Its a used Nikon mount Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. Its an older generation of this model of lens, so it is the one without the VC or BIM (vibration control and built in motor if you are curious).
I snagged it on Ebay for $290, had a couple of issues with making the payment, but it finally went through this past Monday. Then the waiting game. Due to arrive, but it wasn't with the mail when the mailman stopped, though the envelope from Lisa at Josa Bloom came! The dogs got the cutest camera charms for their collars! Lisa even made a necklace for me with one! Happiness! Alas, no lens though. Had a notion to check the address it was sent out to. Turns out, as per a brain fart, I had had the lens sent across town, to my friend's house. Now at least I knew where the lens was suppose to be, but I had no idea if they had tried to deliver it or not. Called my friend, played phone tag and learned that the package had arrived and had been signed for. Happiness and relief! I snagged the lens from his house, stopped by Caribou Coffee to visit another friend and for some tasty caffeine, and just as quickly went home and popped the lens on my camera!
This lens is in beautiful shape. Barely any dust on the barrel, and both the front and rear glass elements were clean and clear of gunk, dust or grime. There was a fingerprint on the rear glass, but it buffed out with a lens cloth. The build of this lens is very solid with a nice heft to it in comparison to my 50 mm f1.8 I had just had on my camera. Sizewise its similar to my 10-24mm (also by Tamron).
After I finished gawking at the lens now mounted on my Nikon, I rounded up the dogs and went outside to shoot some test pictures. It took a little bit to get use to zooming out from 50mm or even zooming into it, but it quickly came back to me. And man is this lens sharp! On my camera's screen it looked a little off, but zooming in quickly showed how tack sharp the focus areas were! This was instant love for me! Very quiet lens, quick to autofocus, f2.8 is sharp, though stopping down a bit is a touch sharper. It did give me a tiny bit of a blueish tint, but adjusting the white balance easily fixed it.
Visited the bf's parents house and photographed their golden retrievers and the lens did really well in the low light, minus that moving dogs in low light are hard to photograph even with a f1.8 lens!
Thus far, I love this lens! Its sharp, fast, quiet and gives me the midrange focal lengths I was missing.
Below is Mick at both 17mm & 50mm @ f2.8 - sharp with nice smooth bokah/blur - Don't mind my cluttery apartment, these pictures were purely for testing the lens!
Someone wants to mooch off my Campfire Mocha from Caribou...
Don't forget the googly eyes...
Reba and Willow! Willow is a squirmy 2 year old, and Reba is a laid back 7 year old. The easiest way to tell them apart? Reba has longer hair on her ears!
No comments:
Post a Comment