Tamron full frame lense on Nikon AP-C ?

BadWolf

Senior Member
Found a good deal on a Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 DI VC USD however I noticed that it's meant for full frame cameras. My Nikon D5600 is APS-C. Would I be better off getting a lens specifically for APS-C ? I know there's a crop factor involved if I use a full frame lense.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
A full-frame lens on a crop camera is not a problem... A crop lens on a full-frame camera is.

The 70-200 will be the equivalent to a 105-300 on your D5600
 

TwistedThrottle

Senior Member
Its not just the focal length you must multiply by the crop factor (1.5x for Nikon), its also the aperture. If you are getting it for low light, this means your 70-200 is equal to 105-300 f4.2 Keep in mind that all DX lenses must also be multiplied by this too so there are only a handful of zooms and primes that would be as good as the 70-200 f2.8 for low light. The only APS-C zoom that is comparable is the sigma 50-100 f1.8, but its over a grand and one can rarely find a deal on that lens :( Its equal to 75-150 f2.7 on a full frame but isn't meant to be used on a full frame,(it can but with a lot of vignette). Bottom line, get the Tammy if its a good deal unless your shooting in low light and need the extra stop.
 
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hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Its not just the focal length you must multiply by the crop factor (1.5x for Nikon), its also the aperture. If you are getting it for low light, this means your 70-200 is equal to 105-300 f4.2 Keep in mind that all DX lenses must also be multiplied by this too so there are only a handful of zooms and primes that would be as good as the 70-200 f2.8 for low light. The only APS-C zoom that is comparable is the sigma 50-100 f1.8, but its over a grand and one can rarely find a deal on that lens :( Its equal to 75-150 f2.7 on a full frame but isn't meant to be used on a full frame,(it can but with a lot of vignette). Bottom line, get the Tammy if its a good deal unless your shooting in low light and need the extra stop.

Twisted Throttle, I'm wondering if you are mixing this lens up with a teleconverter. A teleconverter will affect the aperture, but putting an FX lens on a DX body won't affect the aperture. This lens will offer the field of view of 105-300mm as Fred mentioned and will still offer f/2.8 as the largest aperture.
 

BadWolf

Senior Member
Yes I'm looking for low light fast action (football, soccer games). I know those are tough situations to shoot in.Looking for a high aperture to try and get more light. With the shutter speeds I need (around 1/1000) I am limited with my current lens and i have to bump up the ISO which then of course introduces noise. The only thing I could think of that would help (high school stadium guys, get better lighting!!) would be a lens that allows a higher aperture.
 

BadWolf

Senior Member
Oh and the lens I found on craigslist is [FONT=&quot]Excellent condition Tamron (A009) 70-200mm f2.8 lens.
They are asking $325 OBO[/FONT]
 

BadWolf

Senior Member
Yeah if the aperture is higher than f/2.8 it defeats the purpose I need it for. So is it confirmed that aperture would remain the same or no?

Thanks:encouragement:
 

Danno

Senior Member
Its not just the focal length you must multiply by the crop factor (1.5x for Nikon), its also the aperture. If you are getting it for low light, this means your 70-200 is equal to 105-300 f4.2 Keep in mind that all DX lenses must also be multiplied by this too so there are only a handful of zooms and primes that would be as good as the 70-200 f2.8 for low light. The only APS-C zoom that is comparable is the sigma 50-100 f1.8, but its over a grand and one can rarely find a deal on that lens :( Its equal to 75-150 f2.7 on a full frame but isn't meant to be used on a full frame,(it can but with a lot of vignette). Bottom line, get the Tammy if its a good deal unless your shooting in low light and need the extra stop.

I have seen this explained in a video by Tony Northrop, but it is not accurate. His results are anecdotal at best. Aperture is a physical characteristic of the lens. When I saw this video I became very puzzled because it made no sense to me. So I simply sought out the math.

Crop factor affects the field of view of a lens because the sensor is smaller, but it does not affect the aperture because it does not impact the field of view or depend on the size of the sensor. It is like the pupil of an eye it opens or closes to simply control light. The f-stop is a mechanical characteristic of the lens. The f-stop is the actual the focal length divided by the f-stop value. It gives you the Diameter of the opening. To get the area of the opening you just do the simple divide the diameter by 2 for the radius and plug the value in the formula for area,
area_formula.gif
.

 

TwistedThrottle

Senior Member
Sorry, I didnt mean to spread bad info. I was thinking of the Tony video when I stated this, but have also heard many youtubers mention it, just not in depth like Tony did. He even showed the results using full frame, crop and four thirds. I guess a better analogy would be if you were to shine a flashlight through a pinhole with a poster behind it and then swap the poster for a flash card, would the flash card receive less lumens? I guess it would come down to what material (pixels) the post card and poster are made from. If the pixels are the exact same and theres just more of them in the full frame and less in the crop, yes it would be the same. I haven't done the test myself, just relying on what I have come across while wondering the same thing. Either way, if you can snag a 70-200 for $325, what are you waiting for!? Its a great lens that I have been trying to find a good deal on. The only thing to consider is that so far Tamron has not come out with an update for that lens to be compatible with the Z series. If you plan on upgrading to mirrorless any time soon, its the G2 you gotta find.
 

hark

Administrator
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Contributor
Yeah if the aperture is higher than f/2.8 it defeats the purpose I need it for. So is it confirmed that aperture would remain the same or no?

Thanks:encouragement:

Yes - I use my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 on my D7200 (and previously on my D7100). The widest aperture stays the same no matter whether it's an FX body or a DX. As Mike mentioned, some of the newer bodies have issues with older lenses. If that lens doesn't connect to a Tamron dock to receive the latest updates, then you'd have to send it to Tamron to get the update. That can get costly since you'd have to pay shipping either one way or both ways.
 

spb_stan

Senior Member
IF it is in really good condition,grab it. Excellent price and very good lens. Yes, aperture is 2.8. What Tony might have been trying to convey(or was just plain uninformed...remember, his job is media personality, not photographer, he gets millions every year due to having over a million subscribers and not because he is an expert in anything in photography. I stopped viewing his channel after just too many bad statements intended to push particular brands he gets kickbacks from. there are very few working pros on youtube.) was total light falling on the sensor, which would me more on Fx but the image image circle is the same, Fx/DX but the DX sensor only gathers the light from a DX image circle. In any case, a F stop 2.8 with a T-stop of 2.8 will be a lot brighter in the VF and on the sensor so the ISO can be lower than any of the slower variable largest aperture DX lenses. That lens, for field sports would work BETTER on DX because of the narrower field of view equal to a 300mm lens on a Fx body. That is why the D500 DX is such a popular sports and wildlife camera compared to D850.
Get it. If you don't someone will grab it. That model, A009 has a very good image stabilizer system that allows shooting hand held to pretty low shutter speeds. But you will still need high shutter speed for action sports. If the shot is not at full action speed, such as at the end of a play or detail of a huddle, lower the shutter speed for clean noise free crystal clean images at 1/160-1/200. It is best to use the center focus point, it is more sensitive in that camera and is the sharpest part of the image circle projected onto the sensor. In any low light situation, use the center focus point. Since the max aperture is wider than what you are probably using, it will allow the AF system to work better because it has more light to worth with. In every possible way, a 70-200 2.8 wide open the camera itself will work better than a kit 5.6 zoom, regardless of light. The lens is about 3 pounds so consider a sling strap so it caries the weight effortlessly when not up to your eye. 3 lbs is not heavy but after long event, your hand holding will be lot steadier throughout if not supporting all game with one hand.
Oh, yes, grab it....
 
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