Tamron Calibration?

[Jayson]

I recently purchased a Tamron 17-50 and discovered it had a back/front focusing issue. I was disappointedsince I was really looking forward to using this lens a ton this summer. I suck at manual focusing so this is something I really need to do.


If anyone hassent oneof these in for service,or any tamron lens for that matter, can you fill me in on your experience? I have been lucky and have never sent any lens for calibration and I am looking to ease my mind. I purchased the lens from B&H. Should I contact them first? Sure wish I owned a camera with Microadjustment capabilities(or at least I think that would solve the problem).


Thanks,


Jayson

[piiooo]

Take look at this site, you can ask them first what needs to be done. I don't think lens calibration will take that long.


http://www.tamron.com/about/services.asp

[Chuck Lee]

Jayson,


Around a year ago I sent a 70-300 f4-5.6 DI Macro in for service under warranty. It was around 3-4 weeks total trip time. As far as the experience, I called, the rep pointed me to the service doc, I printed it, filled it out and shipped the lens to the address given. 3-4 weeks later the lens arrived in perfect working order.


If I had bought the 17-50 f2.8 DiII from B&H, I would ask them first for an exchange.


You will have to pay shipping charges regardless, so I would weigh the to different options carefully.


1) Send back to B&H for another copy and hope it's a good one. Round trip time about 1-2 weeks.


2) Sendto Tamron service and hope it comes back calibrated correctly. Round trip time 3-4 weeks. Also, they may be hard to convince that the lens has a front back focus issue. You will need to verify by placing the camera with lens on a tripod and shooting multiple photos of a focus chart. Tim Jackson's is the one I use. http://focustestchart.com/chart.html


I bought my 17-50 f2.8 DiII from a local shop. The 1st copy I tested (in their store) did not have a front/back focus issue it was just soft. The 2nd copy tested was perfect. Absolutely, a fantastic bargain. What a wonderful lens!!


Hope you get things worked out.


Chuck

[Jayson]

Thanks for all of your advise. I am going to try and send it in to Tamron for the calibration. Thanks Chuck for the link you provided, I printed it off and it is off by quite a bit. I decided to do the calibration route as this lens is a good copy. I have been manual focusing on subjects and it is razor sharp. Only problem is on the AF. Hopefully they can get that corrected. Just to be sure I tested my other lenses and this is the only one that had an issue. Hopefully it will work out great.


Thanks again.


Jayson

[Chuck Lee]

Good Deal Jayson,


Let us know how Tamron service reacts to the focusing issue. It's always good to hear feedback. Like AC360... "Keeping Them Honest"


Chuck