Hin's Photo Corner

I was having a bad day in photos as I have mounted a Tamron 75-250mm f/3.8-4.5 adaptall-2 (104a), a cheapo zoom, and I naively mounted the Tamron 2x TC adaptall-2 (01f) on it while hiking in the weekend. The combo is an absolute DOG in shooting birds due to slow speed, lost of light with little contrast, and CA is apparent everywhere.

I was supposed to try out the 2x cheapo 150-500mm zoom on birds and all birds were not close enough but rather way out in the sea. And the sunset with low clouds lured me to try sky shots instead. But the rig at hand was not matching for landscape shots. I should have dismounted the TC to shoot at 75mm to 135mm with the zoom. A big mistakes on my part as the scene is much more dramatic than I shot at. In some of the shooting, I changed to BW with Infrared filter in Pentax K-x to hide the CA/PF.

I noted the sunset with spectacular sun rays streaming through the low clouds in the stormy weekend weather. In keeping pace with my family, I only managed to take few shots and not having time for the proper setup. I shot all in the shortest focal length in 150mm.










Sometime, life presents me those precious moments that I am not prepared for. In hindsight, I should have brought in another lens and TC back home.


Notes

• The zoom lens does fine to outstanding without TC. With the Tamron 01F 2x TC mounted, it is quite poor in CA/purple fringing especially in the long end.
  
• The combo is pretty much hand-holdable but very difficult to get focus on moving objects. I changed from AF-A to AF-C to by-pass the catch-in focus and it is still difficult to handle as I can't have quickness and precision at the same time.
  
• Contrast is poor in the combo, maybe something wrong with the 2x TC.
  
• I should have tried Pentax-F 1.7x TC at another time

Related:

• Tamron 75-250mm f/3.8-4.5 adaptall-2 (104A) and K-x
• Pentax K-x White
• Tamron 2x TC adaptall-2 (01F)
• Purple Fringing Keeps Coming (mostly Tamron)
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

What attracts me to try out this adaptall-2 lens with 104A that is a non-SP version of adaptall-2 lenses is the extra focal range that goes to 250mm and the lighter weight. I can't yet figure out as part of the lens barrel is made of plastic though the material is of heavy duty and I still feel strongly that the Tamron adaptall-2 lens is of unusual build quality that are up in par with the other SP adaptall-2 lens that I have a chance to try out. The lens surprises me with positive impressions as it is not well talked about in adaptall-2.org site and which noted it as above average performer. Specifically, I get lured into this with the comment about its lightweight. Speed is quite good in the range of f/3.8 to f/4.5. And guess what, it closely resemble the range in Pentax DA* 60-250mm f/4.0 and it is not too far off in the speed.

Its close focus ratio is 1:3.4 which comes in handy for this zoom. When combined with Tamron SP 01F 2x Teleconverter, it can reach 1:1.7 in magnification ratio in minimum focusing distance of 1.2m or 4 feet. I like the lens starting from 250mm in the push-pull one touch zoom design that goes from 250mm to 75mm and it goes with clear scale of zoom position in 75mm, 90mm, 105mm, 135mm, 180mm and 250mm. All happen to be the critical focal point that will work well with the SR focal length setup on my Pentax K20D.














Initial Impressions & Notes

• Too early to draw conclusions but I am very impressed in its lightweight and wide open aperture performance
• Ease of use and the extra reach to 250mm gets the most attention from me especially when its speed is so close to Pentax DA* 60-250mm f/4.0.
• As said, speed in f/3.8 -4.5 is plenty for this zoom
• I have not tested its close up in 1:3.4 magnification setting
• I find it a charming lens to use in panning car movement at night as it is lightweight and its Tamron adaptall-2 focusing ring wins my heart again in manual focusing that is precise, smooth and allow fast focusing in reaction to scene -- top notch in manual focusing
• Use with 2x adapter does has the problem in losing too much light making it difficult to obtain focus at night. I will re-test the use of 01F TC in day time to draw conclusion
• 500mm test pictures with 01F 2x TC are reasonable but heavy cropping from 250mm test shots yield about similar and close results. I don't have trained eyes to see the advantage. But one thing is for sure, with the 2x TC mounted, you feel more excited in taking the pictures of the moon filling the frame way better than without the TC mounted
• A value lens for sure to be paid attention. My copy is in mint condition.

Related

• Pentax K-x and Tamron 104A
  
• Tamron 104A with Pentax K-x On Clouds and Sun Rays
  
• All adaptall-2 related articles
• Tamron SP 70-210mm f/3.5 adaptall-2 19AH in Gilroy Garden
• Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 30A
  
• Tamron adaptall-2 p/ka adapter
• Hin's Camera Gear

I was about to sell my new Tokina/Kenko branded Pz-AF 2x Teleplus MC7 converter. I bought it new about $90.00 and I used it last with some reasonable moon shots with Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5. I don't have a reliable setup of tripod and ball-head and I test the same setup further in a birding tour with Don Edwards SF wildlife refuge. I brought along the setup and before I knew it, a Pelican fly by filling big part of my view finder and I take few shots hoping for a reasonable shot to convince myself to keep the TC.








Impressions & Notes

• Not the best in IQ but very much hand-holdable setup that I can shoot without a tripod
• If you expect AF to work reliably, don't buy this TC as you may get disappointed. Though it has the power zoom contacts that look like the SDM contacts, it is not found to work with Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 in auto-focus.
  
