lens dilemma...

hi - just took collection of a lens from fleabay yesterday - a tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD...I had read reviews about it and most of them said it was a top notch lens so this prompted me to buy it...
tho - one or two reviews said that a lot of the images were a bit soft - especially when at f2.8!
some even mentioned that they had to take the lens back to tamron to get it calibrated with their specific dslr...

now - I went out last night (lovely sunny evening!) and just about every pic I took was really soft - and it looks like the seller doesn't do refunds (tho, I'll have tp check with him...)

here's a couple of pics of my new amp - but with a bit of post sharpening...plus the camera was resting on the tv so it images should be sharp as it gets...





what do you think I should do - can I more or less (within the ebay rules etc) get the seller to refund me, or just try to sell it again on fleabay?

cheers

 

Did the seller make any claims about the lens' performance? I'm wondering if it's a bad design rather than faulty, would the seller accept liability. I assume it's second hand so distance selling doesn't come into it I guess.

 

Hi dev - no, not really...his ad states -
"You are bidding on a remarkable, hardly used (as a spare only) Tamron Lense in original box (as new) with quality Hoya filter (fitted from new).

Delivery will be by recorded post from Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

DESCRIPTION

The most compact and lightest in the history of fast zoom lenses. Thanks to the revolutionary downsizing "XR" technology employed by Tamron in the development of high-power zoom lenses such as the 28-200mm and 28-300mm, the dramatic compactness that makes this lens the world's smallest and lightest is achieved. Its compactness makes it look and feel like an ordinary standard zoom lens, yet the versatility that a fast constant maximum aperture offers will definitely reshape your photographic horizons.

This lens is in a superb condition. There are no scratches or dust. It was used only as a spare lens of amateur photographer.

Delivery:
Next day dispatch, Royal Mail 1st class recorded."

and the return policy states -
"Return policy not specified.
Read item description for any reference to return policy. "

I suspect that calibration should solve it - but because I bought it 2nd hand - I guess I'd have to pay for that (70 quid I've heard) and it takes a fair while to do - but when done it's supposed to be top notch...

 

Try contacting Tamron directly. You don't have to tell them that the lens is secondhand unless they ask. Try and argue that it's not fit for the purpose...

 

You can but ask - he didn't say no returns did he ?.

If not you could check if its forward or back focusing a bit - some cameras can compensate for that internally.

But I dont think its never going to be as sharp as your old f1.4.

 

yeah, I'd already mailed them - but I told them I'd bought it from fleabay...

think what I'm gonna have to do is play with it a bit more and most likely put in on ebay again next week...

just I'm going to a wedding this weekend and that's the main reason I bought it...

 

yep - I could do that I guess....

not sure what you mean about the forward / back focusing..?

nope - I guess it would be as sharp as my f1.4 - that said, most of the reviews said at around f4 - that it was just as sharp as the canon L lens equivalent...

I only managed 2 real sharp shots last night - and they were of a wall....they rest were soift - and I did many duplicate shots with f2.8 and around f4...

 

various reviews here...
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=187&sort=7&cat=43&page=1

 

re the back focusing. Some lenses give a misreading and the catual focus point is just in front or behind the point it reads.

Here's one of the articles on it.

http://focustestchart.com/chart.html

 

Sure you're not just mistaking bad focusing with a narrow DOF?

 

nope... I know all about bokeh having owned the nifty fifty and a 30mm f1.4....

it's not a case of bad focusing either - it's that the images are soft and not as sharp as they should be...

not sure if this is a trait, or if I have a bad one that needs to be calibrated etc...

 

<cough>getanikon<cough>

 

at this rate I'll be buying a cheap panny fz7 again...!

 

There's a chance that sending it back to factory could just be a case of pouring money after bad. I'd whack it back on the bay. Do a nice ad and you may turn a profit!

 

yeah, that thought had crossed my mind...

looking at this site -
http://www.pixel-peeper.com/lenses/?lens=6&p=1

most of the pics do seem to be very sharp - especially compared to mine...Hmmm...

 

ok guys - bit of an update here...
went out into the back yard and took a few more pics and just about all of them turned out fine...strange or what?

didn't do anything different from last night...







nothing special about the subjects tho...

 

I check http://www.the-digital-picture.com/ every time I'm looking at buying something for 400D.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Tamron-28-75mm-F-2.8-XR-Di-Lens-Review.aspx

Quote "One of the most notable feature of this lens is the good center sharpness it delivers, with decent center sharpness at f/2.8 and good center sharpness at f/4. I make the center designation clear as corner sharpness is a completely different story. The Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di Lens is very soft in the corners. My first copy was dreadfully soft in the upper left portion of the frame. My second copy has very poor right side performance - especially at 35mm. Corner sharpness improves as the lens is stopped down and zoomed out (toward 75mm). But, some corner softness is still present at 75mm and f/8. Fortunately, users of 1.5x/1.6x FOVCF digital SLR camera bodies will avoid the worst of this pain. Note regarding the ISO 12233 test chart sample crops: I was told that I had a bad copy, so I retested the first copy and then bought and tested (a very time-consuming process) a second lens. The results from the second lens were worse than the first. I may go for a third lens at some point, but need to move on to other tasks. There may be better copies of this lens available, but quality control is definitely a concern. "

 

yeah, i read that review too - that's partkly what prompted me - as I wasn't sure if i had a bad lens...if I had, then what recourse would i have had as I bought it 2nd hand from ebay...as I would have had to send it back to tamron (actually - I mailed them yesterday and they still haven't got back to me!) and I thionk the calibration service cost about 70 notes...
but overall - the reviews I'd seen indicated that it was a good lens and it's size won it over from the sigma equivalent...