Tamron SP Adaptall-2 70-210mm f3.5 19AH Review

May 28, 2014

Tamron SP Adaptall-2 70-210mm f3.5 19AH Review

The 19AH has been touted the best 70-210mm ever made on the adaptall-2.org website. Of course, that's a 20 year old review.

The lens is fully metal and uses a very smooth push-pull mechanism for zooming. If you have never used a push-pull lens, well you gotta try this one. Buttery smooth and no zoom creep! It has even very good macro magnification of 1:26 and a close minimum focusing distance of 0.85m, which is closer than most telephoto zooms. Unlike the 23A, the macro function does not require a separate locking mechanism.

It also features a quick focusing mechanism in which the focus point does not change even when you zoom in or out. So if you lock a focus at 210mm and zoom all the way back to 70mm, the subject is still in focus, assuming you did not accidentally turn the focusing ring. This feature is unique to the 19AH lens.

Another unique thing about the lens is the hood. While most hoods screw on to the front, this lens screws on to the push-pull ring. This makes buying a third party screw on hood impossible, and you need to own an original hood (which thankfully I do!).

Most importantly, this lens is a constant aperture lens, and while it is not f2.8, it is only a little more than half a stop slower (0.64 stops to be precise) AND a lot, lot, lot more cheaper than a modern 70-210mm f2.8 zoom lens!

Image quality wise, the 19AH is one of the better Adaptall lenses. It is sharp enough for most of my event photography in the past (if you get the focus right, of course).

Here's a set of photos taken two years ago at our Everworld play. No post-processing done, mostly at maximum zoom (210mm).

Here are some reference photos for comparison using my Fujifilm X-M1. You will notice that open wide, the images has CA and is a little soft, but by f5.6, the CA and softness disappears.