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View Full Version : Out and about with the Tamron SP 28-105 LD f2.8

Asmodeus
9th of July 2005 (Sat), 23:08
I haven't seen too much about this lens anywhere, but the specs sounded decent and I got a good deal on a used one from a seller on eBay. Only downside I can see is the weight of this baby and the fact it needs 82mm filters.

Was shooting at the Moravian Restoration Area in Bethlehem, PA, and stumbled across their colonial era garden. Weather was windy and cloudy, but I managed a few shots that seemed interesting. This one is just a butterfly on a flower, but I think the lens did pretty well considering it isn't a macro. The second image is a full frame crop and the details on the butterfly look pretty good to me. Anyone else using one of these lenses?

Converted from raw to tif using RAw Essentials, resized and cropped using PSCS2.

Shot at 1/400, f5, ISO 100, @ 105mm

http://www.supercharger.net/pictures/nature/IMG_1007-01.jpg

http://www.supercharger.net/pictures/nature/ffc1.jpg
willg
9th of July 2005 (Sat), 23:11
wow..thats impressive..can i ask what you paid?
Asmodeus
9th of July 2005 (Sat), 23:21
Just under $400 for a mint copy (perfect glass with with hood, caps, and pouch). KEH lists an "Excellent Plus" at $525 and "Bargain" at $415.
ron chappel
10th of July 2005 (Sun), 09:04
A very interesting lens.
I've heard many people over the years say they would like one but the price has allways stops them.
(same for me:()

It's difficult to say how good it is from that one pic but you certainly have no dud :)

If you are interested would it be possible to do a controlled test?

What most interests me is- how much sharper does it get when stopped down?

And - is it sharper at the wide end? (You can test this by shooting something at 105mm from about 20m away then moving closer to get the same framing with the wide end)
This is of interest because most consumer zooms trade tele end sharpness to get as much sharpness as possible at the wide end.As the tele end tends to be used for portraits and the wide end landscapes so this makes complete sense.
Pro lenses tend to be as sharp as possible at all focal lengths.I wonder what characteristics the tamron has?