Tamron SP 17mm F3.5(51B / 151B)
Adaptall 2 system, widest angle, 17mm prime lens
A review and Photo example of the TAMRON SP17mm(51B).
Table of contents
Gallery
- The examples were taken with the SONY α900(151B)
- The examples were taken with the HASSELBLAD X2D(51B)
Review
1．Lens overview
Tamron SP 17mm F3.5 (51B / 151B) is a manual focus (MF) wide-angle lens.
This 17mm lens has two model numbers. Model number 51B has a vertical knurled focus ring with an exposed lens distance marker, and has four rotating color filters, just like Leica R-mount wide-angle lenses. Model number 151B is a successor to the 51B, with the distance marker covered by a plastic cover and the color filters removed. The 51B is 45 years old and the 151B is 35 years old, making it a fairly old 17mm ultra-wide-angle lens.
The lens mount uses the Adaptol 2 system, so it can be used with a wide range of SLR lenses, including Nikon Ai-S (Nikon F), Canon EF (EOS), Minolta α, Yashica Contax, Praktica M42, and Leica R.
The hood fits onto the camera barrel and is tightened with a screw on the side; the 51B comes with a rubber 20FH, while the 151B comes with a metal 86FH. The lens filter diameter is 82mm, and the filter screws into the front of the hood, so you cannot attach a filter without the hood.
When buying this lens second-hand, it often does not come with a hood, and if you buy one separately it can be quite expensive. A dedicated front cap is also made, and we recommend attaching it to the front of the lens to protect it when the hood is not attached. This is relatively often included with second-hand items.
2．Usage
Tamron lenses seem to be relatively resistant to deterioration over time, and even 40-year-old lenses can be used as long as they are properly handled.
I don’t use ultra-wide-angle lenses very often, so this lens, which can be used with a variety of mounts, was very useful. When used with a SIGMA SD14, the sensor conversion factor is 1.7 times, making it equivalent to 29mm, and when used with a PENTAX K20D, Sony α700, or Fujifilm FinePix S3Pro, the sensor conversion factor is 1.5 times, making it equivalent to 26mm, so when used with a camera with an APS-C size sensor, it feels like a wide-angle lens. Because the focal length is short at 17mm, it can be difficult to grasp the peak of focus depending on the matte viewfinder of a single-lens reflex camera.
As for the MF feel, this is my impression of the lenses I own, but the 51B is smooth, while the 151B seems to have lost its grease and is a bit loose.
The focal length of 17mm was included in the zoom lens category in the 2010s when I purchased the lens, and in 2003 Sigma released the 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG1, which includes 17mm.
The 51B is not a lens that is often found on the used market, so I found a used 51B in 2015 and purchased it. I have been using the 151B for about five years. The built-in color filter of the 51B is a mechanism from the film era, and with digital cameras, color can be dealt with in post-processing, so it is not a particularly necessary function.
3．Trial with a medium-format digital camera
In order to let the lens breathe in the outside air, I attached a Leica R mount to a Hasselblad X2D via a NOVOFLEX X-R mount adapter to test whether it could withstand the 100 million pixel resolution. When attached to a Hasselblad X2D, infinity was slightly over-inflated, and the infinity position was about between infinity and 2m on the distance indicator.
When using this lens, there were some cameras where it was difficult to check the focus position using the viewfinder of a single-lens reflex camera, but when using the magnification function on the X2D’s EVF, it was very easy to check the focus position, and I felt grateful for the advancement of technology.
The result of the shooting was that the center of the captured image had a good resolution, but the image circle was insufficient for the 44 x 33mm center size, and a square crop of 33x33mm seemed to be the limit of use. When cropped at 3:2 in the 35mm Leica version, 9922*6614 pixels can be used, covering about 37mm in width, which covers a 35mm full-size sensor without any problems. However, when the aperture is fully open, the image becomes soft at the periphery. If you stop down the aperture to around F5.6, the performance is sufficient for 35mm format.
3:2 Trimming example
Specification
| Lens name | 51B | 151B |
| Local length(mm) | 17 | 17 |
| Max aperture | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Min aperture | 22 | 22 |
| Leaf blade | 5 | 5 |
| Lens Construction | 12elements in 10group | 12elements in 10group |
| Min distance(m) | 0.25 | 0.25 |
| Lens length(mm) | 41.7 | 41.7 |
| Lens Max diameter(mm) | 70 | 71 |
| Filter Size(mm) | 82 | 82 |
| Weight(g) | 347 | 325 |
| Release date | 1979-1984 | 1989-2000 |
Reference links
Update history
- 2024.9.9
- 2024.03.29:modified article
- 2023.06.05:firest post
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