Tamron Adaptall lenses were at one time the bee’s knees of amateur photographer’s kits. They are fun to shoot today and can be had for a song, while performance can be excellent!
Back in the 1970s, anyone getting onto photography would usually buy a camera with a standard lens, in focal length ranging from 40mm (Konica), 45mm (Nikon and Minolta lenses) to a 55mm lens (Fuji, Pentax and many M42 budget brands). But after a while you’d want something more than just the standard lens, and that’s were third parties come in. And in case you’re wondering (I know I was!), the original manufacturer is the first party, the customer is the second party and anyone else trying to take part in the conducted business is third.
So, third party manufacturer Tamron had a bright idea. Why create lenses for all those different proprietary lens mounts that manufacturers created to snare their clientèle for decades to come, when you can create standard lenses with lens mounts that can be swapped? The first effort in the business was the universal T mount, where lenses had a rear screw mount that you could thread an adapter onto. Tamron and other manufacturers made them and they had several incarnations, but in the end weren’t considered a real solution. Funnily they are still a source of much puzzlement today among those who buy lenses online or on flea markets, it looks like an 42mm Pentax screw mount but it isn’t…
Next, Tamron came with their Adapt-a-matic System but it was limited to a number of brands only due to aperture lever location on the lenses etc.
Their third attempt really hit the ball home, the Adapt-all mount did literally that, it adapted lenses to all mounts! As a result, the lenses were sold in huge amounts and nearly any Adaptall lens still is available nowadays.
Some lenses never were big sellers due to their rather specific specifications, this is mostly true for the zooms. Also, zoom lenses generally used to be less sharp anyway since coatings weren’t sophisticated enough yet to remedy lack of contrast or purple fringing in corners and on bright edged. All this was way before the invention of aspherical elements in lenses, remember?
But there were a number of lenses that did not sell very well, but were very good lenses and thus remained well-kept secrets.
Adapting an Adaptall lens
It’s not very hard nowadays to hook those terrific lenses up to a modern mirrorless digital camera, or even some digital SLRs. Of course, many of the lenses can be hooked up to modern Nikon and Pentax cameras without any hassle, since those brands never changed their lens mounts to such an extent that the camera would not be able to take an older lens.
And, there’s a host of adapters that allow to use these lenses on the modern Micro 4/3, Fuji-X and Sony Nex cameras! Below you can see two ways of hooking an Adaptall lens up to my Sony A7: by means of a modern Nex adapter, and by adapter stacking the lens with an Adaptall adapter onto another adapter that mounts to the Sony A7.
On the left, the modern cheap straight2Nex adapter, on the right the same lens with a Canon FD mount and an FD2Nex adapter.
Now why would anyone opt for option two? Simple! I have a five-piece set of Canon FD lenses for the Sony A7 already and they all need the righthand adapter anyway, so fixing a Canon FD mount to the Tamron 24-48mm lens is much easier in means of uniformity than using the left adapter. The trade-off is that the righthand solution is slightly heavier but not even so much that I got inclined to put them on the kitchen scale and weigh the difference…
Adaptall lenses I currently own, want to own, or want to sell (quality in asterisks)
- Tamron SP 17mm 3.5 ****
- Tamron SP 24-48mm 3.5-3.8 **
- Tamron SP 28-80mm 3.8-4.2 ***
- Tamron 70-210mm 3.5 ***
- Tamron 70-150mm 3.5 (for sale) *
- Tamron 28mm 28 ***
- Tamron 105mm 2.5 ****
- Tamron 135mm 2.8 (for sale) ****
- Tamron SP 90mm 2.5 (want to buy, with 1:1 adapter)
Currently I own the following Adaptall lens adapters (asterisk indicates most used):
- M42*
- Nikon
- Canon FD type 1*
- Canon FD type 2*
- Pentax bayonet
- Minolta MC/MD
- Konica AR
- Leica R
- Sony Nex (modern simple adapter)*
The above picture also shows the design progress that was made during the lifespan of the Adaptall lenses. The ones on the right with the red lettering and the two bands of rubber are the original Adaptall lenses. They ran from 1973 to 1978. They are usually marked ‘BBAR MULTI C.’ on the front in bright green, so you won’t miss that these are coated lenses. Their coating actually is remarkably durable, I have found examples of these lenses that obviously were used for decades already and still had excellent coatings.
