| Review of: Tamron Adaptall-2 SP (51B/151B) 17mm F3.5 by babywriter on Thu February 1, 2018 | Rating: 8 | View more reviews | |
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Reviews: 17
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I have the 151B variant. Bought it new/old stock at a closeout auction, with a box of other stuff; I don't think it had ever been used before. Used it during January 2018 for the "Single In Challenge" - which I would encourage you to consider trying. It's a wonderful way to get to know a lens and meet some great photographers.
The pros:
- Holy crap, does this lens love sky! Blue skies just explode off the frame, which is a really good thing for a lens designed for landscapes.
- Wide-angle landscape and nature shots are a joy with this lens. I found out, about 10 days in, that all I really had to do was set the focus on infinity, the aperture at f/8, and the rest would take care of itself if the lighting was sufficient. I know this is true of pretty much any ultra wide angle lens, but it was my first time experiencing it firsthand.
- at f/8 and above, sharpness was excellent. I didn't notice much falloff toward the edges, sharpness-wise, at those apertures.
The cons:
- Whoever designed the hood (which is affixed with two set screws, top and bottom) needs to be hung by their toenails. The hood is the only way to mount a filter on the lens, and so using it is kind of a necessity for protection's sake. But the hood itself is easily the most awkward design I've ever worked with - it tends to fall off, and putting it back on is a fiddly, time-consuming exercise. The hood also gets in the way when you use a flash - serious vignetting - and so flash work gets done with the lens unprotected.
- The lens is noticeably prone to flare. Sometimes the flare is attractive, but sometimes not. Of course, with the weird hood attachment, getting a longer hood to accommodate APS-C sensors is a nonstarter. So you live with it as best you can.
- forget about anything below f/8 if you care about sharpness at all. f/3.5 is unusable, as is anything up to f/7.1 (which is reaaaallly borderline, sharpness-wise).
That being said - this lens is a keeper. Within its limitations can deliver stunning photos, especially landscapes.
Some of my favorites from the month:
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| Review of: Mamiya / Sekor 55mm F 1.4 by babywriter on Wed November 1, 2017 | Rating: 10 | View more reviews | |
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Reviews: 17
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- The lens is SHARP on APS-C. I never felt I was fighting the resolution of the lens. If I got it in focus, it delivered all the detail I needed. (Unfortunately, this wasn't the case on the Q, using the Q/K adapter - lots of CA and softness - but I'm finding that it's a rare lens that excels there, so no biggie.)
- Color rendering was excellent as well, although not the same character of rendering as a Pentax SMC lens. The colors were true to life and reasonably saturated, however - well suited for a variety of shooting situations.
- Like many older lenses, this one will flare considerably if pointed into the sun. (I shot pretty much entirely without a hood, so I can't say how much a hood would improve that.) The flare, however, was unique and often quite striking. I had lots of fun working with it to get fun hexagonal flare shapes. It was eminently usable that way.
- The focusing throw on the lens is fairly long - I found myself wishing for a shorter throw more than once; it would take me about two seconds to go from one focusing extreme to the other. For the type of shooting I do, it's a minor detail, but one worth mentioning.
Bottom line: this lens is a keeper. I would have no hesitation about throwing this on a camera when I need mid-telephoto capability and high quality. If you can find one, I'd recommend it highly (as long as you have the m42 to K adapter, of course - you'll need that).
 Dome under construction by pollys belvin, on Flickr
 Milkweed and flare by pollys belvin, on Flickr
 Stormclouds 2 by pollys belvin, on Flickr
 The nose knows by pollys belvin, on Flickr
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| Review of: Tamron Adaptall CZ715, CZ150, QZ150M 70-150mm F3.5-3.8 by babywriter on Sun January 1, 2017 | Rating: 7 | View more reviews | |
Views: 15628
Reviews: 2
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I have the non-macro version. Bought it from an online auction site because I was intrigued by the unusual focal length. Used this lens for a PF "Single In" challenge during the month of December 2016. Flickr album here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskMk3yPq
- The lens handles reasonably well, despite its length (about 110mm, or 4-1/2") and minimum focusing distance (1.5m - THAT bothered me for a while). My copy focused smoothly, although the helicoid turns about 190 degrees, and that feels like a long throw when you're in the zone. Items popped into focus without much issue, and the long throw made fine adjustments easy.
- No complaints with color rendition, although things felt a bit cold and flat straight out of camera - I can't pinpoint it any more than that. I usually punched the vibrance, saturation and clarity settings up a tad in Lightroom pretty much as a general practice.
- from f/3.5 to f/8, the lens shows its "Hyde" side - very soft wide open, with paintery, glowy bokeh. I found this really frustrating, but in retrospect it did result in some interesting rendering, if you're looking for that kind of thing:
 Bison in the grass by pollys belvin, on Flickr
at f/4.5, things got a bit better, but still glowy and soft. This shot made Explore for a few hours, so I can't complain:
 Waiting on the elevator by pollys belvin, on Flickr
f/8 was - ugh - just mediocre. Average sharpness, and by then most of the glowy bokeh had disappeared. At that point, I was ready to give up.
But at f/11 and above - rather abruptly, and shockingly - the "Jekyll" side of the lens took hold: impressive sharpness and rendering - rivaling some of the best vintage lenses I've used:
 Self portrait, 1 of 2 by pollys belvin, on Flickr
 Diner umbrellas by pollys belvin, on Flickr
That sharpness held, more or less, all the way up to f/22, but f/11 and f/13 were the sweet spots.
The other thing I discovered - and ended up loving - was the flare, which began showing up if the sun was, say 20-30 degrees off to the side. It wasn't pretty, necessarily, by itself - but when I threw it into HDR Efex Pro 2 and began to play, i ended up with some stuff I really liked.
 Power lines and flare, Altoona, IA by pollys belvin, on Flickr
 flare and glow by pollys belvin, on Flickr
I may pull this lens out, from time to time, just to do this.
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| Review of: Tamron 689/T-135 Auto Adaptall 1 (1st gen) 135mm F2.8 by babywriter on Thu May 12, 2016 | Rating: 9 | View more reviews | |
Views: 19057
Reviews: 3
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I picked up this lens (the black version) at a local photo shop for $40. It had an original adaptall Pentax ES mount, which I replaced with an adaptall-2 PK mount.
The sharpness blows me away, and colors are rich and vivid. Exposures are pretty much spot-on; no need for EV compensation like with some other older lenses. The focus throw is pretty long, though (at least a full turn), and on my copy, the focus ring is stiffer than I'd like. Probably needs to have the old grease removed and new put in.
But, oh my .... such great photos out of the box. The colors just pop.
I'm keeping this lens.
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