Pentax/Tamron AF 28-105mm f4-5.6 question

tibbitts · 03-09-2014, 08:55 AM

Does your copy (Pentax FA or Tamron brand) have front barrel wobble? If so, does it have (obviously) more or less when retracted (28mm) vs. extended (105mm)?

Note: this is the short/chunky 62mm filter Tamron-built model (no power zoom.)

DeltaDagger · 03-10-2014, 01:44 AM

My sample, SN #6093220, has the most front barrel wobble when set at 28mm, progressively less when zoomed out to longer focal lengths. At 105mm you cannot induce an audible "rattle" by pushing the front barrel side to side with finger pressure; the lens assembly is very tight and solid when zoomed out to 105mm. As a side note, my copy of the FA 28-105mm 1:4-5.6 (58mm Power Zoom) and the FA 28-105mm 1:3.2-4.5 (58mm) display fairly uniform front barrel wobble throughout the full zoom range.

When shooting film, I regard all three incarnations of the FA 28-105mm as very useful all around zooms - wobble or no wobble.

tibbitts · 03-10-2014, 05:14 PM

Originally posted by DeltaDagger

My sample, SN #6093220, has the most front barrel wobble when set at 28mm, progressively less when zoomed out to longer focal lengths. At 105mm you cannot induce an audible "rattle" by pushing the front barrel side to side with finger pressure; the lens assembly is very tight and solid when zoomed out to 105mm. As a side note, my copy of the FA 28-105mm 1:4-5.6 (58mm Power Zoom) and the FA 28-105mm 1:3.2-4.5 (58mm) display fairly uniform front barrel wobble throughout the full zoom range.

When shooting film, I regard all three incarnations of the FA 28-105mm as very useful all around zooms - wobble or no wobble.

Thanks for that very interesting and helpful reply. I purchased the Tamron on ebay for fairly low cost (but no returns), and was surprised and disappointed to find significant barrel wobble everywhere except when the barrel is nearly fullyextended. The wobble affects resolution; it's of the the same magnitude as my 16-45 barrel wobble physically, but actually seems to affect resolution more. I have other Tamron models and they have no significant wobble, and having read numerous reviews of this model with only one mentioning slight wobble, I really wasn't expecting it. And I certainly wasn't expecting that the barrel would be extremely solid (at least as good as most of my consumer-grade zooms) when fully extended, while wobbling so much when fully retracted. Some of the reviews say that not all copies are wobbly, so maybe it's a wear factor. But probably with owners of this model it's like me with my 16-45: I can't honestly say whether the wobble is worse than when it was new, since if it deteriorated, it did so gradually. There are also reports of non-wobbly 28-105s. So I'm not sure what to conclude.

03-09-2014, 08:55 AM	#1
tibbitts Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Oklahoma USA Posts: 2,193	Pentax/Tamron AF 28-105mm f4-5.6 question Does your copy (Pentax FA or Tamron brand) have front barrel wobble? If so, does it have (obviously) more or less when retracted (28mm) vs. extended (105mm)? Note: this is the short/chunky 62mm filter Tamron-built model (no power zoom.)

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03-10-2014, 01:44 AM	#2
DeltaDagger New Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 4	My sample, SN #6093220, has the most front barrel wobble when set at 28mm, progressively less when zoomed out to longer focal lengths. At 105mm you cannot induce an audible "rattle" by pushing the front barrel side to side with finger pressure; the lens assembly is very tight and solid when zoomed out to 105mm. As a side note, my copy of the FA 28-105mm 1:4-5.6 (58mm Power Zoom) and the FA 28-105mm 1:3.2-4.5 (58mm) display fairly uniform front barrel wobble throughout the full zoom range. When shooting film, I regard all three incarnations of the FA 28-105mm as very useful all around zooms - wobble or no wobble.

03-10-2014, 05:14 PM	#3
tibbitts Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Oklahoma USA Posts: 2,193 Original Poster	Originally posted by DeltaDagger My sample, SN #6093220, has the most front barrel wobble when set at 28mm, progressively less when zoomed out to longer focal lengths. At 105mm you cannot induce an audible "rattle" by pushing the front barrel side to side with finger pressure; the lens assembly is very tight and solid when zoomed out to 105mm. As a side note, my copy of the FA 28-105mm 1:4-5.6 (58mm Power Zoom) and the FA 28-105mm 1:3.2-4.5 (58mm) display fairly uniform front barrel wobble throughout the full zoom range. When shooting film, I regard all three incarnations of the FA 28-105mm as very useful all around zooms - wobble or no wobble. Thanks for that very interesting and helpful reply. I purchased the Tamron on ebay for fairly low cost (but no returns), and was surprised and disappointed to find significant barrel wobble everywhere except when the barrel is nearly fullyextended. The wobble affects resolution; it's of the the same magnitude as my 16-45 barrel wobble physically, but actually seems to affect resolution more. I have other Tamron models and they have no significant wobble, and having read numerous reviews of this model with only one mentioning slight wobble, I really wasn't expecting it. And I certainly wasn't expecting that the barrel would be extremely solid (at least as good as most of my consumer-grade zooms) when fully extended, while wobbling so much when fully retracted. Some of the reviews say that not all copies are wobbly, so maybe it's a wear factor. But probably with owners of this model it's like me with my 16-45: I can't honestly say whether the wobble is worse than when it was new, since if it deteriorated, it did so gradually. There are also reports of non-wobbly 28-105s. So I'm not sure what to conclude.