A very old Tamron 70-300mm lens

liam08

liam08

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Liam
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My friends dad had this lens lying around, and let me use it. I wasn't happy with the photos, until I realised I was doing the wrong thing with it. I was trying to get a decent photo from and object quite some distance away, newbie mistake. So, I've TRIED to use it correctly and I'm still not happy with the overall quality, but it might just be me. Since I hated it to begin with, albeit my own fault.
Please give your opinion on the photo below, it was taken in fairly low light from around 8ft away.
He has since tried to sell me the lens for £80, although I've seen a Canon 'nifty 250' for £120 brand new. What would your opinions be on the situation, based on my example?
Thanks guys.
Heres the link, for some reason I can't add the image to this post.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liammm/6990467870/
 
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your photo isnt showing mate, you need to link the url that ends in the file extension (ie .jpg) hit the quote button to see how I did it (i'm assuming this is the photo in question

6990467870_1d67ea2b64_z.jpg
 
And my advice would be that the tamron isnt worth 80 quid - you'd be far beter off with a nifty 250 for slightly more
 
So my newbie eyes aren't all that bad. It seems its not too sharp, I suppose this is what you guys call 'soft'?
 
liam08 said:
So my newbie eyes aren't all that bad. It seems its not too sharp, I suppose this is what you guys call 'soft'?
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It is soft but in fairness to the lens, your shutter speed was very slow for this shot unless you were on a tripod. Maybe some of the softness is from motion blur. It isn't likely to be the sharpest lens in the world but maybe worth giving it another try. £80 sounds steep though.
 
How far away were you ? I'd have said that you might have been inside the minimum focus distance for the lens. Also the exposure isnt spot on which isnt helping, plus i think the focus point was on the ears not the eye.

(and you may have suffered from camera wobble)

So all in all not entirely the lenses fault - but picture not withstanding an old 70-300 tammie just isnt worth 80 quid period (you can get them on the 'bay for about 50 quid but to be honest I wouldnt bother)

I'd say the nifty 250 is as good as you'll get in the budget - or you could look for something like a s/h canon 90-300 usm
 
gad-westy said:
It is soft but in fairness to the lens, your shutter speed was very slow for this shot unless you were on a tripod. Maybe some of the softness is from motion blur. It isn't likely to be the sharpest lens in the world but maybe worth giving it another try. £80 sounds steep though.
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No tripod, I was actually leaning against the wall. Probably my fault though.

big soft moose said:
How far away were you ? I'd have said that you might have been inside the minimum focus distance for the lens. Also the exposure isnt spot on which isnt helping, plus i think the focus point was on the ears not the eye.

(and you may have suffered from camera wobble)

So all in all not entirely the lenses fault - but picture not withstanding an old 70-300 tammie just isnt worth 80 quid period (you can get them on the 'bay for about 50 quid but to be honest I wouldnt bother)

I'd say the nifty 250 is as good as you'll get in the budget - or you could look for something like a s/h canon 90-300 usm
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I'll look in to the 90-300.

Here's another example. The day wasn't unclear, but a bit murky. Used a tripod for this one. Same lens and camera.

7136655009_df34223dff_z.jpg
 
What aperture was that shot on - it looks like a very narrow plane of focus (arround the left hand sheeps arse ) which you'd expect if it was shot at a wide apperture with a 300mm

at the end of the day these arent showing a lens fault per se , its just that imo its not that great a lens and thus not worth the money - the nifty250 has the advantage that it has IS which will mean you can hand hold two stops or so slower

(the usually rule of thumb is the minimum speed for hand holding is 1/ the focal length - so a 250mm lens would need 1/250 not to suffer wobble. What saving two stops with the IS means is thast you could hand hold at 1/60 )

If you don't want a 250 something like this would be a better buy than the tamron http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/us...on-fit-lenses/canon-ef-100-300mm-f/4-5.6-usm/ it doesnt have IS , but the USM motor means it will focus a lot faster than the tammy
 
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I'm really new at photography and I'm just learning the ropes. But, I've two other lenses (kit 18-55mm and a nifty 50) and they produce images that are a lot cleared, this is why I ask. I know a lot of it is my own fault, but I can't work out why there is such a massive difference in quality.
I won't even pretend I know what you mean by
(the usually rule of thumb is the minimum speed for hand holding is 1/ the focal length - so a 250mm lens would need 1/250 not to suffer wobble. What saving two stops with the IS means is thast you could hand hold at 1/60 )
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I'm sorry if I'm frustrating you in anyway.
 
liam08 said:
I'm really new at photography and I'm just learning the ropes. But, I've two other lenses (kit 18-55mm and a nifty 50) and they produce images that are a lot cleared, this is why I ask. I know a lot of it is my own fault, but I can't work out why there is such a massive difference in quality.
I won't even pretend I know what you mean by

