Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 differences on FF

AndyWest

AndyWest

Messages
8,400
Name
Andy
Edit My Images
No
It has been suggested to go for a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 as a sharp walk about lens for my D700 but most say go for the NON built in AF motor version. So a few questions..

1: Why does it matter?
2: Will the IQ be the same?
3: How can I tell if a lens, say on ebay, will be with built in motor?

Thanks in advance.
 
Hi Andy,

1, The D700 has its own AF motor and it will fight with the Lens onboard motor resulting in twitchy focus and hunting

2, it will if you can get focus to work correctly, see above

3, The lens you need has an aperture ring, the one with the BIM doesnt.

Go for it, i use one and its superb
 
Gary Coyle said:
Hi Andy,

1, The D700 has its own AF motor and it will fight with the Lens onboard motor resulting in twitchy focus and hunting

2, it will if you can get focus to work correctly, see above

3, The lens you need has an aperture ring, the one with the BIM doesnt.

Go for it, i use one and its superb
Click to expand...

Thanks Gary, I was aware that the D700 has a built in motor but I assumed one could just put the lens into MF or that the camera would know it has AF and not use the in built motor?

I would really love VR, Did you not find not having VR a problem? Also how good is it at f2.8?

Many thanks
 
Gary Coyle said:
Hi Andy,

1, The D700 has its own AF motor and it will fight with the Lens onboard motor resulting in twitchy focus and hunting
Click to expand...

Is this really correct Gary ? i know it's generally accepted that the Tamron without built in motor is better on say a D700, but i wasn't sure if it was for the reasons you mentioned, but overall it doesn't make a lot of sense that one would fight against the other resulting in slower AF, i would have thought that one would just cancel out the other once you attach the lens, and as quite a lot of lenses now made have inbuilt motors, what your saying would definitely be a minus in marketing terms, i'm not saying your wrong, just asking the question, as it makes no sense to me at all :shrug:
 
Last edited:
Well ive owned both and so has another forum member and there is a clear twitchyness and difficulty with focus locking on when using the one with BIM on the D700 or any other FF body with BIM
Lenses with BIM's are produced for bodies without BIM's so why would you want to use the wrong lens or the job
 
I have the newer 28-75 with the motor on my D700 - I have never had a problem with focus or IQ with it. I use it at weddings and the only time it hunts a little bit is when it is very dark such as first dance, other than that it is a cracking lens for the price :thumbs:

Nick
 
Gary Coyle said:
Lenses with BIM's are produced for bodies without BIM's so why would you want to use the wrong lens or the job
Click to expand...

But surely lenses with BIM's should work on both types of cameras the same, as it's generally the lower end Nikon's that don't have a built in focusing motor, i mean for eg some lenses with BIM's are for the higher end market, ie Tamron 24-70mm 2.8 and the Tamron 70-200mm 2.8, it would make no sense whatsoever for manufacturers to make lenses at this level and price, for say a D3100, but then would not work perfectly on a D700, D4 etc etc, and as far as i am aware, they don't make 2 versions of each of these lenses.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Lenses with BIM's are produced for bodies without BIM's so why would you want to use the wrong lens or the job
Click to expand...

Not true, think about Nikon lenses with SWM such as the 70-200VRII and all the other top end lenses, that is a BIM is it not?

You can use a BIM lens with any body and it will not conflict at all, there is no screw on the lens to mate with the camera, so the camera's AF motor is not connected at all. The reason the BIM version of the Tamron is poor is because the motor is an old standard micro motor that is quite slow, and that is why it is difficult to use. The AF motor on the D700 is much quicker.
 
i thought the reason for not choosing the tamron motored lens is cos the motor is slow/sluggish and noisy? but then again never owned a motored tamron.
 
Toggerman said:
You can use a BIM lens with any body and it will not conflict at all, there is no screw on the lens to mate with the camera, so the camera's AF motor is not connected at all. The reason the BIM version of the Tamron is poor is because the motor is an old standard micro motor that is quite slow, and that is why it is difficult to use. The AF motor on the D700 is much quicker.
Click to expand...

Nail and head are 2 words that come to mind! :D I think you got it spot on there. I'll have a play and see if there is enough of a problem not to go for the BIM version. Trouble is the NON BIM version is pretty hard to find!

Thanks for the guidance people, much appreciated.
 
AndyWest said:
the NON BIM version is pretty hard to find
Click to expand...

They do come up from time to time on here, most people don't want to part with them, as they are such a good lens for the price, mine is pretty much permanently attached to my D700, have a look over at AVFORUMS classifieds they come up there too, or you could always put up a wanted advert on here, and over there :)
 
TG. said:
They do come up from time to time on here, most people don't want to part with them, as they are such a good lens for the price, mine is pretty much permanently attached to my D700, have a look over at AVFORUMS classifieds they come up there too, or you could always put up a wanted advert on here, and over there :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll go have a look on AV. :thumbs:
 
ajax_andy said:
Thanks, do you know if they'll suffer the same conflict that Nikon's are suffering or has this been ironed out and that's why they only do the built in version?
Click to expand...

