Tamron Adaptall-2 35-70mm f/3.5 (Mod. 17A)

[Alejandro]

Not that I have any question about it, but I thought of commenting on a Tamron Adaptall-2 35-70mm f/3.5 (Mod. 17A) zoom lens that I have, which I have been trying and using lately.

I bought this lens in the early eighties, and it was my walkaround lens for two Minolta (MD mount) cameras that I had and used until I made the leap into digital photography. When I bought my first DSLR Sony camera, I managed to buy an Adaptall-2 adapter to an AF mount (instead of to a MD mount as I had), but did not make much use of the lens from then on (until now).

I recently unburied this lens and began to use it with my DSLR cameras (I have two by now), and I have been trying it with the Sony a7 camera that I have just bought. As I have several AF mount lenses, I bought an adapter (AF to FE mount) for the Sony a7, but as I wasn’t able to buy a Sony adapter in my country, I had to buy one with no electrical contacts, and this lens perfectly suits the purpose of using one of those. The lens is not too heavy, not too long, it has the ring for the apertures (which is great), it keeps focus when you zoom in or out, and it is Macro. It doesn’t have a very severe optical distortion at its focal length ends (that can be easily corrected), and none around a 50mm focal length.

I also have a Tamron Adaptall-2 80-200mm f/3.8-4 Mod. 103A Macro, but this one seems to be ridiculously big and heavy for the a7.

Well, the point is that I have been comparing the performance of my Adaptall-2 35-70mm zoom lens against other Minolta and Sony lenses I have, and it is very very sharp. I have to correct a bit the white balance of the photos taken with it (though not always), but I have to do the same for the ones taken with other more modern Minolta AF lenses that I have. Nice lens this Tamron.

 

Edited December 17, 2020 by Alejandro