Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
05-22-2014, 07:41 PM   #1
Veteran Member
EarlVonTapia's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,207
Tamron 17-50 zoom fail

After over a year of ownership and regular usage in many situations, the zoom on my Tamron 17-50 has failed. The zoom ring can now rotate entirely around the barrel 360 degrees, both ways. Depending on how I orient the lens, the zoom will work and I can pull in/pull out the lens. Sometimes it stops zooming inwards around the 24mm mark, but if I jiggle the lens a bit it can zoom inwards all the way.

There was no direct cause for this, as far as I know. The lens was on my camera, on a tripod, on a pretty calm and non-sandy beach. It did not fall over, and nothing was blown at or into the lens. I had been using the lens the night before with no incident, as well as for a short while before the zoom broke. While the zooming has always been a little tight on the Tamron compared to other lenses, I did not sense any imminent failure.

All other parts of the Tamron are working. Autofocus is still working at 100% speed and accuracy, and it's still as sharp as ever.

I'll be looking to repair/replace this lens immediately, as this lens is quite the workhorse for me, and so I wanted to come here and ask some advice.

- Have any other Tamron 17-50 owners come across this issue and tried to fix the lens themselves? I have no qualms about opening up manual lenses, but AF lenses with all of their pins and springs give me pause. If there's something simple I could do to make this lens work again, or to make it an even sexier push/pull zoom, I would strongly consider this option.

- Does anyone have any experience with Tamron Canada repair? My Tamron is not under warranty, but I will call them tomorrow to try and get a rough ballpark of repair costs and timeframe. If those figures are good, I want to make sure Tamron is not a PITA to deal with. If Tamron Canada sucks, would sending the lens to a Tamron USA facility be better? This option is not that appealing to me because now and forever I will have this fear that my Tamron zoom will fail again.

- Maybe it's time to just sell this lens for parts and get a new lens. Has anyone had a chance to use both a Tamron 17-50 and the new Sigma 17-70 Contemporary? How do they compare in terms of sharpness @ 17mm-30mm, and flare resistance? I shoot landscapes more than anything else, so those two qualities would be the most important for me. Any other bonuses are gravy. This would be a last resort, as I would have to pull some buy/sell ninjutsu to make this work for me right now.

Thanks for reading.

05-22-2014, 07:56 PM   #2
Senior Member
scole's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Everett, WA
Posts: 216
I realize that this is NOT a Tamron lens but I broke the zoom ring on my older Sigma 17-70mm lens earlier this year. The repair through Sigma took about 3 weeks and cost me about $100 USD. I would hope that your Tamron repair would be in the same range.
05-22-2014, 08:10 PM   #3
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Aristophanes's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Rankin Inlet, Nunavut
Photos: Albums
Posts: 3,948
QuoteOriginally posted by EarlVonTapia Quote
After over a year of ownership and regular usage in many situations, the zoom on my Tamron 17-50 has failed. The zoom ring can now rotate entirely around the barrel 360 degrees, both ways. Depending on how I orient the lens, the zoom will work and I can pull in/pull out the lens. Sometimes it stops zooming inwards around the 24mm mark, but if I jiggle the lens a bit it can zoom inwards all the way.

There was no direct cause for this, as far as I know. The lens was on my camera, on a tripod, on a pretty calm and non-sandy beach. It did not fall over, and nothing was blown at or into the lens. I had been using the lens the night before with no incident, as well as for a short while before the zoom broke. While the zooming has always been a little tight on the Tamron compared to other lenses, I did not sense any imminent failure.

All other parts of the Tamron are working. Autofocus is still working at 100% speed and accuracy, and it's still as sharp as ever.

I'll be looking to repair/replace this lens immediately, as this lens is quite the workhorse for me, and so I wanted to come here and ask some advice.

- Have any other Tamron 17-50 owners come across this issue and tried to fix the lens themselves? I have no qualms about opening up manual lenses, but AF lenses with all of their pins and springs give me pause. If there's something simple I could do to make this lens work again, or to make it an even sexier push/pull zoom, I would strongly consider this option.

- Does anyone have any experience with Tamron Canada repair? My Tamron is not under warranty, but I will call them tomorrow to try and get a rough ballpark of repair costs and timeframe. If those figures are good, I want to make sure Tamron is not a PITA to deal with. If Tamron Canada sucks, would sending the lens to a Tamron USA facility be better? This option is not that appealing to me because now and forever I will have this fear that my Tamron zoom will fail again.

- Maybe it's time to just sell this lens for parts and get a new lens. Has anyone had a chance to use both a Tamron 17-50 and the new Sigma 17-70 Contemporary? How do they compare in terms of sharpness @ 17mm-30mm, and flare resistance? I shoot landscapes more than anything else, so those two qualities would be the most important for me. Any other bonuses are gravy. This would be a last resort, as I would have to pull some buy/sell ninjutsu to make this work for me right now.

