Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB Test Shots

2010-03-03
Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB
I bought a copy of the Tamron 55BB mirror lens and I saw quite a lot of dirt on the inside rear mirror. It does not look like fungus to me initially. Later, I examined my 55BB closely and found it with both dirt and fungus in both front and back mirrors. I don't have the tool and experience to open up from the frontal part and clean both mirrors. There are more fungus and dirt on the back than that on the front mirror.

Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB with fungus and dirts
I tried the lens with some casual shooting. Though the fungus and dirt, the lens surprises me especially in sharpness and performance in close up. Focusing is quite easy on the lens though the lens seems too light to hold steady in the shooting. It is very unlike the previous mirror lens that I have used from Vivitar 500mm f/8 mirror lens from Korea, likely similar to Opteka or Kalimar . Contrast and sharpness is quite good in the 55BB and what I like about is the handling in the focus ring and the ease of focusing. Though it may be too lightweight to feel well balanced in the K-x, I manage to shoot all the above hand-holding. Close up performance is a surprise for such a long focal lens. Bokeh is kind of an odd ball. Some good and some oddly busy looking with donuts shaped rendering especially when off focus objects are too close.

I've never thought a mirror lens can be sharp and offer moderate contrast that can be tuned in post processing. Was I so wrong on my subjective and negative views before! I was biased towards mirror lens due to my previous not-so-great experience with cheap brand of mirror lens. The 55BB really stands out in comparison.

When I re-edit some of the test shots with K-x, I am quite surprised with the sharpness. I can see the detail on the hummingbird feather and squirrel face without cropping. DOF in close distance is narrow and prone to user focus errors but I do find the focusing ring in 55BB to be outstanding for getting precision in manual focusing.

All test shots are done hand-held with Pentax K-x in iso 400.
Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB test shots

Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB test shots

Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB test shots

Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB test shots

Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB test shots

Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB test shots

I was shooting quite far in at least 150 feet away from a
bird's island in a park close to my home. The following
three test shots are cropped to get closer

cropped
Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB test shots
cropped
Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB test shots
cropped
Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 55BB test shots
All in all, the 55BB is a good mirror lens to look for instead of the previous Vivitar that I have tried. It may be too slow to serve well in shooting birds in fly but it will do well in still objects in a distance.

I have sold the lens to my good friend in PF who knows how to clean fungus. And I have found my Pentaxian friend IndianaDinos who has written many valuable blog posts documenting how he cleans up fungus in K10DPentax.


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2 comments:

Tyler said...

I still have my Tamron 500mm mirror lens (without fungus). Also have their 2x tele-converter SP-200 and the right-angle finder Tamron made that mounts onto the back of the lens and converts it into a compact, wide-field telescope.

Sadly, this is noting I use anymore.

Hin Man said...

You can tempt me with a price. I want to buy a good copy that is 55BB with hood, front cap and the rear filter set in 30.5mm.

Thanks for your visit and comment.

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