The four lenses on the left were the later Adaptall-2 series of lenses where design started to vary during their production span. The mintish blue and greenish letters were a sort of a constant. The most left tele lens is a ‘simple’ Adaptall-2, the other three are from the slightly later ‘SP’ series, another improved line within the Adaptall-2 series. All these lenses are marked ‘BBAR MC’ on the side or front, in white lettering.
Buying guide
In case you want to go online and look for theses lenses, you might want to know what to look out for.
The Adaptalls have tough-as-nails coating, but the lenses are prone to fungus after all these years. So make sure to bring a bright blue LED light when going out to buy old lenses, fungus in the lens will stick out like a sore thumb if you shine through them with the bright blue light.
Aperture rings can be a bit rattly. Test them, they should not produce grinding noises! When they do, decide what to offer the seller.
To see the difference in the boxes, see the image below. Between series 1 and 2, there was a 100% marketing make-over of the line.
When you get adapters offered with the lenses, always accept them. They are small to store, and very useful to have. I have a number of adapters that I have no camera body for, but when I bump into a cheap camera that I have an adapter for, I also instantly have a lens to test the camera with! Later on, the camera can possibly be sold to raise funds for something else. Also, some adapters are pretty valuable by themselves. Nikon and Pentax adapters are always useful since they fit modern cameras, Leica R adapters are pretty pricy!
When you find a lens with no adapter attached, haggle. Don’t let the seller know you have shoe boxes full of adapters at home, point out the lacking adapter and get the lens cheap.
Rear and front caps, boxes, transparent plastic rear caps for adapter-less lenses, anything you find, get it. It’s nicest to have complete lenses with proper caps and often they cost very little when you find them.
Specifics of my favourite Adaptalls
In the image on the top of this page you can see my favourite Adaptalls. I have bought and shot a few more but some really weren’t that great. Most notably the 70-150mm 3.5 which never was really sharp, had barrel distortion at the wide end and soft edges at the long end. There is also a very hard to find 70-150mm 2.8 SOFT and in my view, the 3.5 lens is the same lens with a slightly smaller aperture and the SOFT control ring left off… A dud if you ask me. I didn’t like it.
The ones I did like, you find below. Later on, I will spruce up this article even more with sample shots of all lenses!
Tamron Adaptall 28mm 2.8 wide angle lens
The 28mm isn’t anything special when it comes to 28s, but really, which 28mm lens is? It simply gets the job done, is small and light, and has slightly soft corners, that emphasise the center part of the image. Which in my opinion is perfectly fine for a wide angle, no need for corner-to-corner sharpness with a wide angle anyway. Distortion is present but minimal an very even, so easily corrected in Lightroom. I prefer to shoot this lens on my Sony A7, since correcting the distortion on a film image would warp the film borders which I like to keep visible on my film files…
specifications
- Model name: CW-28
- Mount: Adapter
- Focal length: 28 mm
- Open F value: 2.8
- Lens configuration: 7 groups 7 elements
- Minimum Aperture: 16
- Shortest shooting distance: 0.25 m
- Filter diameter: 52 mm
- Weight: 240 g
- Maximum diameter X Total length: 65 mm x 42 mm
- Price: \ 26,000
- Release date: 1976
- Production end: 1979 (estimated)
Tamron Adaptall 105mm 2.5 short tele prime lens
This is an excellent lens. It is small and not very heavy, it is fast and wide open has a very distinctive softness that is appealing for portraits. Like all other lenses it has low contrast but great sharpness. When stopped down to 4.0 it’s an excellent sharp lens. For B&W film I shoot it with a light yellow filter on it.
specifications
- Model name: CT-105
- Mount: Adapter
- Focal length: 105 mm
- Open F value: 2.5
- Lens construction: 4 groups 4 pieces
- Minimum Aperture: 22
- Minimum shooting distance: 1.3 m
- Filter diameter: 52 mm
- Weight: 275 g
- Maximum diameter X Total length: 64.5 mm x 52 mm
- Price: \ 26,000
- Release date: 1976
- Production end: 1979 (estimated)
Tamron Adaptall 105mm 2.5 on Sony A7. Wide open, early morning under the setting moon. Impressive rendering for a wide open lens!