I'm sorry if I'm frustrating you in anyway.
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Simple answer to that question about quality is that the lens isnt that good, if you want a decent telephoto lens on a budget go for the 55-250 and please dont do what ive seen what other people have done and buy a 75-300 as youd be better of spending abit more and purchursing the lens i mentioned.
 
liam08 said:
but I can't work out why there is such a massive difference in quality.
.
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We were all newbies once (although in my case it was a long time ago :lol: ) so don't worry about asking questions

there'll be two or three reasons why the other lens get sharper shots

a) they are newer so there'll be less dirt/finger prints/scratches etc on their front elements. They'll also focus faster and more accurately

b) they are shorter - as i said before the ammount of camera wobble you get is a factor of how long your lens is (the longer the lens , the greater the magnification, so the more any shake is amplified) therefore most of us can hand hold a 50mm lens at a shutter speed of 1/60th second , but the average guy will struggle to hand hold a 300mm lens below 1/250th second.

c) they have a wider maximum apperture (f1.8 for the nifty, and F3.5 for the kit lens at the short end) so they'll focus better in low light.

I hope thats all clear , but if not feel free to ask - the only dumb question is the one you don't ask ;)
 
big soft moose said:
We were all newbies once (although in my case it was a long time ago :lol: ) so don't worry about asking questions

there'll be two or three reasons why the other lens get sharper shots

a) they are newer so there'll be less dirt/finger prints/scratches etc on their front elements. They'll also focus faster and more accurately

b) they are shorter - as i said before the ammount of camera wobble you get is a factor of how long your lens is (the longer the lens , the greater the magnification, so the more any shake is amplified) therefore most of us can hand hold a 50mm lens at a shutter speed of 1/60th second , but the average guy will struggle to hand hold a 300mm lens below 1/250th second.

c) they have a wider maximum apperture (f1.8 for the nifty, and F3.5 for the kit lens at the short end) so they'll focus better in low light.

I hope thats all clear , but if not feel free to ask - the only dumb question is the one you don't ask ;)
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I think I understand, I did have the camera on a tripod for the photo of the sheep, but I suppose a little gust could move it enough. I'm certainly picking things up, but photography is a lot more involved then people think.
 
Also, what lens would you recommend for me? The 250 is a good price, but lets say I set my maximum to £400. The 250 would be what I'd buy, but I'm not as knowledgable as you guys.
 
At your stage of photography I'd buy the 250 for about £100 second hand (until you've been here long enough to get into our classifieds, MPB are one of the best places to look for used kit) and save the rest of your cash.

If you eventually decide you need something longer even the budget long glass (like the sigma 150-500) is seriously expensive so the extra 300 quid will come in right handy.

You might equally decide you are more interested in a different type of photography and want a wide angle or macro lens , or a wider apperture portrait lens etc - it really depends on what you want to do
 
I have access to the classifieds already, but I've been ripped off more than once on BT's, so there is not a chance I will be doing that, or PayPal as gift. The guys on here, may well be honest, but I'll never take another chance.

I like the idea of wide angle, these photos fascinate me, as do landscape shots.
 
If you want a wide angle I'd go for the sigma 10-20 (or the canon 10-20 if you are feeling loaded) - also the samyang 8mm fisheye isnt bad , matt (MCHWT) has done some interesting stuff with his, but it is manual focus only.

With regards to the classifieds I've not had a bad deal on here yet - the trick is only to buy from people with decent post counts and decent itrader ratings. That said if you prefer to buy from a s/h dealer i'd recomend MPB, Mifsuds, T4 (theres one of those in swindon), ffordes, and Camtech
 
big soft moose said:
If you want a wide angle I'd go for the sigma 10-20 (or the canon 10-20 if you are feeling loaded) - also the samyang 8mm fisheye isnt bad , matt (MCHWT) has done some interesting stuff with his, but it is manual focus only.

With regards to the classifieds I've not had a bad deal on here yet - the trick is only to buy from people with decent post counts and decent itrader ratings. That said if you prefer to buy from a s/h dealer i'd recomend MPB, Mifsuds, T4 (theres one of those in swindon), ffordes, and Camtech
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You're right, but the guy in there seemed really uninterested about giving any sort of advice, which is a shame. He seemed happy enough when I bought a tri pod from him, but when I asked about lenses, he just said come back when you know what you want, which is my problem. If I knew I wouldn't ask.

You've been really helpful, I can imagine you grow tired of these types of threads. I really appreciate your help though. :thumbs:
 
In my experience ( I lived in Broad Hinton for 3 years) the most helpful T4 shops are newbury and witney - although the best way ive found of buying second hand gear from them is to buy if off the website.

Though in actual fact since I discovered MPB they've been my dealer of choice (they are web only but the prices reflect the lack of overhead)
 
For under your £400 (£329) you could grab the Tamron SP 70-300 VC, it even out performs the canon 70-300IS..

Just grabbed one myself yesterday and the VC is the best image stabilisation I've encountered so far and its sharp...you can hand hold down to 1/40th of a second with ease and still get a sharp image.
 
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