• Though the TC worked with F* 300mm with AF, the motor noise and AF seem to take a long time to travel to focal point, I ended up shooting all birds flying shots in manual focus mode along with TAv where I set the shutter speed to a fast shutter as in 1/1600 sec and set Av to f/6.3, probably the lowest that is allowed after the TC is mounted.
  
• Unlike the time that I shot the moon with this set up, the manual focusing seem to work better than AF as I can get more responsive to the birds movement in MF. With the moon, the AF pretty much stay about the same spot not changing. With the birds, things around the birds as well as panning their movement kept the focusing to re-focus and somehow make the shot more difficult to do in AF than MF. Shame, I don't know how to explain it well, it is an odd feeling why MF works better than AF in this difficult shooting scenes with the birds.
  
• I had similar bad experience with AF on the F* 300mm f/4.5 without the TC that I divide my shots to have a balance between AF and MF subject to the scene and shooting conditions. There are many times that the AF foul up on me especially with AF.C and panning birds with distracting backgrounds or background with low contrast. And I can hardly rely on the semi-working AF for panning the birds movement.
  
• I am going to keep the TC as I find it worth keeping for $90 to bring my 300mm into a workable 600mm lens. Of course, there are many cons that go with the TC approach in degradation of IQ. My approach in assessing the usefulness on the TC is making the shot with compromises and the TC does let me stay at a good distance in not disturbing the wildlife.
  

Related:

• Tokina/Kenko branded Pz-AF 2x Teleplus MC7
• Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5
• Pentax 400mm f/5.6 choices
• Tokina 400mm f/5.6 SD
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

I saw clear sky on Monday night driving home. I thought about the lunar images that I see from others. Last attempt was totally ruined by my ball head that is failing to hold the lens and camera in place. And I have this Kenko/Tokina PZ-AF 2x teleplus MC7 that I have not used it since I bought it from ebay.

First, few quick snapshots about my setup




I shot it around 10:30pm and the clouds moved in after first few test shots. I was initially getting a clear shot with shutter speed in 1/125 sec with f/8 in iso 400. As clouds move in, I slow the shutter to 1/20 ~ 1/60 to get a reasonable shot of the moon. I would attempt it with more needed research and a clearer sky to shoot the moon.








Impressions & Notes

• Not too bad if I don't blow it up in larger size
• Focus point is actually not in infinity
• With the 2x TC, I can actually use AF with the Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5. I am surprised
• The 2x TC won't AF on SDM lens with Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
• Teleplus, MC7, Tokina, Kenko are on the label of the TC
  
• The cloudy sky poses the most problems in the shooting
• I use 2 sec timer, I should have used the wireless remote trigger
• I crop about 50% on the view from the 600mm lens setup with the 2x TC
• The Linhof ball-head still moves a bit. I will retry the setup.
  

Related:

• Meteor Night Attempt with Pentax 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 fisheye
• Passing Moon YouTube Video by Pentax K-7
• Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5 On Pelicans with Kenko 2x AF TC
• Dynatran AT-CF992 tripod
• Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5
• Tamron-F 2x KR MC4 Teleconverter
• Kiron 2x multipler (m42)
• Pentax-F 1.7x AF TC
  
• Hin's Camera Gear

Kiron made good lens and I am fortunate to have an inexpensive copy of Vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8 in m42 mount that comes with the Vivitar/Kiron 2x matched multiplier. The matched multiplier can be used as a 2x TC on other lens such as my Soligor 200mm f/2.8 in M42 mount with reasonable results.

Unlike K mount adapters, this m42 adapters are made in metal construction which are better built for longer lens that has heavier weight. I actually prefer the use of this 2x TC when I am using my 200mm as the Kiron 2x TC has a better screw thread in mounting to my K body than my my 200mm lens alone.

I brought in my Pentax F-1.7x AF TC to work with the Photosniper. I also attempted to use my cheapo Dynatran AT CF992 from Amvona . My tripod came with a tripod head that is supposed to hold the weight of the combo but it seems to move quite a bit due to the heavy weight.

First my set up, I use my camera bag to stabilize my tripod

Foil to get F-1.7x to work with M42

Focus trap also kicks in

I changed the T-mount to cover the contacts

and K locking pin

I can only use wide open

due to focusing (explain later in detail)

Red knob cocking the lens wider than f/4.5

likely f/4.0

Toilet Plunger lens hood

The magical AF mechanics from Pentax F-1.7x AF TC works quite well in the set. Unfortunately, I can't stop down to f/8.0 or smaller as the AF from the TC will kick in again after stop down and I can't release shutter due to inability to obtain focus after stopping down

I will need to re-set AF button to cancel AF and use combination of AF and shutter release button to release shutter without AF after stopping down.

First two test shots are done on tripod with SR off and cropped in the middle, the bird is quite far away, I don't think my tripod head is very stable for the shot. Also the wide open shot and TC can degrade on detail as expected. All shots wide open.

#1

#2

And next three are done hand-held, I manage to get closer to the bird without the tripod. All shots are cropped middle with some sharpening in iPhoto.

#3

#4

#5

Related:

• Photosniper Tair-3 PhS 300mm f/4.5 Purchase
• Initial Tair-3 PhS 300mm f/4.5 Test Shots
• Humming Bird Test Shots
  
• Kiron 2x doubler M42
  
• Pentax F-1.7x AF TC
• Genuine Pentax M42 to K adapter
• Dynatran AT CF992 from Amvona
• Search of 400mm prime in Pentax
  
• Hin's Camera Gear