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Tamron Adaptall-2  (01B) 24mm F2.5 Review RSS Feed

Tamron Adaptall-2 (01B) 24mm F2.5

Sharpness 
 8.4
Aberrations 
 8.2
Bokeh 
 8.1
Handling 
 8.8
Value 
 8.2
Reviews Views Date of last review
21 100,233 Sun January 2, 2022
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Recommended By Average Price Average User Rating
90% of reviewers $73.84 8.25
Tamron Adaptall-2  (01B) 24mm F2.5
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Description:
" A very wide angle lens with above average performance, although not quite as good as some of the best OEM lenses of the era ....Tamron chose to balance the optical performance across the field to yield fairly uniform sharpness". - adaptall-2.com

Note that the later 01BB is listed here.

Weight: 230 gr
Length: 38 mm
Filter Diameter: 55 mm
Min. Focus: 250 mm
Max. Magnification:
Diagonal FOV: 84
Horizontal FOV:
Horizontal FOV on Digital:
Min. Aperture: f/22
Optical Construction: 10 elements 9 groups
Coatings BBAR Multi layer
Mount Type: Third-party (adapter required)
Price History:



Add Review of Tamron Adaptall-2  (01B) 24mm F2.5
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Site Supporter

Registered: June, 2013
Location: Montreal, Canada
Posts: 572

3 users found this helpful
Review Date: May 7, 2015 Recommended | Price: $100.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: relatively sharp, built like a tank, fast
Cons: corner sharpness
Camera Used: K30   

I have mixed feelings about this lens because I thought I could use it for astronomy but it's not sharp enough on the edges and corners. Stopping it down to f/4 only marginally helps. Better at f/5.6 but that's too dark for the night sky. Great lens for candid street or event photography. Here's a shot showing huge coma aberration on the edges but very sharp star images in the center. On the bright side CA and vignetting on APS-C are not so bad.

   
Pentaxian

Registered: January, 2017
Posts: 462

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: December 27, 2021 Recommended | Price: $85.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: wide, attractive starburst with 10 rays, sharpness when stopped down. colors, small, build quality
Cons: flare
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 9    Value: 8    Camera Used: Pentax K-1   

This is a nice lens, although I probably overpaid it since I don't use it so much. I bought it to complement my Flektogon 20mm f2.8 since Tamron has better starburst, 10 rays instead of 6. It has very usable 24mm for everyday use and I like its colors. Lens is all metal with nice rubber focusing ring. This looks like a multicoated lens. My lens is in good condition visually as well as internally. Almost in mint condition. This lens has competition in my arsenal of vintage lenses as it has to beat Flektogon 20mm f2.8 and Pentax M 28mm f2.8, however it succeeds in that in following scenarios: when I am inside and need to photograph group of people - 20mm is too wide and creates some weird angles and 28mm isn't that wide, 24mm is perfect. Then, it wins as a landscape lens when I need to show starburst. You can't have it all I guess. This lens has some nice tones when photographing people faces.

















   
Veteran Member

Registered: October, 2006
Location: NJ USA
Posts: 13,072

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: October 13, 2010 Recommended | Price: $5.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: good resolution, kills flare dead
Cons:

Mine is a very beat up 01BB that came as a package with a bunch of other stuff, including a K-A Adaptall-2 mount. This is still preliminary, as some time I will compare vs. a Nikkor-N 24/2.8.

Right off the bat, this lens produced very large JPEGs with the K100D, indicating a good resolution design. I've since used this quite a bit with a Program Plus, both color and b&w. I find the focal length translates usefully to a moderate wide on the K100D.

Flare: I've shot against the sun, I've shot against very bright reflections, and the lens damps down flare amazingly well - better than the 43 limited. This can be a down-side, as at least once I was hoping for some spread of light

Focusing is easy - though as usual, the DOF scale on the lens is over-optimistic on APS-c.

On film, there's some darkening at the corners at wide apertures, but by ~5.6 this is gone. I haven't noted any vignetting on the DSLR. The edge softness noted by many wide open is mainly a film thing as well.

I find color is very well handled - the saturation depends on the scene and on the light, which to me means this lens does not impose its own signature overly much.

On the K100D, with a good K-A adapter, the 01bb tends to over expose, and requires a bit of - ev.
   
Site Supporter

Registered: November, 2012
Location: North Wales
Posts: 2,859

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: April 12, 2014 Recommended | Price: $70.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: quality
Cons: mount faffs, not so good wide open or away from image centre
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 7    Value: 8    Camera Used: K-r   

I took this lens and my Superwide II PKA out and about and came back with a suite of pics to look at side by side.
Conclusion: simply that my K-r was not able to resolve (literally and figuratively) between the lenses! Example pic (f10, identical amounts of light contrast boost and sharpening in Faststone):









For what its worth the first pic and crop were taken on the Sigma. I can remark:
  1. the Sigma seemed to have the edge wide open
  2. The Sigma has the edge for close up work, focussing down to 1:4, ~15cm CWD.
  3. I preferred the handling of the Sigma, and of course you don't have to faff with a mount. The flat "beercan" design of the tamrons doesn't really help feeling for the rings by touch.
  4. I felt that I was more often noticing some CA with the Sigma. On other occasions I have had some pronounced blue fringing in backlit situations.
Both lenses are very good IMO - read 8.5/10. Between the two, I can remark that Sigma Superwides are common and relatively cheap per se, but Superwides in P-KA mount are not so. Prices head up to ~£100+ though you can get lucky if you bide your time. The 01B sells consistently for around £40-70 and crops up regularly. If you already have an interest in adaptall and a PKA mount then thats the cheaper and more practical option. Otherwise the Sigma overall is perhaps to be preferred over 01B+PKA.

