dropped Tamron 17-70/2.8

After a long day at the State Fair, I forgot to zip my backpack. When I pulled the backpack out of the trunk, the X-T2 + Tamron flew out and landed on the driveway. Luckily I always put the camera+lens in a thick wool cap to prevent it from being scratched inside the backpack, thus, the X-T2 is intact, but the Tamron snapped off. Totally my fault, but I've bumped the 18-135 on trips quite often with no problem, I guess the Tamron suffered from the plastic construction (only 3 screws holding the part). Seems like it's just the plastic cylinder and a ribbon cable that need to be replaced, I'll check with Tamron on the repair cost.

I've just done a 4-day Summit, Tamron 17-70/2.8 on X-T20 and 50-140/2.8 on X-T2, ended with about 4,000 RAFs on each. And, another 1,000 at the State Fair yesterday with the Tamron on X-T2. So far, I love this Tamron lens, its IQ easily beats the 18-55 and 18-135, sharp across the whole frame even at f/2.8.

A few drawbacks:

- it's definitely has a delayed startup comparing to Fuji lenses. The 18-55 and 18-135 are ready in 1 second, the Tamron takes 2 seconds (on both X-T2 and X-T20). I missed quite a few decisive moments, and had to adjust my habit accordingly.
- sometimes the camera won't be able to acquire focus with the Tamron, with both X-T2 and X-T20. It didn't even hunt back and forth, the lens just doesn't focus and the camera reports a red square. I've seen it 3-4 times, just had to turn off and on the camera.
- while its IQ is excellent, it's still missing the magic of the 50-140. Comparing shots in the 50-70mm range at f/2.8 and f/4, the 50-140 is still a slight level above.
- the aperture mechanism is clicky/chattery, but after the first day of the Summit, I ignored it.
- no aperture ring (and the X-T2 and X-T20 use different front/rear dials by default!). Of course I accepted this before purchasing the lens.

What I like:

- excellent IQ (almost comparable to 50-140) and constant f/2.8.
- close focus: not exactly macro-level, but good enough without needing an adapter.
- VC/VR: while not as good as the Fuji lenses, it's still pretty decent.
- similar size/weight to the 18-135

sluggy_warrior wrote:

After a long day at the State Fair, I forgot to zip my backpack. When I pulled the backpack out of the trunk, the X-T2 + Tamron flew out and landed on the driveway.

I am sorry for you.

Luckily I always put the camera+lens in a thick wool cap to prevent it from being scratched inside the backpack,

Me too, always using lens cases.

thus, the X-T2 is intact, but the Tamron snapped off. Totally my fault, but I've bumped the 18-135 on trips quite often with no problem,

Wow.

I guess the Tamron suffered from the plastic construction (only 3 screws holding the part).

Somewhere they need to manage cost.

Seems like it's just the plastic cylinder and a ribbon cable that need to be replaced, I'll check with Tamron on the repair cost.

I've just done a 4-day Summit, Tamron 17-70/2.8 on X-T20 and 50-140/2.8 on X-T2, ended with about 4,000 RAFs on each. And, another 1,000 at the State Fair yesterday with the Tamron on X-T2. So far, I love this Tamron lens, its IQ easily beats the 18-55 and 18-135, sharp across the whole frame even at f/2.8.

Great.

A few drawbacks:

- it's definitely has a delayed startup comparing to Fuji lenses. The 18-55 and 18-135 are ready in 1 second, the Tamron takes 2 seconds (on both X-T2 and X-T20). I missed quite a few decisive moments, and had to adjust my habit accordingly.
- sometimes the camera won't be able to acquire focus with the Tamron, with both X-T2 and X-T20. It didn't even hunt back and forth, the lens just doesn't focus and the camera reports a red square. I've seen it 3-4 times, just had to turn off and on the camera.
- while its IQ is excellent, it's still missing the magic of the 50-140. Comparing shots in the 50-70mm range at f/2.8 and f/4, the 50-140 is still a slight level above.
- the aperture mechanism is clicky/chattery, but after the first day of the Summit, I ignored it.
- no aperture ring (and the X-T2 and X-T20 use different front/rear dials by default!). Of course I accepted this before purchasing the lens.

