September 9, 2007

Tamron SP 500/8 Tele Macro model 55BB



This is the latest of Tamrons Mirror lenses. There was an earlier model called 55B which did have some optical problems due to mirror design. All that was optimized in this 55BB model.

Technical Data

Released year1983
Discontinued year2005 (Tamron.de told me that)
Minimum aperture8
Elements/groups7/4
Minimum focus distance170 cm
Maximum magnification1:3
Minimum length87.0 mm
Maximum length91.5 mm (dependent of the adapter)
Diameter84.0 mm
Weight0.595 kg
Front Filter diameter82
Rear Filter diameter30.5 (screw-on)
Hood mountscrew-on
Autofocus (AF)no


Gallery

The Images below were taken using a Canon 30D (equiv. to 800mm) with Olympus OM to EOS adapter.



  • 1: Taken handheld indoors @ iso 1600, f/8 and 1/100 s.
  • 2: Taken handheld @ iso 200, f/8 and 1/500 s.
  • 3: Taken using monopod @ iso 160, f/8 and 1/500 s.




  • 4: Taken using monopod @ iso 160, f/8 and 1/400 s.
  • 5: Taken using monopod @ iso 500, f/8 and 1/400 s.
  • 6: Taken using monopod @ iso 160, f/8 and 1/500 s.




  • 7: Taken using monopod @ iso 1250, f/8 and 1/400 s. This is the size of the moon on a APS-C Chip uncropped (equiv. to 800mm) .
  • 8: 100% Crop of picture 7. Sharpened. Noise was removed with Noise Ninja.


Links

2 comments:

mcolby said...

I picked up one one of these lenses recently cheaply and it is in very good condition. I was looking to experiment with using it on my 7D.

I use my SLR primarily for video work rather than stills and I am very curious about how it would work as a video lens as well (Aside from size problems). Do you know what sort of adapter I would need to use it on a 7D or a T2i?

CURAVON said...

Thanks for the amount of work you have put into this review. I will give one of these a try on my Pentax based on your tests to see if I can match your results.

Thanks... Richard
www.richardsercombe.co.uk