Tamron SP 70-210mm f/3.5

in my opinion, it needs a tripod mount, but tamron doesn't have one
built-in, and the way the controls are configured, there is no obvious
way to attach an optional collar.

also in my opinion, the Vivitar Series 1 70-210/3.5 62mm filter thread
version is a better buy on the used market. This latter lens is shorter
and has the long end of the zoom range set when the push-pull barrel
is closest to the camera, and in my experience, the combination of the
two features allow this lens to get by without a tripod collar.
I own one of these and it is only a little bit heavier, but no longer
than many 200/4 fixed focal lenses, and works fine without a tripod mount.

I used to own the Tamron SP 70-210/3.5-4 which was the pre-cursor to
the one asked about. This earlier lens did have an optional tripod
collar. And this lens is the same length and slightly lighter weight
than the current model f/3.5 constant aperture version. My experience
with the 70-210/3.5-4 was it was no acceptable with camera mounted on a
tripod so the tripod mount was important, hence it is clear to me
that the f/3.5 version needs this.

The f/3.5-4 Tamron also wasn't as good as the Vivitar at close focus either.
This applies also to the tokina ATX 80-200/2.8 that I tried and found the
close focus image quality to be lacking.

I have previously owned the 67mm filter thread version of the Vivitar lens and
found it not to be as good. I've heard from others that the 67mm filter
thread (earlier) version had problems with sample-to-sample consistency,
so that may have been the problem, but the 62mm filter version of the lens
I have now works quite well.

Joseph Albert


Copyright Joseph Albert 1998. All rights reserved.