UPDATE I did a landscape comparison with the 01B, 24-48mm 13A and the superwide II and posted the results in the adaptall club thread here.
Scrutiny of the crops clearly shows the superwides superiority wide open. IQ's converged stopping down however the test tends to corroborate SunValley's comments above re 01B's edge IQ. However I have left the scores the same.
   
Junior Member

Registered: March, 2014
Posts: 38

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: April 4, 2014 Recommended | Price: $50.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: very sharp, well built, small and light
Cons: none from my perspective
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 9    Value: 9    Camera Used: various   

My copy is extremely sharp. I use this lens on all of my 35mm cameras - it equals any camera maker's 24 prime I've ever owned, and those adaptall mounts let me use it on my entire collection.

Small, fast light . . . . great lens. Here's a sample of what it can do on a DSLR, in this case my Kx, where it operates as a nice, normal-wide 35mm. 1/250th sec between f5.6 and f8, ISO 200.

Because the CMOS sensor uses the central portion of the lens, sharpness is excellent. My copy is also sharp in the corners full frame, right down to f4. It's a touch soft at f2.5, but who cares? Wides are seldom used wide open, anyway. There's lots of them out there, they're cheap - about the best bang for the buck I've seen.

The picture, by the way, is of a Black Spruce Swamp in winter, in the Prince George, BC area.


   
Inactive Account

Registered: May, 2011
Location: Vigan City
Posts: 2

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: October 10, 2011 Recommended | Price: $50.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Very nice lens, sharp image
Cons: There's nothing i can say . . .
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 6   

I use this lens on my Pentax K-5, so it's in the photographer & composition

My product number is: 01BB . . . i think, it's more older than yours? hehehehe!


HERE ARE MY SAMPLE PICS:

   


1 user found this helpful
Review Date: July 13, 2011 Recommended | Price: $100.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: Close to 35mm equiv, fast, solid, nice balance on K-7
Cons: Adaptall mount, prone to flare

Having got an Adaptall 28mm F2.5, I decided I wanted something wider, so sourced a 24mm with P/KA mount.

This worked fine at first, but then seemed to 'stick' at F4 whilst in TAV mode. I can still manually select F2.5, but no longer through the camera. I am assuming this is a mount fault rather than a lens issue. Anyone else had this issue?

Anyway, the lens is solidly built and has a nice weight to it, which balances my K-7 nicely.

The field of view is 36mm equiv, which is ideal for street photography and as a general walk around lens.

The aperture range is pretty broad from F2.5 to F32, but I would suggest that F4 to F16 give the best performance.

My adaptall 28mm is in better condition (near mint), but I just love the field of view on this one. This is a keeper for me.
   
Pentaxian

Registered: June, 2010
Location: North Zealand, Denmark
Posts: 1,516

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: October 29, 2010 Recommended | Price: $63.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Well built; Fast; AE-functionality with PKA-mount; close focusing distance
Cons: Becoming a bit pricy; perhaps not the sharpest prime ever

The price I paid (2010) included original case and caps; adaptall-2 mount for Minolta (no use for me) and a Miranda 55 mm skylight filter - a good bargin, I think. But prices seem to be increasing and some of the buy-now prices seen on e-bay now are (at least to me) ridiculous.

Mine is a near-mint 01B version (s/n 901911). One cannot judge the optical and mechanical quality from the exterior only, but this copy seems to be excellent in all aspects.

I cannot add much to the virtues already mentioned by others above but would point to the minimum focusing distance of just 25 cm as a very convenient feature adding to the versatility of this lens.

And regarding sharpness and colour? Take a look of these 65% crops of two pictures of some small orchids:





I think the wide-open aperture performance is good. Of course the DOF improves at f/8.0 but I cannot say that I am unhappy with performance at f/2.5.

Best Regards / Stone G.
   
Inactive Account

Registered: December, 2008
Location: Ames, Iowa, USA
Posts: 2,965

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: March 19, 2009 Not Recommended | Price: $75.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: well built, feels good
Cons: very soft edges with chromatic aberration at 2.8

While usable when stopped down I found my version of this lens model 01BB to be soft & exhibit a lot of flare at 2.5 & 2.8 on my 1.5 crop DSLR.

I would restrict its use to snapshots, especially at small apertures.

Here's a corner sharpness comparison test on a 1.5 crop DSLR:


The brightness decrease is a lighting effect, not vignetting.

