{"id":1317,"date":"2021-04-02T09:57:15","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T09:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/?p=1317"},"modified":"2021-04-02T10:00:07","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T10:00:07","slug":"new-old-lenses-and-new-used-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/04\/02\/new-old-lenses-and-new-used-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"New old lenses and new used camera…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I appreciate I’ve still been neglecting this website, but I’ve actually been properly getting back into taking photos and I’ve used a lot of different old lenses in the process. I’ve also purchased a used Sony A7Rii to replace my Sony A7ii as the majority of my photography with the A7ii was landscape and the A7Rii, despite its age, is still an amazing landscape camera by all accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve had some varied experiences with old lenses, selling the Sigma 21-35 as it just didn’t perform into the corners well enough for me to keep. It is by no means a bad lens though, as you can see below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Tenby\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
Sigma 21-35 @ 21mm, f8.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have used the Tamron Adaptall SP 28-135 f4-4.5 (28A) a bit, but have been left disappointed, which is a shame because the zoom range is great for landscape and there is no denying it is beautifully built like all of the Adaptall SP lenses. I found performance – admittedly on my less than perfect copy – at the wide end to be an absolute mess outside of the centre, but performance at the longer end is better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Walkers\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
Tamron Adaptall SP 28-135mm @ 135mm, f8.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another lens I have owned before, but not since I have had a full frame camera, is the Tamron Adaptall SP 28-80 f3.5-4.2 (27A). This lens seems to get very varied reviews online, some people say it is sharp, others that it is not, some that it is outperformed by the Adaptall 2 28-70. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My experience is that it is a very good lens on full frame, holding edge sharpness well, right into the corners at most focal lengths. Its weakness, like most Adaptall lenses, is that flare resistance is not as strong as some other lenses from that period. For example, the exceptional Minolta MD 35-70mm f3.5. However, the focal range and performance stopped down for landscape make this a very viable lens in my opinion – the macro focusing at the long end adds further flexibility as a walkaround lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Allt<\/a>\n<\/div>
Tamron Adaptall 2 SP 28-80 @ 28mm, f8.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have been using the legendary Tamron Adaptall SP 70-210mm f3.5 (19AH) for landscape as well and find it performs really well on full frame. I’ve found that for taking photos of birds that with difficult lighting and tree branches it has huge amounts of purple fringing, although when fixed it is a sharp lens at wider apertures. Landscape, stopped down, it performs very well right into the corners, I used it immediately after the SP 28-135 and it was night and day difference in terms of sharpness. It is absolutely a lens to keep and try on the A7Rii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Cardiff\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
Tamron Adaptall SP 70-210mm @ 210mm, f8.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sticking with the zoom lenses for landscape I also picked up a lens that has some good reviews online: the Tokina AT-X 50-250mm f4-5.6. First impressions are mixed, it has a great focal range and macro focusing down to 1:1.4 which is close to lifesize reproduction – so flexibility is a real strength. However, a zoom design from this period covering such a large range is bound to have compromises in image quality. I good some good shots with it, and others that look a little soft. I think focusing the lens is not easy, finding the sweet spot where sharpness is most even across the frame. I don’t do lens testing on a tripod to check corner focus vs centre focus etc, I just use the lens in the field and see what happens, so this could be down to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Rolling<\/a>\n<\/div>
Tokina AT-X 50-250 @ f8, not sure of focal length.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was giving a Pentax SMC 50mm f1.7 which is very sharp stopped down and seems perfectly useable wide open. Makes a very compact landscape lens, but the focus ring is so small I often miss it when going to take a shot. This will be a keeper for the time being as it is in mint condition and I don’t have any other 50s at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Storms<\/a>\n<\/div>
Pentax SMC 50mm @ f8.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have also been immensely lucky in that I have snagged the holy grail of Tamron Adaptall lenses: the SP 70-150 f2.8 Soft Focus (51A). Normally going for a lot of money when they do pop up on eBay I got mine for next to nothing from a seller who had listed it as a standard Tamron 70-150 f3.5. It is in good condition, with one very small fungus spot on the front element the only issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have hardly used this so far, so will take it out with the A7Rii soon to see how it performs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Christmas\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
Tamron Adaptall SP 70-150 @ 150mm, f2.8.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"Lady<\/a>\n<\/div>
Tamron Adaptall SP 70-150mm @ 150mm, f2.8, softness set to 3 (maximum).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For those of you interested in seeing lots of photos with the above lenses (and many more) please visit my Flickr page<\/a> and follow me if you have an account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you might also see on the left-hand side of the site I’m now starting to tackle the 188 Welsh mountains, manual focus lenses with me every step of the way. For brief walk details and photos, be sure to look at that new section of the website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I appreciate I’ve still been neglecting this website, but I’ve actually been properly getting back into taking photos and I’ve used a lot of different old lenses in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,5,6],"tags":[37,36,25,34,35],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1319,"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317\/revisions\/1319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themanualphotographer.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}