As of April 2024 I am the proud owner of these Tamron Adaptall lenses, 28mm f2.5 (02B), 28mm f2.8 (CW-28), 35-70mm f3.5 (17A), 200mm F3.5 (CT200), 500mm f8 (55BB), 80-210mm f3.8-4 (103A), and the 2x Teleconverter 01F.
Page Last Edited : Thursday, 4th of September 2025.
© Dave Rowlands. All Rights Reserved.
These lenses made by Tamron sometime in the late 60's to maybe the mid 80's are the ones I have decided to hold onto for now, the only lens I'm not too sure about is the 103A Zoom, it's awkward to use as it's a push pull to zoom and rotate to focus which I always seem to mess up just looking at it on my camera. It creates some good images, don't get me wrong, but it could be my age where my focusing skills using these lenses have diminished somewhat. A couple of the lenses mentioned are not shown in the image as they are packed away or I have sold on, like the 500mm f8 (55BB).
An addition that I hadn't planned for is the 28-70mm f3.5-4.5 short zoom lens. It was going for £9.99 on eBay plus postage. I got it because it had a Canon FD adapter attached and as these things go for much more than that I took a chance and bought it.
My favorite is probably the 28mm f2.5 (02B) and then the 35-70mm f3.5 (17A), for a short zoom, it is a fantastic performer, and with the 2x crop factor, it has a FOV of 70-140mm, which is fantastic for short-range portraits. Adding it onto the FotoDiox 0.72x focal reducer, it becomes roughly a 50-100mm f2.52 walkabout lens, which creates some surprisingly sharp images.
The images below are of some of my lenses that I remembered to take while the lenses were mounted on the camera I was using at the time. Remembering to photograph your equipment before you use it can be quite a challenge, I've noticed. Well, it's one of my excuses for not including an image that I should have.
The 103A Zoom which I'm unsure about keeping, it spends most of it's time in it's case but can create some beautiful images.
The 500mm f8 mirror lens was so hard to hold still in the early days, then Olympus came up with IBIS about 30 years later. Imagine having that during our ancient film era?
The Olympus OM-D E-M5 II is the upgrade from the first version and it's absolutely brilliant. It has everything my Nikon P600 has except for the fixed Zoom but I very rarely zoomed to 14400mm anyway. I much prefer interchangeable lenses.
This always reminds me of my early encounters with Olympus cameras in the mid 70's. It's not a winder attached but the similarities bring back memories. And that Tamron 28mm f2.8 lens is absolutely brilliant.
The so awkward to use Teleconverter which I have permanently attached a Canon FD mount at the camera side so I don't have to keep swapping the mounts from front to back. It's a great TC though especially when attached to a compatible Tamron Lens.
The TC is absolutely brilliant when attached to compatible lenses, much better than just a 2x image enlargement in software. My 500mm f8 may become a 1000mm f16 but the Olympus OM-D E-M1 II certainly knows how to cope with the shakes and the E-M5 II doesn't do a bad job either.
The 2x TC attached along with the FD to M43 adapter makes for a hand holding experience you wouldn't want to replicate. The resulting images aren't that bad either, 2000mm FOV on a 20 MP camera that takes care of your shaking hands, yeah!
Yep, I still do Manual Mode the manual way. The Weston meter I take with me, I have a choice of three, depends on the mood and not the weather. I want a camera where I can turn off everything I don't want to use, I wonder if that will save on battery life?
Look, I mean, look at that.With the crop factor it has a POV of a 56mm lens (In 35mm) so close to what came with most film era cameras in the 60's through to the 90's.
The brilliant "Tamron 200mm f3.5", just click the link for more information. The poor thing has developed an air bubble under the focusing "Rubber", I did try releasing the air but it just left a bubble. It focuses OK so I may just try replacing the rubber with something different.
Wow, is that all I have left? Oops, I forgot the Tamron 500mm f8 (55BB) and the 103A Zoom.
Two of the same but totally different and great in their own way. The f2.5 on the left is much sharper overall and when paired with the E-M1 II the results leave me grinning like a cheshire cat.
It doesn't have the same impact as the f2.8 version when seeing it attached, the size of the front lens has a lot to do with how it appears on camera and it gives the impression I first had when seeing the Industar 50mm f3.5 on a Zenit B. It just goes to prove that its looks that count and not the ability.
If I had to pick my favourite three Tamron lenses, I'd definitely include these three at the top of the list. The one and only Zoom lens I would include in my top three would be the Tamron 35-70mm f3.5 (17A), my favorite Tamron prime has to be the Tamron 28mm F2.5 (02B) as on the M43 system it has a point of view, (56mm) which is very similar to the standard lenses that were bundled with SLR cameras in the 60s and 70s and with a maximum aperture of f2.5 it's great in low light situations. I'm finding it difficult to choose a favourite prime telephoto lens between the Tamron 500mm f8 BBR (55BB) or the Tamron 200mm F3.5 CT-200 . I have used a program called "Wega2" for years because of the "ExposurePlot" ability which can scan all your image files and report on every aspect of what settings were used to take photographs. It's an amazing piece of data collection that can be used to decide on which lens focal length you used for instance, or your favorite aperture or shutter speed. It's a great little program and of course it's "FREE". Check it out.
Right, so after mulling over the numerous photographs taken using the 200mm f3.5 and the 500mm f8 and analysing the data provided by "ExposurePlot" my favourite prime telephoto is the "Tamron 200mm F3.5 CT-200 " and for the simple reason that I used it the most and on all my Olympus M43 cameras, which had the most keepers.
I should also say that the 200mm was much easier to carry around using either of my camera bags and I could fit it into my jacket pocket if needed. The 200mm also produced some really sharp images even at 1/20th of a second and was also much easier to focus when using the Teleconverters. So, there you have it, my 3 favourite Tamron lenses.