What I like:

- excellent IQ (almost comparable to 50-140) and constant f/2.8.
- close focus: not exactly macro-level, but good enough without needing an adapter.
- VC/VR: while not as good as the Fuji lenses, it's still pretty decent.
- similar size/weight to the 18-135

Thank you for the review and the interesting photos of the 'offals'. Reminds me of yukosteel

Regards,

Martin

Ouch!  I'm sorry to learn this.

I've dropped my share of gear over the years and it's strange how some falls that you would expect to be a disaster do nothing and others that seem lesser do harm.  To rate a lens as stronger or better constructed based on a single incident is simply a guess.

Morris

sluggy_warrior wrote:

I've just done a 4-day Summit, Tamron 17-70/2.8 on X-T20 and 50-140/2.8 on X-T2, ended with about 4,000 RAFs on each. And, another 1,000 at the State Fair yesterday with the Tamron on X-T2. So far, I love this Tamron lens, its IQ easily beats the 18-55 and 18-135, sharp across the whole frame even at f/2.8.

I also have this lens and would agree with your statement, except to add the caveat that at f2.8 at minimum focus distance the images are soft, with some CA. Once the lens is stopped down to f4 or 5.6, again at MFD, the image is much sharper.

A few drawbacks:

- it's definitely has a delayed startup comparing to Fuji lenses. The 18-55 and 18-135 are ready in 1 second, the Tamron takes 2 seconds (on both X-T2 and X-T20). I missed quite a few decisive moments, and had to adjust my habit accordingly.

Very interesting, I really haven't noticed a speed issue with my X-T3 and X-S10. I wonder if the older cameras affect the start-up?

- sometimes the camera won't be able to acquire focus with the Tamron, with both X-T2 and X-T20. It didn't even hunt back and forth, the lens just doesn't focus and the camera reports a red square. I've seen it 3-4 times, just had to turn off and on the camera.

I haven't encountered this on my setup, so again it makes me wonder if the lens is somehow not optimized for older bodies (or vice versa). Interesting that Fuji released fw updates for these Tamron lenses to the X-T100/200 and X-A5/7, but not (yet?) to older Fuji bodies...

- while its IQ is excellent, it's still missing the magic of the 50-140. Comparing shots in the 50-70mm range at f/2.8 and f/4, the 50-140 is still a slight level above.
- the aperture mechanism is clicky/chattery, but after the first day of the Summit, I ignored it.
- no aperture ring (and the X-T2 and X-T20 use different front/rear dials by default!). Of course I accepted this before purchasing the lens.

What I like:

- excellent IQ (almost comparable to 50-140) and constant f/2.8.
- close focus: not exactly macro-level, but good enough without needing an adapter.
- VC/VR: while not as good as the Fuji lenses, it's still pretty decent.

Agreed on these, I'm finding the VC to be quite good in fact, especially on my X-T3. I enjoy taking long-exposure shots of waves (1/8th to 1/2 sec) and still have good sharpness on any rocks in the frame. I'm not quite convinced that it works perfectly with the IBIS on the X-S10 though, but I would have to do more tests. Tamron has not detailed how their AI-powered VC works with Fuji's IBIS. For stills it's been great, and for the bit of video I've done it seems to be very effective on static shots. However, as soon as the camera moves (panning etc), there is some jerkiness (more so with the IBIS on the X-S10). That happens with Fuji lenses as well though so I don't think the Tamron is performing any worse than a Fuji lens in those situations.

Sorry to hear about the drop, it's gut-wrenching when it happens. Hopefully it can be repaired or replaced. I dropped my 70-300 on its first outing and had to send it for major repair (Fuji actually ended up sending me a new one for the cost of the repair).

Those accidents take your breath away. I hope the cost of the repair is not too high.

Two questions:

1.- Why do you have those two blue rubber bands on the zoom ring?

2.- Have you observed any strange effect of rings of different light exposure when shooting at f2.8 if you process with Adobe software?