Two weeks ago, I wrote about a Tamron 300mm that I was having problems with. After being forced to make photos of Jo’s daughter Evinn with the lens and camera set to manual mode, I tried that 300mm f2.8 on several more Nikon bodies, and found that it would focus with an old 2003 Nikon D3, but would not on the newer D800 or D780.
I had intended to mention that problem in a future article, and wondered if when the lens was set to AF there might also be exposure problems, even though it was fine in manual mode.
I talked with a friend who is a Nikon repair specialist, and he said that there are many of those older lenses (made to use on AF film cameras) that can be problematic. He says that if one searches, there are lists of those old camera/lens combinations that indicate which old lenses and newer cameras work.
With that info, I was thinking I would try making a package deal with an older Nikon camera to someone who wouldn’t mind using the older camera and lens. So I put it aside to take to the Vancouver Used Camera Sale coming up in April.
I had been using my Nikon D850, and after talking to my tech friend I thought I should test that lens on it. When I touched the shutter button, it was a case of "What the heck!" when the lens focused!
I tried it a bit in the house, and it seemed to work, but I wanted to try it outside in the daylight. The next morning I saw Jo outside with her dogs, and took the lens out to try. We took turns. She photographed her dogs and a rooster sitting on an outbuilding, and I photographed my cats sneaking around in in the bushes.
Wandering around with a fully working 300mm set at f/2.8 was great fun. The lens focuses reasonably accurately and has excellent Bokeh: a word with Japanese origins that means “The way the lens renders out-of-focus.” The word is supposed to come from the Japanese word boke, which means “haze" or "blur".
All that said, I think that any long lens is fun to use. My preference for any kind of portraits is focal lengths of 100mm and longer. Now I am looking forward to using this big 300mm f/2.8 for some head and shoulder portraiture. However, I am thinking the addition of a monopod with a ball-head will make the four-pound lens more comfortable to use.
I have no doubt that there are lots of these old AF lenses from the days of film photography available at reasonable prices that are also of excellent quality. The problem for us is, of course, finding one that works on the camera body we own.
I searched with the wording “What Nikon cameras work with Tamron 300mm f2.8” and found a list of the Nikon models that should be compatible. Still, I would hesitate to purchase an old AF lens from the days of film photography without actually trying it out on my camera. However, if one can do that, and it works, then hooray!
Stay safe and be creative. These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.
