Samples: Tamron Adaptall Automatic 135mm F2.8

Samples: Tamron Adaptall Automatic 135mm F2.8

mount: Adaptall
format: full frame
year: ca. 1973-1976
max aperture: F2.8
min aperture: F22
elements/group: 5/4
aperture blades: 9
min focus distance (mm): 1500
filter diameter (mm): 55
length (mm): 102 (with Minolta AF mount)
weight (g): 540 (with Minolta AF mount)

additional information:
This is kind of a - silver - mystery lens since information on it is hard to get. In the Tamron chronology it appears between the (black) Adapt-a-Matic lenses (produced before 1973) and the first (black) Adaptall(-1) lenses (produced from 1976 on) which have been followed by the Adaptall-2 and the Adaptall-2 SP lens series. It has several silver companion lenses from the about the same period of production, 1973-1976 (105mm F2.5, 200mm F3.5, 300mm F5.6, 70-150mm F3.8, 70-220mm F3.8, 80-250mm F3.8, 85-210mm F4.5). For some of them I could identify a "Z + 3 digits" code number, but not for the 135mm F2.8. For some of them both, a silver and a black copy existed, but probably not for all of them.

The 135mm Tamron/changeable mount chronology would therefore be the following:
- Adapt-A-Matic 135mm F2.8 (code#: JSG-28Au) - lighter and shorter, 4 elements in 4 groups
- Adaptall Automatic 135mm F2.8 (code#: Z-???) - produced only in silver version, 5 elements in 4 groups
- Adaptall(-1) 135mm F2.8 (code#: CT-135) - a much shorter and lighter lens, has only 6 blades, 4 elements in 4 groups
- Adaptall-2 135mm F2.5 (code#: 03B) - also lighter and shorter, 4 elements in 4 groups
There is no Adaptall-2 SP lens of this focal length.

The best source of information on Adaptall lenses which I could find is this one, although there is only very limited information on this series of silver Adaptall lenses available and no information on the lens here featured.

The lens has a built-in hood. The filter thread of 55mm is not functional - none of my 55mm filters could be screwed in.


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#2 100% crop of #1



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Edit - links repaired!

Edited by waldo_posth - 02 July 2017 at 10:45

I'm not sure about your chronology. From my memory at the time (which could be mistaken, I'll admit!), the early 135mm lenses I saw were all f3.5 or more and quite long, and the f2.8 came later post-1970, and the shorter ones with built-in lens hoods were later still (1974-ish?).

It's possible I'm confusing lenses of different brands, here, but there were a lot more brands then than actual manufacturers, and most of them had a similar appearance/style/build at a given time. Whether this was due to copying, or just that they used the same sub-contractors and parts, I don't know, but if you look at pentaxforums M42 listing, for example, you can see the same styles in different brands, varying over time.

Be that as it may, I found the later 135mm version form Soligor/Miranda, which is very similar to several other makes I've seen, to have superb sharpness on colour slides, even wide open, and much better than the early ones (of which my family had several between us).

I think the T4 mount was a Tamron design, but used by Soligor and Miranda among others, and I know some Miranda stuff was built by Soligor who I thought were Japanese. But as you say, it gets complex . . .

I have an early Tamron adaptall CT-300 (the 300mm f5.6 lens) which looks very like your 135mm.

One of my more recent shots with the CT-135, wide open at f/2.8, on Nex 5N with Fotasy adapter. This was an attempt to shoot at MFD, and I think I was close, if not right on MFD.