I’ve been intrigued by the Tamron Adaptall series of lenses since I first learned about them a while back. A search on fleabay over time lead me to a 28mm version, a nice wide angle that looked like a good option for use on the Canon 6D for landscape use, and so it proved to be. However, with a simple adapter change it also buckles up to the Olympus OM-D E-M1 quite nicely as well.
The Adaptall was Tamron’s effort to provide a “one size fits all” lens that would work across camera platforms by providing different adapters for different bodies. Kind of like what is happening now with various companies providing adapters for the old manual lenses to allow their use on modern DSLR and mirrorless cameras. But Tamron was (to the best of my knowledge) first in the idea by a long shot – not counting the generic type lenses that simply required a body with the same lens attachment, like the myriad M42 threaded lenses that worked across brands as long as the camera body was threaded for the system. No, Tamron provided the lenses and the adapters that would allow you to buy one lens and adapt it to various camera bodies by switching out the adapter. The 28mm f/2.5 example I was able to snag on the ‘bay came with a Pentax mount. I obtained both M4/3 and EF mount adapters so the lens can be adapted to both camera body families in the stable.
It’s got a reasonably wide f/2.5 aperture and can be set to “zone focus”, a feature I’ve not yet just much. However, for floral photography its slightly “soft” focus can yield pleasing results. Here are some recent images (from this morning) that I was able to capture with the Olympus wearing the Tamron Adaptal 2 28mm lens.
With a short minimum focal distance, reasonably pleasant bokeh and soft focus imparting a kind of dreamy quality to the images, this is a fun lens to work with. I can’t help but wonder about the other lenses in the Adaptall family! Maybe someday I’ll get a chance to pick up some of the others.