Anyone using the 17 - 50 Tamron want to give feedback?

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Been thinking of picking up the Tamron 17 - 50 Nikon mount and maybe the 70 - 200 lens for my AF100. Any one used it and want to share thoughts???
Been told the 17 - 50 is noticibly softer on the wider end. Still seems like a decent buy.

Nat
 
I've had the 17-50 for quite a while now in the Canon mount and I do like it, but there are a couple of things to be aware of:

Yes, it softer on the wider end, but this isn't really too noticeable (in my experience) unless you're shooting 4k-5k photos and/or are vastly underexposed. The only real major gripe I have with this lens is the focusing ring. Thank God that unlike the Lumix lenses it has hard stops at the minimum focus and infinity, BUT the ring turns in the opposite direction of literally every single other still lens I've used. To focus to infinity you turn the wheel to the right (clockwise), to focus closer you turn left (counter-clockwise). This really messes me up the most when I'm using a follow focus because I just can't wrap my mind around it :P When just using my fingers it's not too bad. Also, the focus ring turns very quickly and has no...stability (for lack of a better word) to it. It's very easy to miss where you're focusing to because it's so easy to focus past the point.

That said, I do really like the lens and the images out of it are nice and sharp especially for video :) BUT, it seems the lenses of mine that I come back to the most for film/video are my old manual Canon FD 50 1.8 and Vivitar 28mm f2.5.

This is by no means a professional video, but it's something I threw together with a couple of friends when testing out my AF100. All of the shots except for the extreme telephoto shots (150mm and up) are shot Tamron. In fact, I'm pretty sure all of it from 18 seconds onward is shot on the Tamron. You will notice there's a couple of times when I have focus issues because I turned the ring in the wrong direction :P

I hope this helped :)
 
Thats heaps helpful. Thanks :)
The focus ring is a bit of anoying thing. I have other nikon lenses with the same issue :( I hear the throw on the focus ring is also very short. So im gonna get my hands on one before i dive in. But your vid (rather weird i must say) has made me confident that ill pick one up in the next wee while :)

Thanks again,
Nat
 
Yeah it is very short, you can crank from infinity to minimum with just a little flick of the risk. I guess it's just pros and cons when it comes to this lens. Yeah the vid is rather weird :P It was just us using my then new AF100 as an excuse to do stupid stuff. I'm glad it could help you make a decision :)
 
I have the 17-50 and concur with the focusing, and the sharpness of the lens is very good. What I like about the lens is that it is parafocal, you can zoom in focus and then zoom out wide and it will stay in focus. The zoom on the lense is rough and there is a little bit of an iris glitch sometimes as you are zooming. It also extends as you zoom in. If you evaluatate the lens as a variable prime its a great lens for the money. Check out the Sigma 50-150 2.8. It is the most cinemalike zoom still lense I have seen. The focus is smooth, the zoom is smooth, parafocal, constant 2.8, and the lens does not extend when you zoom. Its a discontinued lens available on ebay though I think sigma is making a new one that I haven't seen. The only knock on it was that the autofocus was not accurate using it on a still camera which is of no consequence to me using on a AF 100. You might find the 70-200 a little narrow for many applications.
 
Buck, are you sure the Tamron 17-50mm zoom really is parfocal? Can anyone else confirm this? I've been looking around for a nice parfocal zoom to use on my GH2 and AF100, this might be the one if it's true!
 
RE: Anyone using the 17 - 50 Tamron want to give feedback?

Gabriel Berube said:
Buck, are you sure the Tamron 17-50mm zoom really is parfocal? Can anyone else confirm this? I've been looking around for a nice parfocal zoom to use on my GH2 and AF100, this might be the one if it's true!
Click to expand...

Yes, the Tamron 17-50 is parfocal. I've been using it for the past few months on the AF100 and Nikon D5100, and I really like it. It's pretty sharp, decently fast through the entire zoom range and reasonably resitent to ghosting and lens flare. My only real peave is with the telescoping as you zoom in.


Thanks,

Shawn
 
Unfortunately mine doesn't seem to be parfocal. It really depends on how fast you zoom. I can keep it relatively in focus if I do slow zooms, but any fast zooms and it goes way out.
 
I jut got mine and it is a good choice. compared to the nikon prime lenses it seems a little warmer until you white balance. i love the fact it's almost a macro lens, it stays in focus when zooming. i did wish it had a longer throw on the focus ring and more friction to keep it focused. For any broadcast or dvd venue it is more than adequate.
 
Mine is parafocal but I would not reccommend for actual zooming due to iris glitches and unsmoothness.
 
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