I’ve decided to attempt to hike all of the official mountains in Wales, 188 of them. When I decided to do this I totalled up how many I was already able to tick off… which was four. I’ve therefore been doing some long mountain walks to tick off as many as is possible in a day, starting with the Brecon Beacons.
I’ve recently been using my Tamron Adaptall SP 28-80 a lot, and have been really impressed with it. However, I’ve also got hold of a very cheap SP 24-48 and already had the hood so thought I would take this tiny and light lens with me as I ticked off between three and six mountains on a hike.
I’ve long been a fan of the 24-48, but have never kept a copy long term, especially since getting my Zeiss Loxia 21/2.8. However, on a long hike I appreciate having the flexibility of a zoom and my Zeiss is currently jammed at infinity – which for a £1,200 modern lens is very disappointing, considering I’ve never had this with any of my Adaptalls and I’m owned over 50 Adaptalls over the years now.
I’m now finally giving the SP 24-48 some real use, and on a 42mp high resolution digital camera, something not contemplated when the lens was launched in 1980. To me it holds up really well in terms of sharpness. I am having some issues with consistency though, I am finding focusing hard on the A7Rii in the mountains as contrast is lacking sometimes. My latest walk the lens is soft on the right-hand side, but I didn’t notice that on other walks. The problem with most lenses on adapters – even good ones – is that they focus past infinity, so it is often difficult to get perfect infinity focus.
Compounding this issue is focusing for centre sharpness and not checking the corners to see when the best balance is struck. What I need to do when I have time is get the tripod out and a distant town and focus carefully to get the most even sharpness possible and record that point on the lens and use that in future rather than focusing by eye.
That aside, when you’re not pixel-peeping I think this lens copes decently with the 42mp sensor and is certainly capable of some good photos, and I think learning more about the lens and the best focusing position for infinity might help with more consistent sharpness across the frame.
What I am not sure about is whether I value having 24mm most, or whether I’d prefer a bit more reach. On my next walk I’ll be taking the SP 28-80 to find out – and to see how that holds up in the mountains.
For all of my latest photos, please follow me on Flickr. For details of the Welsh mountains I have walked so far you can find this right here on this website by using the main menu or clicking here.
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