Tamron Adaptall 105mm 2.5 on Sony A7. Wide open, early morning under the setting moon. Impressive rendering for a wide open lens!
Tamron Adaptall 105mm 2.5 on Sony A7. At 4.0, this lens is pretty amazing for a 1970s design! Commuters awaiting the morning train.
Tamron Adaptall 105mm 2.5 on Sony A7. At 4.0, this lens is pretty amazing for a 1970s design! Detail of the wooden roof of the 2018 built train station.
Tamron Adaptall 105mm 2.5 on Sony A7. At 4.0, this lens is pretty amazing for a 1970s design!
Sharpness is very good, contrast is easily enhanced, NO correction of any pincushioning or barreling was required here, look at the lines, straight as a ruler!
Tamron Adaptall 135mm 2.8 tele prime lens
This lens I like so much that there’s actually two of them in the picture at the top of the page, I totally missed lining it up twice for the shot, haha!
Like the 105mm, it is excellent sharp but has terrific bokeh too. A real sleeper in the Tamron Adaptall line-up. Dirt cheap usually, I’ve picked one of those up for five euros in the past! It has a slide-out lens hood with the brand name printed on it in white.
specifications
- Model name: CT-135
- Mount: Adapter
- Focal length: 135 mm
- Open F value: 2.8
- Lens construction: 4 groups 4 pieces
- Minimum Aperture: 22
- Minimum shooting distance: 1.5 m
- Filter diameter: 55 mm
- Weight: 375 g
- Maximum diameter X Total length: 64.5 mm x 77 mm
- Price: \ 24,000
- Release date: 1976
- Production end: 1979 (estimated)
Tamron Adaptall-2 17mm 3.5 wide angle prime lens
| Lens Model | 51B |
| Focal Length | 17mm |
| Aperture Range | f/3.5 — 22, AE |
| Angle of View | 104° |
| Optical Construction (Groups / Elements) |
10 / 12 |
| Min. Focus from Film Plane | 9.8″ (0.25m) |
| Macro Mag. Ratio | — |
| Filter Size | Built-in (normal, 81B, 80B, Y2) |
| Diameter | 2.8″ (70mm) |
| Length at Infinity in. (mm) w/Nikon mount |
1.7″ (43mm) [1.9″ (47.5mm)] |
| Weight | 9.5 oz. (270g) |
| Lens Hood | Push-on type #20FH (optional extra). |
| Accessory | Hood accepts 82mm filters. |
Tamron Adaptall-2 24-48mm 3.5-3.8 wide angle zoom lens
This lens is very flare-prone due to the large front element. I have a hacked-up lens hood (they are 100% tailored to the lens, near impossible to find nowadays) that had the front end replaced by a Cokin stackable type, square hood and it helps. A bit.
The lens is pretty soft. It has an almost constant aperture throughout the zoom range, which is nice. It’s very good for shooting landscapes on a tripod with, if you want sun flares in the image. The hood helps control the amount of flare.
I briefly used it as a reportage allround lens on a Nikon D700 (that was my itention when I bought it) but the flare made it near impossible to use it like that. Yet, I kept it after I managed to tame it with the hood and tripod.
| Lens Model | 13A |
| Focal Length | 24 — 48mm |
| Aperture Range | f/3.5~3.8 — 32, AE |
| Angle of View | 84°~48° |
| Optical Construction (Groups / Elements) |
9 / 10 |
| Min. Focus from Film Plane | 23.6″ (0.6m) |
| Macro Mag. Ratio | — |
| Filter Size | 77mm in hood |
| Diameter | 2.5″ (64.5mm) |
Length at  [w/Nikon mount] |
2.4″ (61.0mm) [2.6″ (65.5mm)] |
| Weight | 12.2 oz. (346g) |
| Lens Hood | Bayonet type #27FH (optional extra). |
| Accessory | Hood accepts 77mm filters. |
Tamron Adaptall-2 28-80mm 3.5-4.2 macro zoom lens
This is the lens I got for the D700 as a reportage lens when the 24-48mm turned out to be unusable. It was a very good replacement. Nice and sharp, easy to use. Good contrast. Flare resistant!
