70-210 F2.8 TAMRON SP LD (77)

I almost bought a lens online and just happened to ask if it was compatible

with the Canon XTi, which it wasn't.

 

Does anyone know if this lens is compatible with the XTi? I'm assuming

somewhere in the description of the lens, I would be able to figure it out, but

I have no idea what to look for.

 

The lens is 70-210 F2.8 TAMRON SP LD (77)

I'd guess that is the older manual focus version with the interchangeable adaptall mounts. It won't have any electronic connections for the EOS system, and is not compatible. At one point I thought I saw an EOS-adaptall mount but I have never seen one since. Even if you find a way to attach it, you will be stuck with MF and stop-down metering. It probably isn't worth your time.

There is one at keh.com for $525 USD. It is an autofocus lens for EOS cameras, so it will mount on the XTi but it will likely lose autofocus and/or aperture control. It would still work on older film bodies but I have no idea which ones.

 

 

The manual focus version was an 80-200mm f2.8 lens. There are rare EOS-Adaptall mounts for this lens but they sell for about $100 USD each on eBay. You are better off buying any adaptall lens and then buying the Nikon-Adaptall mount and a Nikon to Eos adapter. As mentioned above you get stopped down metering, manual focus, and metering in Av and Manual modes.

i'll wait and save for the canon 70-200 i suppose

The lens in question appears to have an EF mount, so the EOS-Adaptall mount wouldn't be required. However, some of these mounts are available on eBay for $35 inclusive of shipping:

 

http://photography.search.ebay.com/Canon-EOS-Adaptall_Cameras-Photo_W0QQ_trksidZm37QQfromZR40QQsacatZ625QQssPageNameZRC0021

 

Beware: Adaptall-2 mount lenses don't have digital coatings and some of them can cause digital sensor reflection flare at smaller apertures.

 

I don't know whether this lens is XTi compatible, but KEH could probably advise you whether any copy they offer is or isn't. On average they're probably safer to deal with than unknown eBay sellers, and sometimes their prices are better too. You can also find out clearly compatible models by using their search process. In particular, they explicitly specify the Sigma EOS-mount lenses that only work with film bodies.

 

BTW, it might be worth specifying a max price and intended uses for the lens you want and requesting feedback on candidates -- you might have to discard the suggestions whose proposers will not have listened to your specifications, but you might get a usable idea or two :-)

 

You probably would want autofocus for a fast zoom such as you specify.

"Beware: Adaptall-2 mount lenses don't have digital coatings and some of them can cause digital sensor reflection flare at smaller apertures. "<p>Where did you read that?

"Beware: Adaptall-2 mount lenses don't have digital coatings and some of them can cause digital sensor reflection flare at smaller apertures. "

 

oh, the beauty of the internet!

I have one of these lenses and it works fine on my D30, 3 and 7N. There's no reason it should not work on an XTi. Older Tamron lenses have had very little in the way of problems working on Canon bodies, even the newest ones. Sigma is at the other end of that spectrum and their older lenses will not work on newer Canon bodies like my 7n and DSLRs from the 10D on with the possible exception of the original 1D.

""Beware: Adaptall-2 mount lenses don't have digital coatings and some of them can cause digital sensor reflection flare at smaller apertures."

 

Where did you read that?"

 

The sensor flare comes from experience, and the explanation comes from various sources, which you could probably find via the search function.

"oh, the beauty of the internet!"

 

Alas the j'ne sais quoi facility of its practitioners!

The Tamron 70-210mm/2.8 at KEH should work on the XTi. Unlike older Sigma lens, Tamron's older generation lens do work on new DSLR. I have a same era Tamron 35-105/2.8 EOS mount lens and it work perfectly on my 5D and 300D (with auto everthing). This lens does have a good repuation in optical quality. What you give is louder and slower AF motor for the motor technology of that ERA. If it doesn't work, KEH is typically one phone call away from giving you a refund. As for this lens not being a digital lens, most of Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Minolta lens you can buy at the store today are designed way before DSLR's time.

Tommy,

 

Thanks for the authoritative take on the lens under consideration. Perhaps the OP can reconsider his opportunities in light of that info.

 

Sorry for the confusion, but if you read carefully, you should realize that I was suggesting not all Tamron Adaptall lenses have sufficient coating for digital use -- I was compounding the confusion deriving from the original response to this post, but the fault is mine for not being perfectly clear about Adaptall vs. subsequent lenses.

 

Also, you have to evaluate each Adaptall lens. For example, my SP 500mm f/8 mirror lens has no problem, but my old film favorite, the SP 90mm SP Macro (52B), shows sensor flare at apertures narrower than f/8. About 50% of snaps at f/11 show a light, large, flare disk, while 99+% of snaps at f/32 show a tight, bright, cyan disk smack in the middle of the image. At f/8 and wider, all is well. This pattern might have as much to do with the apparently flat film/sensor side of the rear element as it does with its coating.

 

When exploiting the facility of the EOS mount by using older lenses, you occasionally run into some not immediately obvious gotchas.

I owned a 70-210/2.8 Tamron for a while and used it, generally with success, on my 20D.

AF worked but was painfully slow at times (for sports use); the image quality was quite solid.

However, I paid substantially less than $500 for it (I think I bought and sold it for something

around $325 or $350). I did upgrade to the Sigma 70-200/2.8 after selling the Tamron, and

the AF improvement was extremely welcome.

Tamron announced in March- of this year, a new 70-200mm f/2.8 but for whatever reason, it has failed to show up in stored. Seems like a relatively good lens, but no one seems to know when it might be available.

 

http://www.tamron.com/news/35mm/70200.asp

I talked with Tamron at the NYC photo show last week. I think they are planning to get their new lenses out (70-200/2.8 and a 28-300IS) by the end of the year