[jsherman999]

.

As some may know, my K20D + Tamron 70-200 went in the lake on an un-braked
stroller. (usual stroller resident was helping me feed the ducks, only equipment
was dunked.)

Anyway, the internal condensation was finally gone today - the fog has cleared.
It left a very slight film on the elements, and a whole lot of very visible water spots -
on both sides of every internal element, from what I could see. Think the worst
fungus you've ever seen, times two.

Anyway, decided to throw it on the K100D (K20D is fried) and see what the images
looked like.

Surprisingly, the AF wasn't affected at all - in fact, its the first time I had it on
the K100D, and I was suprised to find that it actually locked to focus faster than
my SDM 50-135 does on the K100D. So that's good, mechanicals came out OK.

Here are some images showing how the optics were affected by the water spots:

Nothing much in these first two, contrast is a little less, but my default jpegs on
the K100D are like that anyway compared to the K20d:


In this one, you can see some water spots in the bokeh:

Here too - note that these are f2.8 200mm, so very thin DOF, the softness
is normal for the settings - lots of normal OOF:

This looks normal:

Just slightly less contrast, but again, that may be the K100D vs. K20D default
settings:

Heres a tight crop where you can see some slight ghosting that wasn't
there before:

Little bit of softness/ghosting here too, but all detail is retained:

Here's where it's really apparent, though - shooting almost right into the sun
would clip before, now it washes out in light-blue/purple flare:

But overall, I was impressed with the IQ that's left.



I called Tamron service, and the first thing the guy asked me was: "fresh water
or salt water?" Turns out it might be completely salvageable with just a good
cleaning, elements and gaskets, so I sent it to them today for an estimate.
It would be nice to have a perfect lens again for, say, $200-300 vs. $700.
I've got my fingers crossed.


.

[heatherslightbox]

Good for you! Since it actually still works on the camera, it looks like there's hope that all it needs is a good cleaning. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

BTW, other than that light pole shot, nice shots.

Heather

[clawhammer]

Good luck!

[jsherman999]

Good for you! Since it actually still works on the camera, it looks like there's hope that all it needs is a good cleaning. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

BTW, other than that light pole shot, nice shots.

Heather

Thanks! Really brings home to me how little internal dust matters, now - Sometimes
I'd see a nice cheap Tak in the used dept of the local store and not buy it because I
could see a little tiny but of dust in it - now I know in spades how little effect that
dust is actually going to have - absolutely no effect.

I wish I had taken shots down into the lens before I shipped it off, you guys
wouldn't believe how bad it was...

[JonPB]

That's interesting to know. Thanks for posting. Whether this would have happened to all lenses or not, my opinion of Tamron just went up a notch...pending a successful salvage, of course. :-) Good luck!

[dazman]

Considering the swim the Tammy took, the lens still produces pleasing results. I'm impressed and my opinion of Tamron has also jumped a notch....bring on the 10-24.
Hope Tamron can work there magic on the lens and we can see more of your 70-200 images...always enjoy viewing them.

[rover]

For some reason I was expecting pictures of fish.

My fingers are crossed that Tamron can sort it out for you.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

For some reason I was expecting pictures of fish.

My fingers are crossed that Tamron can sort it out for you.

If the fish is inside the lens it is outside the DOF.

[Eastern Shore Charlie]

A little late...sorry for the accident with your camera and lens...

[squarerigger]

Sorry for your bad luck with the camera and lens. I hope they can get the lens repaired. What are you doing about the K20?

On a side note regarding fresh vs salt water and electronics, a long time ago when I was a police officer, I dropped a hand held radio into salt water. While the divers were recovering the radio, a call was placed to the repair facility and they said to place the radio in a pail of fresh water until we could get t to the repair facility. Radio repaired and back in service.

[Miserere]

Thanks! Really brings home to me how little internal dust matters, now.

Some people have not bought a lens I was selling because there was some dust inside On the other hand I've scored some nice deals on eBay because the seller was honest and said there was dust in the lens and few people bid for it. I always LOL, more of an evil cackle really, as I put in my PayPal details

Check this out, Jay.

Buy those dusty Taks, my friend; you'll be fine.

[jsherman999]

Some people have not bought a lens I was selling because there was some dust inside On the other hand I've scored some nice deals on eBay because the seller was honest and said there was dust in the lens and few people bid for it. I always LOL, more of an evil cackle really, as I put in my PayPal details

Check this out, Jay.

Buy those dusty Taks, my friend; you'll be fine.

WOW. That's pretty eye-opening.... I do have an extra cosmetically-almost-mint S-M-C Tak 50 1.4 with
the worst fungus Ive ever seen, but it takes really nice pictures. Its pretty weird how these optics work
like that - a fraction of a fraction of a millimeter variation in alignment can turn a lens into crap, but take
a quality lens and plaster stuff on the elements, and it almost doesn't matter...

I'm going to have to go out with my fungus-ey Tak 50 and post some photos.
Maybe we should have a new club, the 'left for dead lens club'.


.

[sewebster]

I was going to post in your other thread that I thought the lens was likely salvageable. I'm glad to see that it seems you've come to a similar conclusion. Let's hope Tamron service can fix you up!

[Miserere]

Maybe we should have a new club, the 'left for dead lens club'.

Maybe we need a catchier name? Or at least one that won't scare away little children

[borno]

I don't think it will cost you too much to clean. I just had a tamron 80-200 f2.8 adaptall cleaned by a shop in NYC and he said usual cleaning was about $68 but I had a slight fungus around one of the inner elements and he did some work on the focus helicoid and it was about $145 because it required a complete disassembly. It will be a lot cheaper than a new one anyways