A word of caution: this is my second specimen of this lens. If you rack the focus to the far ends too hard, it will snap the aged-nylon bushings in the zoom mechanism, your lens will have small rattling noises (broken nylon pieces inside) and it will not focus anymore… I kept lens nr. 1 for parts, still have it.
| Lens Model | 27A |
| Focal Length | 28 — 80mm |
| Aperture Range | f/3.5~4.2 — 32, AE |
| Angle of View | 75°~30° |
| Optical Construction (Groups / Elements) |
8 / 9 |
| Min. Focus from Film Plane | 14.2″ (0.36m) at f=80mm |
| Macro Mag. Ratio [w/2X Converter] | 1:3.4 [1:1.7] at f=80mm |
| Filter Size | 67mm |
| Diameter | 2.8″ (70mm) |
| Length at [w/Nikon mount] |
3.2″ (82mm) [3.4″ (86.5mm)] |
| Weight | 16.9 oz. (480g) |
| Lens Hood | Bayonet type #47FH (optional extra). |
| Accessory | Accepts SP 2X tele-converter #01F. |
Tamron Adaptall-2 70-210mm 3.5 tele-macro super zoom lens
| Lens Model | 19AH |
| Focal Length | 70 — 210mm |
| Aperture Range | f/3.5 — 32, AE |
| Angle of View | 34°~12° |
| Optical Construction (Groups / Elements) |
11 / 15 |
| Min. Focus from Film Plane | 33.5″ (0.85m) |
| Macro Mag. Ratio [w/2X Converter] | 1:2.66 [1:1.33] |
| Filter Size (mm) | 62mm |
| Diameter in. (mm) | 2.8″ (71mm) |
| Length at [w/Nikon mount] |
5.9″ (150mm) [6.1″ (154.5mm)] |
| Weight | 30.3 oz. (860g) |
| Lens Hood | Bayonet type #49FH (included). |
| Accessory | Accepts SP 2X tele-converter #01F. |
Hello Johan,
This is a great resource you have here. Thanks for all the work that you put into it. I also have a question. I just ordered a Tamron SP 90mm f/2.5 Macro (52BB) to use on my Sony A7II. It is missing any adaptall on the back. Am I better off getting a NEX to Tamron adapter or a Tamron for a mount that I already have for the Sony like a Minolta MC/MD ? Also is this lens an older adapter or the adaptall 2 style which is needed on the back ? Thanks so much !
PS: are you also a member of the RFF forum ? I am as well. Be Well.
Hi Charles,
Depends! if you are going to use the lens on another camera than the Sony, I would get the adapter to that brand of camera. This has an added benefit when you go out and take multiple lenses because the Adaptall to Nex adapter is pretty large and when you’re bringing the other adapter anyway it will save you something to carry.
Other than that, if both lenses are mainly used around the house or so, I’d get whichever is cheapest without sacrificing any adapter build quality, because nobody wants a wobbly lens on their camera!
Happy shooting! Thanks for the compliment on my web site, check back regularly to see updates if you like.
PS: I am on RFF but not too much anymore these days since ‘migrating’ to medium and large format, easier to meet me here!
I have tried using a Tamron Adaptall-2 24mm f/2.5 prime and a 28-80 f/3.5 zoom lens with my Sony A7s using adaptors from K&F, Fotodiox and Pixco. On the 24mm if the aperture is f/11 or narrower the image is sharp, but at f/8 or wider then the image is out of focus beyond a metre or so from the lens. A similar problem arises with the 28-80 – but its stays sharp at f/8 or narrower, bit out of focus at f/5.6 or wider. I have the same problem with a Takumar 55mm f/2 0 but the switch from sharp to out of focus is around f/5.6. Any idea what the problem is?
Hi Tim,
That’s a bummer, I see you made an effort already to sort the problem out by testing three adapters.