Dave
   
New Member

Registered: June, 2020
Location: Darwin NT
Posts: 110
Review Date: January 2, 2022 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: N/A 

 
Pros:
Cons:

In praise of the images displayed by the last post for 2021 on this thread. The creative and technical aspects have melded superbly. Pentax K-1 + Tamron Adaptall 01B 24mm f 2.5 combination are indeed objects of desire.
   
New Member

Registered: March, 2021
Posts: 2
Review Date: March 15, 2021 Recommended | Price: $45.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Fast, sometimes cheap, build quality, Adaptall mount, IQ is really good from f/5.6 on
Cons: Not sharp and some CA wide open
Sharpness: 8    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 9    Value: 8    Camera Used: Pentax K-50, Lumix G7   

I got this lens for a bargain price with case, caps and a PK-M mount. It had some haze behind the front element, so I had to disassemble and clean it. The lens is now in perfect condition.

I do have 2 other 24mm lenses: Cosina 24 f/2.8 and a Canon FD 24mm f/2.8 SSC and betweel all of them, the Canon FD is clearly the best. Wide open, both the Canon and the Cosina outperform the Tamron, although Tamron 24mm is a little bit faster at f/2.5.

The construction is very solid, all metal construction and it feels very nice. It's quite compact and lightweight for its aperture.

Wide open it's quite soft, some spherical aberration, coma at the corners and some CA. It improves already at f/4 and it's really good at f/5.6.
I find color rendition from this lens to be quite warm and I like it. Contrast is a little bit low, but i don't mind it at all.
It flares quite easily so i highly recommend using a hood on it.

What I like most about this lens is that's the only wide angle lens that can fit all my cameras (Pentax K, Nikon, Canon FD, Canon EF, Olympus) and it's not a bad performer at all. I just love the Adaptall system.
And I love this lens.

Here's an exaple shot at night, not wide open, but I think it was something around f/3.5 or f/4.
   
New Member

Registered: February, 2019
Posts: 1
Review Date: March 24, 2019 Recommended | Price: $30.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Very sharp, relatively fast, solid, smooth action, contrast
Cons: A bit heavy I think, Bit soft at f/2.5
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 7    Handling: 8    Value: 9    Camera Used: Sony a6000   

Very sharp prime lens.
I use it on digital with lens turbo adapter and on film.

Even at F/2.5, it's reasonably sharp (bit soft) for an old lens. Stop to F/4 to better result.
I've seen no strong distortion.

Colors are good and contrast very good.
Very useful, smooth action, smooth focus ring and short distance (I like it).

Lune. [Moon] by Canad ADRY, sur Flickr
   
New Member

Registered: November, 2016
Posts: 7
Review Date: November 23, 2016 Not Recommended | Price: $40.00 | Rating: 5 

 
Pros: 24mm
Cons: Poor Color saturation, soft wide open
Sharpness: 5    Aberrations: 6    Bokeh: 5    Handling: 8    Value: 5    Camera Used: Canon 70D   

Lens is built well. Mostly metal construction. Adaptall system was a genius design by tamron. My copy is sharpest at F5.6. There is lots of flare, even with Tamron's BBAR MC. My copy of the lens has very poor saturation.
   
Veteran Member

Registered: December, 2008
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
Posts: 650
Review Date: September 20, 2016 Recommended | Price: $40.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Small, light and attactive on the camera
Cons: the adapter
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 10    Camera Used: K100D,K-x,K10D,K-5   

This lens came in a bundle-bag I bought online and was an unexpected bonus! I wanted a MF film camera and this one came with a 50 1.7 A lens plus 2 Tamron's. This has become my wifes favorite lens. She likes a viewfinder look that seems "normal" to her which the 18-55 didn't, nor my 19,nor my 14. The clue to this came when she was using a big 24-135 Sigma FF zoom and she kept saying she liked it but it was heavy(it is too) and I always had it on the camera and didn't I have someting else. Out came the 24 from the Pelican case and she loved using it. I have not seen problems with the pictures from the lens even when extremely magnified. I can see no abberations most the time but maybe a little bit off color in a few shots. I really like Tamron's lenses and really look forward to using them on a K-1 when my budget allows.
   
Junior Member

Registered: January, 2013
Location: Texas
Posts: 32
Review Date: January 5, 2013 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Smooth manual focus, build quality, excellent at F5.6
Cons: Bad at full aperture
Sharpness: 7    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 9    Value: 10    Camera Used: Pentax ZXn, Super A, Leica R7   

Bad in the corners at the large aperture of 2.5, and also too much vignetting; improves quickly at smaller aperture, excellent at F5.6. A lot of internal reflections when the sun is in the field. The next version (01BB) is lot better at full aperture (sharpness, vignetting) and has reduced flare at all apertures.
The adaptall-II ring system is ingenious (I used this lense on Pentax and Leica cameras), but fragile.
The build quality of this lense is remarkable, truly excellent, all metal, and its focusing ring a delight to use.
Excellent value, cheaper than Pentax lenses, but avoid F2.5.
Add Review of Tamron Adaptall-2  (01B) 24mm F2.5



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