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Tamron 17-50/2.8 needs +16 adjustment on D300 - should I return it?

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gkostolny

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Subject pretty much says it all. I picked up a Tamron 17-50 f2.8 today and have been shooting some photos of our cats, my girlfriend, and her daughter this evening, and all of them have been coming out a bit blurry. Started playing with a still life a bit and realized it was front focusing quite a bit. I seem to have it pretty much compensated for now with a +16 adjustment on the D300, but I am a bit bugged that a brand new lens is so far off.

Should I return it or just live with it since the D300 can compensate?

thanks for any and all advice...

-gabe
 
Mine needed +19, which made it sharp in the center and on the right side of the frame. The left side was soft to blurry. At f/8 the left was better, but still soft compared to the center and right. It's now in the shop to fix the front focus and to be centered. You may notice, as I have, that most people with problems with this lens have severe front focus, and the misalignment tends to be on the left.
 
I got one that front focused on my d300 and exchanged it. The second was better but I found the focus to be imprecise. I gave up and returned it as well.
 
Is it me or are there more and more threads where the D300 has focussing problems with various 3rd party lenses? I know mine does not focus accurately with any of my Sigma lenses (30mm, 17-70, 10-20).

Maybe a cunning ploy to get us all buying Nikon lenses!!
--
Wake me up before you go go!
 
I am not getting this thing with front- and back-focus.
How can a TTL focusing system err to either side.
Is it a misaligned sensor ?
And how does the lens get into this ?
 
If you're within the return period, there is no harm in getting it exchanged.

I had one that also severely front-focused, exchanged it, and the second one was a gem.

If I was only using it on a D300, I might have considered living with it and using the AF Fine Tune function, but I also planned on using it with my second body (D60, which has no AF Fine Tune), and thus wanted one as close to perfect as possible.

It's a REALLY sharp, contrasty lens for the money. Worth every penny.
 
Yes, I would return it.

I sent my screw-driven version in to Tamron for front focsing and a problem where it reported the wrong distance information when I had the flash set to TTL-BL. It came back and is much better.

If in the exchange period you could do that, but if you send it in a technician will calibrate it and I think you get a fine tuned lens that was hand calibrated by a technician versus another one off the shelf that may or may not have a problem. Not sure, but in my mind that seems to make sense.

When I sent mine to Tamron it was back in 1 1/2 weeks. I thought that was reasonable.

--
http://pics.myfotoguy.com
 
I ended up taking it back and returning it this morning. They claimed it was the only one they had in stock, so between the front-focusing and the AF slowness, I decided to return it. Even my Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4 focuses much faster and more accurately in low light. I was just very unimpressed with this lens. Maybe I should save up for a used Nikkor 17-55 instead?

Is the focus always so slow on this lens? It really seemed to hunt and move around before locking on, and it wasn't nearly as sure as any of my other lenses, including my Tokina 12-24 in low light.

-g
 
gkostolny said:
Maybe I should save up for a
used Nikkor 17-55 instead?
Click to expand...
After trying a lot of third party alternatives I settled on the 17 55.

The tamron had very poor autofocus behavior. With the camera (in my case a d300) on a tripod in single point autofocus mode, focus on a fixed object about a meter or two away. Then move the object a couple millimeters back or forth. Chances are the lens won't refocus. Keep trying this and eventually after moving the target far enough the lens will maybe even focus more sharply than the first time. Adding to its inconsistency, it picks up object edges more accurately than flat graphics on the object.

By contrast, the 17 55 refocuses properly each time and its accuracy is good whether detecting a physical edge or a flat graphic.

In the field, I don't want to risk my shots to sloppy haphazard focus behavior which negates whatever sharpness a lens is otherwise capable of.
 
To be honest I just worked on it mainly at 50mm. It was kind of late and I should have been sleeping. I am not sure what the correct answer to your question is, but I do think it would be odd if Nikon designed a feature that would only work with primes for this purpose.

-gabe
GadgetBoy said:
I was under the impression zooms could not take the fine tuning
because the tuninig needed would vary depending on focal distance.
You found one setting that worked for the entire focal lenght of the
zoom?

Rob.

--
http://photo.robertokeefe.com
Click to expand...
 
Hi Tim,

I believe I have the same issue with my Tamron where the distance reporting is inaccurate as my flash photos are often overexposed. I'd like to send it in but since yours came back so quickly I was wondering which repair shop you used.

Thanks,
SP
 
gkostolny said:
To be honest I just worked on it mainly at 50mm.
Click to expand...
You could try at other focal lengths. And don't forget checking focus at infinity, which nikon warns stands a good chance of being out of whack with adjustment (along with saying that focus adjustment should not be necessary anyway).

Seems a lot of trouble for a lens that just doesn't work right.
 
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