Thanks for reading.
It sounds repairable. I'd make the attempt, but now a DIY. I have the lens and it a solid workhorse.

I thought the Tamron Canada warranty was for 6 years? Try Tamron Canada, not the US.
05-23-2014, 02:27 AM   #4
Veteran Member




Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,637
The exact same thing happened to my copy, in the middle of my friend's wedding... maybe it's a design fault or something.

Tamron Australia said it cost $250 to fix it because it's out of warranty, I said no thank you because a new one off ebay is just $330, end up buying a used DA*16-50(converted screw drive) instead...


Last edited by elpolodiablo; 05-23-2014 at 02:35 AM.
05-26-2014, 12:00 PM   #5
Veteran Member
EarlVonTapia's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,207
Original Poster
I just got off the phone with a Tamron Canada rep in the repairs department (I tried calling last Friday, but they were out of office. I guess there's only one of them).

Here's the quick and dirty:

$30 for an assessment fee. I send my lens in, and they will take a look at it and give a proper cost assessment. If I decide to go through with repairs, I don't have to pay this fee. If I decide it's too much, they send it back as-is and I only pay the $30.

$80/hour is their standard rate. I described my problem and she said that sounds like a "2 hour job" (but she didn't know for sure). Either way, with shipping and taxes, I feel like I'm looking at somewhere in the $200 range for a repair.

3 days is their standard turnaround time, unless the repair needs a part that they don't have in stock. Then it might take up to 2 months.

If they can't repair a lens because its old and they don't have the parts for it anymore, they will sell you a new equivalent at a discounted price.

Overall not too bad. The price is around what I was expecting, but I'm pleased with the turnaround time. I'll think about this over the next couple of days.
05-27-2014, 03:00 PM   #6
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: May 2014
Location: WA
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 235
Same issue with mine 17-50 Tamron. But warranty is not the option - I bought it used. I'm wondering if it is possible to find 3rd party service for this for a reasonable price...

Otherwise maybe continue to use it until it dies completely.
06-13-2014, 12:47 PM   #7
Veteran Member
EarlVonTapia's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,207
Original Poster
Final update for this thread.

I sent my Tamron in on Monday, June 2. It arrived at the Amplis Photo facility (they do Tamron repairs in Canada) on the 4th, repairs were done by the 6th (Friday), shipped out on the 9th, arrived back to me on the 13th (today).

They fixed the broken zoom, and they also repaired an error I was getting with the exif data (17mm was registering as 45mm).

The costs were as follows:

$20 EXIF repair
$22 Parts
$140 Zoom repair
$15 Shipping
$10 Tax

$207 total

Oh, and they REPLACED MY FRONT ELEMENT FOR FREE (I put two scratches on it a few months ago, now they are gone).

The lens is like new. I'm very pleased. I would not hesitate to get a Tamron lens repaired from them again.

Also, there's a 6 month warranty for the repair.

EDIT:

May have spoken too soon. There appears to be focusing issues with the lens. I'll run the lens through the testing gauntlet over the weekend.


Last edited by EarlVonTapia; 06-13-2014 at 02:47 PM.
06-15-2014, 12:01 AM   #8
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: May 2014
Location: WA
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 235
Last update from me as well Hoping it will save somebody's lens or 200$ some day.

I managed to fix it myself. Quite trivial problem. Just one screw was loose. Never tried to get into the lens before. I was inspired by the video:
Different Tamron lens, symptoms didn't match exactly, almost no explanation... but it looked doable, so I thought it might be something similar. Also, 17-50 seemed much simpler. Assumtion was correct, I had to unscrew much less details

Last edited by pukipuki; 06-15-2014 at 12:46 AM.
07-21-2014, 04:59 PM   #9
Inactive Account




Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Morayfield Queensland
Posts: 15
Same thing has happened to me, my lens is less than 2 years old and all of a sudden the ring just started spinning. Might give the repair a go, if it doesn't pan out I'll have to get a new one as it's such a good lens.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
canada, k-mount, lens, lenses, option, pentax lens, repair, slr lens, tamron
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
For Sale - Sold: Pentax K-m + 50-135 + F 100 macro + sigma 17-70 + 50-150 + tamron 17-50 + metz 50 AF blem49 Sold Items 11 07-26-2013 03:25 PM
For Sale - Sold: K-5, 16-50,50-135,65-250, Sigma 17-50, 50 1.4, 50 1.8, Tamron 90 2.8, Flashes virarfast Sold Items 8 04-04-2013 02:30 PM
Debating between Sigma 17-50 mm, Tamron 17-50mm, Tamron 28-75mm, Tokina 16-50 babaloohead Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 25 03-23-2013 08:56 AM
For Sale - Sold: Tamron 17-50 SP AF DI II f/2.8 Zoom zbrueningsen Sold Items 6 12-27-2012 07:44 PM
Tamron 17 - 50 2.8 flakey zoom data. c a sugg Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 9 12-07-2011 12:22 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 11:01 PM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top