[ajaya]

hi,

I own pentax KR and recently i bought used Tamron SP AF 70-200mm F2.8 Di LD [IF] Macro lens but i am not able to take good macro pictures. so i wanted to know if there are any specific settings which i need to use in camera or any calibration needs to be done in lens ? i am not sure and it will be great if you could help me out.

Thanks
Ajaya NG

[3by2]

I recently got the same lens. It goes down to a couple of feet which seems pretty fair to me for a big lens. Results at 100mm were quite comparable to my DFA 100 at wider apertures and the few test shots I took were really not bad. You don't need to do anything to use it like that. Perhaps adjust the AF fine tune on your KR, then take a deep breath and hold it steady, which is not particularly easy as that front element makes it front heavy, so for more serious shots, tripod. You should get some good results with it though.

[35mmfilmfan]

With my (very limited) experience of macro work, two factors work against each other - you need a small aperture for DOF, but a fast shutter speed to avoid camera movement (or, indeed, subject movement). Increasing ISO only helps to an extent, before noise becomes obtrusive.

To increase your success rate (and confidence !), try practising on stationary subjects - as @3by2 suggests, a tripod (or even a monopod) may help to prevent camera movement. With the camera / lens combo well supported, manual focusing using Live View is worthwhile investigating as well.

Good luck

[aslyfox]

Maximum magnification 0.32x at 200mm

Tamron SP AF 70-200mm F2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro review: Digital Photography Review

I believe you must extend the lens and you won't get 1:1 macro

[ajaya]

I recently got the same lens. It goes down to a couple of feet which seems pretty fair to me for a big lens. Results at 100mm were quite comparable to my DFA 100 at wider apertures and the few test shots I took were really not bad. You don't need to do anything to use it like that. Perhaps adjust the AF fine tune on your KR, then take a deep breath and hold it steady, which is not particularly easy as that front element makes it front heavy, so for more serious shots, tripod. You should get some good results with it though.

Thanks for the responses. Yes i did tried with tripod once but not found much difference. also can you please let me know how to get the AF fine tuned ?

[3by2]

Tamron SP AF 70-200mm F2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro review: Digital Photography Review

I believe you must extend the lens and you won't get 1:1 macro

That review does mention the lens missing focus sometimes despite the camera reporting it has found it. I can confirm this happens on my K5. I don't know how to describe it but if you hit the AF a few times, the lens sometimes 'creeps'. When it stops creeping it's got focus. it doesn't happen all the time, so far it's the one fault I've found.

---------- Post added 25-06-20 at 04:36 AM ----------

Thanks for the responses. Yes i did tried with tripod once but not found much difference. also can you please let me know how to get the AF fine tuned ?

I don't know the Kr, I think the Kr just has a generic overall AF fine adjustment, which means it'll adjust the AF for all lenses so that will be something to be aware of. It may mean that every time you put the Sigma on you'll need to adjust the AF fine adjustment in the menu and remember to reset it when you take it off.

There are volumes on AF fine adjustment and to do it properly you'll need a tripod and AF scale. You can though do a quick and dirty method which will tell you if your AF is out for that lens. So pick somewhere in the middle of the zoom, mount it on a tripod is best, point the camera at a wall, say 10 or 15 feet as a start, at a 45 degree angle and then shoot the same spot at 0, 5, 10 -5, -10 in the AF fine adjustment (your own Kr scale might be different to my K5). Examine them and see which one gives you the best focus for your lens. Then conduct further tests around the one yielding the best results but at lower increments. You can then repeat those test at different zoom lengths and distances to the subject. To do it properly you should get the AF focus scale but that method will yield decentish results and will very quickly tell you if the AF is out. It is quite easy to get wrong, so take your time.

[gatorguy]

It's not a "macro" in the classic sense, but is the closest focusing 70-200 that I am aware of at something under 3 feet, maybe close to 2. I also have it's matching TC which frankly makes a great pairing.

[aslyfox]

. . . can you please let me know how to get the AF fine tuned ?

there is an article that might be of some help:

Fixing Front and Back Focus
Introduction
With the advent of digital photography we have become much more critical about focus accuracy. We're now able to enlarge our photos to 100% size on our monitors and look at them pixel by pixel. Inaccuracies in focus and other flaws which no one noticed or cared about in the film era are now blatantly visible.

When we shot film and put that big enlargement up on the wall we understood that we would be looking at it from a distance, and the larger the print, the larger the viewing distance. Today, we sit close to our monitors and when an image is displayed at 100% zoom, we easily notice the many flaws introduced by our cameras and lenses.

Two of the most frequently-discussed flaws are inaccuracies in focus, commonly called front-focus and back-focus. Assuming we focus our cameras on a given subject, front-focus occurs when the area in front of our subject seems sharper than the subject itself, and back-focus is the opposite of that: when the area behind our subject seems sharper than the subject.

Most of the time, these two issues can be attributed to the lens, and not the camera. The test for this is easy: if different lenses exhibit different degrees of front- or back-focus, then they are at fault, you can usually fix the problem at home! . . .

Read more at: https://www.pentaxforums.com/reviews/lens-align-front-back-focus/introductio...#ixzz6QNREmudA. . .

[3by2]

It's not a "macro" in the classic sense, but is the closest focusing 70-200 that I am aware of at something under 3 feet, maybe close to 2. I also have it's matching TC which frankly makes a great pairing.

Which is the TC that pairs with it?

---------- Post added 25-06-20 at 04:57 AM ----------

there is an article that might be of some help:





Read more at: Fixing Front and Back Focus - Introduction - In-Depth Articles. . .

Oh yes good article, I didn't know that was there. That's very much the proper way to do it.

[aslyfox]

. . . Oh yes good article, I didn't know that was there. That's very much the proper way to do it.

I have a pretty good memory for what I have read or seen

at least for now that is

big problem is remembering where did I see or read that darn thing

[gatorguy]

Which is the TC that pairs with it?

---------- Post added 25-06-20 at 04:57 AM ----------



Oh yes good article, I didn't know that was there. That's very much the proper way to do it.

It's in my signature...
Tamron 1.4TC

[3by2]

It's in my signature...
Tamron 1.4TC

Yes, I noticed that after I asked the question. A quick search doesn't reveal many around. I'll keep an eye out for one now.

[gatorguy]

Yes, I noticed that after I asked the question. A quick search doesn't reveal many around. I'll keep an eye out for one now.

I'm not sure why that is either, but yes you don't see them very often. I don't find much of an image falloff at all using it, not even a noticeably slower focus speed.

[csa]

It's in my signature...
Tamron 1.4TC

That's the one I have also, and works very well with this lens!

[Thagomizer]

Seeing some results might be useful. If you post some shots you're not happy with (that is, if you're comfortable with doing that), you might get additional suggestions and help.