Canon EOS cameras don't have in body motors, so conflict is never possible and all lenses need to come with their own motors.
 
AndyWest said:
It has been suggested to go for a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 as a sharp walk about lens for my D700 but most say go for the NON built in AF motor version. So a few questions..

1: Why does it matter?
2: Will the IQ be the same?
3: How can I tell if a lens, say on ebay, will be with built in motor?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Hi there

Just seen this. I'm the other forum member mentioned!!

I bought one just after I used Gary's for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately I bought the bim one. There was a very noticeable difference in focus speed and accuracy. However iq when it focused was spot on.

I swapped it for a non bim version a fortnight after and it was much better IMHO.

Feel free to pm me if you want to see images with each respective lens

S
 
manualfocus-g said:
Canon EOS cameras don't have in body motors, so conflict is never possible and all lenses need to come with their own motors.
Click to expand...

ajax_andy said:
Thanks, do you know if they'll suffer the same conflict that Nikon's are suffering or has this been ironed out and that's why they only do the built in version?
Click to expand...

ajax_andy said:
Ahh right... thanks for clearing that up :)
Click to expand...

But remember as said earlier, there is no conflict. Conflict is not possible, it is just a poor motor in the lens. I don't have a Canon version but can't see any reason why the motor in a canon version is different to the one in a nikon version...

PS. Its funny how it is explained that the non-bim is rare and doesn't come up for sale. I've been trying to sell mine on both avforums and on here for a while but without success or interest. Reason I had mine up for sale was because I bought a Nikon 24-70 which I much prefer
 
dejongj said:
But remember as said earlier, there is no conflict.
Click to expand...

Can't get Darth Vader out of my head now!!

I definitely noticed a big difference (having used two non bim's and one bim in the space of a fortnight.

Perhaps the non bim's are just rare here. The only reason I'd get rid is to get the 24-70 nikkor. But I suspect that will be a while.

S
 
dejongj said:
PS. Its funny how it is explained that the non-bim is rare and doesn't come up for sale. I've been trying to sell mine on both avforums and on here for a while but without success or interest. Reason I had mine up for sale was because I bought a Nikon 24-70 which I much prefer
Click to expand...

There were also a few wanted ads for these around Xmas and new year. I'm sure it would sell fairly quickly as at the price point I'm not sure there's a better standard zoom?

S
 
Sir SR said:
Can't get Darth Vader out of my head now!!

I definitely noticed a big difference (having used two non bim's and one bim in the space of a fortnight.

Perhaps the non bim's are just rare here. The only reason I'd get rid is to get the 24-70 nikkor. But I suspect that will be a while.

S
Click to expand...

LOL Sorry I wasn't clear, there is a big difference (depending on the body you use and the motor the body has it can be huge) but it isn't because of the bim model having a conflict. It is just a rubbish motor in the lens...Or put more gently, nikon bodies have better motors in the body :)

Using them side by side, I do think the nikon 24-70 is worth the extra. One trick the Tamron has up its sleeve is that it is very compact :thumbs:
 
I think that's one of the reasons I went for it. IQ/weight/size/price. I got mine for 200. (Actually I got the bim for 200 and then did a straight swap for a non bim with somebody who had a d5000)

I suspect I will upgrade the tamron one day. But not before I upgrade all my other lenses!

S
 
Pound for pound the Tamron is the best value mid range zoom out there for FX amd for DX its brother the 17-50 VC is a belter as well

Having used/borrowed several Nikon 24-70mm's i can personally say the Tammy is 95% as good at 20% of the price, no brainer to me.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Pound for pound the Tamron is the best value mid range zoom out there for FX amd for DX its brother the 17-50 VC is a belter as well

Having used/borrowed several Nikon 24-70mm's i can personally say the Tammy is 95% as good at 20% of the price, no brainer to me.
Click to expand...

Everyone has got their own value flipping points undoubtedly. However it was exactly statements like these that encourage me to get the 28-75 (and also the Tamron 17-50 originally). I don't agree with the 95% as good though. My keeper rate is much higher with the 24-70 possibly due to the focus system, and hardly no post processing required. The colours/contrast sharpness wife open is just spot on with the Nikon lens.

If anything I wished I didn't take those intermediate steps and went straight for Nikon.

Ps. The body can cause differences in experience as well. Not all in body focus motors are the same, nor are the other elements of the focus system.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Pound for pound the Tamron is the best value mid range zoom out there for FX amd for DX its brother the 17-50 VC is a belter as well

Having used/borrowed several Nikon 24-70mm's i can personally say the Tammy is 95% as good at 20% of the price, no brainer to me.
Click to expand...

I'm not keen on mid range zooms but this is the reason I won't need an upgrade from the tamron. In its limited use I got great results. Bargain lens
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top