Manual Focus on Tamron 28-75

[jnevin]

I'm thinking of selling my 24-85 Canon zoom and replacing it with a Tamron 28-75 which seems to be highly recommended on the forums. Does the Tamron offer FTM (manual focussing without switching the lens to MF?

[Nightcrawler]

It does not offer FTM as far as I know.

[GeneMan88]

That is correct... you must switch to manual focus. Still, all in all a good lens for the price.

[COKE CAN]

I oredered mine the other day, I can't wait for it to arrive. Unfortunately, my camera is going in for service on Monday. So I will be without for awhile.

[jnevin]

Thanks for clearing that up....Just one more point to clarify. Does the length of the lens change during focusing/zooming? I already have the 17-40L and 70-200f4L and would like a lens that "feels" similar to these. The 24-85 has zoom and focus controls in "reverese order" to the L lenses and I find it frustraing to use at times. Maybe the Sigma 24-70 or Tokina are better in this respect?

[CyberPet]

yes, the length changes when you zoom. And the MF works great (and you get a focus confirmation in the camera even if you use MF).

[deedas]

No FTM but I still love this lens. :)

[GeneMan88]

Not only does the length of the lens change when zooming, the Tamron zoom ring twists the opposite direction vs. Canon lenses. I switch between my Canon & Tamron lenses and have never found it to be a problem, but it's rather funny that Tamron didn't manufacture their lens to operate in the same direction as Canon. The focus ring on the Tamron is towards the front of the lens just like the 70-200 f4, but because Tamron doesn't have FTM, the focus ring moves while focusing in Autofocus mode. After I first got my Tamron, I had to get used to making sure that my hand wasn't holding the focus ring, keeping it from focusing properly. Now that I've used it for a while, it's really not a problem.