to get them ready first.

[roanjohn]

:shock: huh?? Thats the stupidest thing ever!!! (I mean the sales person).

First off, the 17-40 is a very sharp lens. I don't really hear a lot of bad copies going around but I would have Canon look at yours or maybe have it exchanged for a different copy.

The Tamron is not bad..........if you don't do a lot of wide angles, this lens is the lens for you. Light around the neck..........and a constant 2.8.

Ro1

[Persian-Rice]

I have heard some contradictory things about the 17-40 on the 20D.
If you search the board you will see a couple complaints.
Some say they upgraded from the 10D and the 20D had a hard time accepting the lens. Others have no complints.

I don't know if it's a camera specific problem or the lens. If the lens works fine on another camera, then your 20D hates 17-40's. I have not heard any 28-75 / 20D specific problems. They are very differnt lenses, so it's up to you. The Tamron is a normal zoom, the 17-40 is a wide zoom.

I can't speak for sure, but I bet it's your body that is rejecting the lens. Try another 17-40, sometimes that will help. If not, I would have your camera replaced by Canon for the reason that one of their L lenses will not work with it.

Cheers.

[MarkHaldane]

Thanks for all your replies guys!

I don't want to get the camera replaced as im on my second already (first one had a lock up issue) and this one seems to work!

The lens is definitely not right, but I think I would much rather get a cheaper zoom and spend the money saved on primes so I won't bother getting a replacement 17-40 L to try.

Is there any other Tamron 28-75mm lens (other than the XR Di one) that he maybe thought I was talking about? (Just trying to figure out why he was talking about it being old..)

This camera is so awesome and I just want to get on and shoot with it, its been 3 weeks since my first dud one and now im having to wait for a lens I can shoot with! :evil:

Can you guys post some more shots taken with the Tamron (and preferably on the 20D?) as I am very interested in seeing lots of examples of how it performs so I can compare mine to them when it comes into the store!

Thanks so much guys!

- Mark

(PS the camera shop is called "Camera World" they have 2 stores (one in essex and one in london and a website (cameraworld.co.uk) they seem ok just some people in there I can tell are BS'ing lol)

[tim]

Can you guys post some more shots taken with the Tamron (and preferably on the 20D?) as I am very interested in seeing lots of examples of how it performs so I can compare mine to them when it comes into the store!

Take a look here (http://mrwild.co.nz/ExperimentalGallery/index.html) - everything including and after the "Tamron Test Shots" folder were taken with the Tamron on my 300D. The Auckland and class directories are probably the most useful. Also here (http://www.mrwild.co.nz/PhotoGallery/2004/AucklandTrip2/index.html).

[wolf]

Thanks for all your replies guys!


Is there any other Tamron 28-75mm lens (other than the XR Di one) that he maybe thought I was talking about? (Just trying to figure out why he was talking about it being old)

There is a older Tamron 28-70 lens. Here (http://search.pbase.com/search?q=Tamron+28-75&c=sp)are some more photos shot with the 28-75.

[Aylwin]

I don't know if it's a camera specific problem or the lens. If the lens works fine on another camera, then your 20D hates 17-40's.

Yeah, it's probably the camera specific. My 20D + 17-40L works fine. If anything, the lens seems to be sharper now than with my old 10D. I know there shouldn't be any difference but I guess it's possible that my 10D's auto-focus was slightly off.

[Vinny454]

Can you guys post some more shots taken with the Tamron (and preferably on the 20D?) as I am very interested in seeing lots of examples of how it performs so I can compare mine to them when it comes into the store!

Here is a sample from my Tamron on a 20D shot indoors at F2.8, ISO 400, 1/200 hand held with no flash. Straight out of a 20D with only WB adjusted, nothing else. The lighting was not the greatest in that arena.

http://www.sherakan.com/tamronlens/shania.jpg

[wintoid]

I have heard some contradictory things about the 17-40 on the 20D.
If you search the board you will see a couple complaints.
Some say they upgraded from the 10D and the 20D had a hard time accepting the lens. Others have no complints.

I'm well aware this could be user error on my part so don't flame me, but I'm starting to feel something weird is going on with the 20d. I've been very happy with the quality from my 300d + 50mm 1.4, but somehow that lens hasn't worked well with the 20d at all. I don't know if it's a focus problem or what, but I just don't get the same sharpness out of it. However, I bought a 17-40L recently, and it's absolutely razor sharp on the 20d.

I would not be remotely surprised if there was a firmware update that improved the performance of certain lenses on the 20d. Having said that, I'm not implying the salesman was talking any sense :D

[Persian-Rice]

I think there is something wrong with the 20D, either hardware or software, nobody knows.

One thing I know is that there are far too many complaints of a lens working fine on one camera and not working with a 20D. I know this issue is not reserved for the 17-40 alone.

It might be some inconsistency in their production line, but you usually have one or two threads on the first page of this board for this specific problem. It appears that Canon has pretty much resolved the lockup, even though you still see them here and there. However, a bigger problem has risen through the cracks, lenses won't work.

I think Canon should be ashamed of themselves for releasing the 20D in the state that it was. Taking into consideration that Canon is supposedly the top camera builder in the world. Nikon might not like to admit they have fallen second in the marketplace, but Canon better get it's act together, because it doesn't very look good to get sloppy.

[drisley]

Nah, there were just as many complaints when the 10D came out, and they still continue. Also, there were just as many complaints when the 1DMKII came out too.
I got my 20D back in September, and it's worked flawless with all firmware, and all lenses. And I bet if you asked around, you would hear many more stories like this and they would far, far, far outnumber the complaints.
But you know the ol' story, you will hear more about the problems than you will when a camera is working fine.
I mean, I still see posts everywhere about the 10D backfocus/frontfocus issues, and just like the 20D issues, the vast majority are user error (although I'm not saying that is the case here).
I also have a funny feeling that the 20D has outsold any other digital slr ever released (in units sold per month) so far.

Before I got into digital photography, I was one of those people who always had the latest/greatest computer parts. I tell ya, compared to the number of bugs that new computer hardware has (motherboards, videocards, memory), these digicams are marvellous!
The 20D lockup issue was resolved with a simple firmware upgrade a few weeks after it's release. I can't tell you how many motherboards and videocards turned out to have glitches that were either ignored by the manufacturer, or were fixed in later hardware revisions that were released many months later, and would mean that you would have to buy a whole new one.