Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 unable to adjust AF

mariojcassar

Senior Member
Just bought this lens in mint condition all the way but looks too soft. Focusing is instant but whether I adjust the D600 AF -20, 0, +20 or whatever I see no changes in its softness. I cannot even conclude if its back or front focusing despite using a ruler. It's just unusable whatever aperture. I tested it on a tripod.

Any suggestions please?

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Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
While on a tripod, focus with auto-focus, then turn the camera's focus to "Manual" and then go to LiveView ans zoom in with the + button. Then you can see by focusing manually if you have front or back focus.
 

mariojcassar

Senior Member
Did the above and notice there is no front or back focusing. The lens seems soft which surprises me considering how highly rated it is. One last resort is to see how the RAW images look on Lightroom, perhaps the Nikon software inside the camera is not doing the best job for this particular lens.

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Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Did the above and notice there is no front or back focusing. The lens seems soft which surprises me considering how highly rated it is. One last resort is to see how the RAW images look on Lightroom, perhaps the Nikon software inside the camera is not doing the best job for this particular lens.

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Is this a brand new lens or a pre-owned one? I've read that the IQ could vary from one to the next. Maybe you just got a bad one?
 

mariojcassar

Senior Member
It's a pre used one and obviously it isn't the sharp one I was expecting. Put it through Lightroom and playing a little bit with the Sharpening tool it improves massively but why should it be that way? A bad lens.

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mariojcassar

Senior Member
Right, I've just tried it on a Nikon D7000 and the images are nothing short of spectacular. I'm scratching my head... time to invest more time with the marrying of the D600 with this lens.

Any suggestions? Since I have not noticed any differences when micro adjusting the AF of the D600 I'm wondering if I'm missing something there.

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Do you have any sharpening applied to the JPEG images on the D600?? If not go straight to +9 to check if this is your problem . I have one old lens that is so soft at full aperture I have to stop it down a little to do a fine tune or the whole chart is blurd.....???
 

rocketman122

Senior Member
Did the above and notice there is no front or back focusing. The lens seems soft which surprises me considering how highly rated it is. One last resort is to see how the RAW images look on Lightroom, perhaps the Nikon software inside the camera is not doing the best job for this particular lens.

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I have this lens as a backup to my 28-70 AFS. its quite a nice performer. ive shot quite a few weddings and very happy with it. I think you need to move the AF lever on the LENS to manual to manually focus with it if im not mistaken. that will disengage the motor. too lazy to check now. cant help on the focus. maybe alignment issue. mine is sharp. hesitates to lock in VERY low light. need to be stopped down to f/4 to be good in the corners
 

mariojcassar

Senior Member
Thank you for the info, my friend bought a D610 so next find I see him I try it on his. I'm suspecting I haven't mastered the focus adjustment of my camera because what ever I do I don't see a difference, i.e. getting worse or better. Saying that focusing manually and also through the LCD is the same.

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