Reading your post I don’t instantly see the nature of your troubles with these lenses. I can only share some tips to address these issues: take the lenses and any adapters you have to a local camera shop and ask to demo a newer Sony series camera. That will allow you to test the manual focus lenses, no seller will deny you to test your own lenses. If they’re okay on the other camera, the issue is with your current Sony.
Other steps are swapping adapters (you did that) or swap lenses on the adapters.
If you have taken all these steps you will no doubt have determined the cause of your troubles, unless they are caused by an combination of two factors…
I hope this at least helps a bit!
Help! I have a Tamron SP90mm 52B f2.5 macro lens and want to use it on my Nikon D300 DSLR.
My question is: Is there an adaptor ring that I can buy that will marry the two together.
I do appreciate that it will not be possible use the auto focus on the camera and that focusing will have to be done manually. My main concern is the exposure.
Regards
Michael
Hi Michael, of course there is!
The adaptable mount is also available for Nikon cameras and I might have one for you. I’ll have a look.
Focus will be manual (a good thing with this terrific macro lens) and aperture will be automatic as with a native lens.
Thank you very much. I await the result of your search.
Regards
Michael
I use a Tamton 28-80 (Model 27A) on a Nikon D750 – and am impressed by this lens. However, when processing the RAW files in Affinity Photo there is some distortion – e.g. horizons slightly curve. I can corect this manually but has anyne developed. lens profile that can be added to Affinity software as a pre-set?
Hi,
I inherited a bunch of vintage Minolta and some Tamron lenses each with it’s own Adaptall to Minolta adapter. I’m thinking of buying a Sony A7ii to use with them. Is it better to get an Adaptall to E-mount adapter for the Tamron lenses, or to keep the Adaptall adapters on the Tamron lenses and just get one Minolta to E-mount adapter. I don’t care if I have to buy two adapters, my only concern is image quality. I see you have used Tamron lenses with and without the Adaptall adapter, is one method better than the other? Thanks, Jean-Louis
Hi Jean-Louis,
as far as I know there should be no difference, however Allan (see below) seems to have run into two incompatible adapters so if you want to be on the safe side I’d recommend the straight to NEX adapter from KAF Concepts that I show in one of the pictures on this page. Those should work 100%.
Happy shooting!
Hi Johan, You have a great resource here. I have a couple of Tamron Adaptall lenses, (90mm f2.5 SP & a 135mm f2.5) and I have them adapted to my Sony A7C through an Adaptall 2/M42/M42 to E mount set of adaptors and a Fotodiox Tamron to NEX adaptor. Both lenses & adaptors suffer from the same problem however. Neither lens will step down to more than about f5.6, with the problem around making the aperture actuator work. The lens appear to be working fine its just the adaptors dont seem to work the actuator correctly. Are you aware of any modifications that can be done to the lenses to make them work as they should? Any idea’s would be most appreciated
Hi Allan,
the only possible solution I can suggest is to get the cheaper KAF Concepts straight adapter from Adaptall to Sony E that I show in one of the images on this page, it does not have any linkage and any Adaptall lens should work as a 100% manual aperture lens on those adapters.
Happy shooting!
Hello from Uruguay ,
Happy New Year Johan 🙂
Nice place to stop and check about the Tamrom adapt all lenses! For me they are intriguing and also a new chance to change my photography. I have a Fuji xt4 camera, and an older Canon 5Dsr, (yes the one with the 50mpx) . This camera, is not working well anymore, still shooting but only with manual focus. I used it for a long time and was thinking, why not try some of this Adapt all lenses on the canon, all in all I will be shooting manually. I loved your 105 mm lens. I would like to know, if you can give me any advice regarding an adapter for either the Canon or the Fuji xt camera? And just by chance with the big 50mpx images, will the image be sacrificed? Fuji has just got 26mpx so, if that’s the case, getting an adapter for Fuji x mount would be the reasonable step to follow. Thank you for the great information! Best wishes.
Hi Daniela,
saw your message waaay too late, haha!
There are adapters that go straight from the Adaptall mount to your XT4, no extra adapter needed. But, an adapter from Adaptall to Canon EF should also be available online.
Happy shooting!