Tamron SP A001 70-200mm F/2.8 LD AF IF Di Lens For Nikon

jcs401

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I recently bought a used tamron SP A001 70-200 2.8 LD AF IF DI lens for about $400. Seems to be in good shape except I cannot seem to get it to auto focus in "live view mode" on my Nikon D7100. My question is, should I keep it or try to re-sell it and make a bit of profit as most in this shape are going for about a $100 more than what I paid for it? Also, is this a lens worth having or should I try to sell and upgrade to a Nikkor or sigma? Are the Nikkor/sigma 80-200/70-200 2.8's that much better than the one I have now?
 
Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 non VC is a tricky lens.
It is known for its sharpness but also known for its slow auto focusing and tendency to hunt in lower light.
I never heard of AF issues in live view so I cant comment on that.
I had the old non OS Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 it was a good lens (except I got a broken one but thats a different story).
I have the Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 VC, its an awesome lens, excellent value for the money.
It worked perfectly on my D7100, D5100, D60 and D750
A friend on mine has the Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 OS, it works great on his D5200 and D7100

You can try and take your lens to Tamron to see if they can update it to work on your D7100, that would be my first move.
If you are not happy with the results you can check the other options like the Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 MkI, Nikon 80-200mm 2.8D, Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 OS and None OS and Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 VC

Good luck
 
I recently bought a used tamron SP A001 70-200 2.8 LD AF IF DI lens for about $400. Seems to be in good shape except I cannot seem to get it to auto focus in "live view mode" on my Nikon D7100. My question is, should I keep it or try to re-sell it and make a bit of profit as most in this shape are going for about a $100 more than what I paid for it? Also, is this a lens worth having or should I try to sell and upgrade to a Nikkor or sigma? Are the Nikkor/sigma 80-200/70-200 2.8's that much better than the one I have now?

If it focuses properly using the viewfinder, I'd keep it.

The one I tried was front focusing. Other then being noisy and very slow to focus it's a good lens, some
would rank it above the older 70-200 Sigmas of that era.
 
It is I was told about 4 yrs old. And was told they are pretty sharp lenses. Just didn't know if there are signing officiant benefit to a sigma or Nikon lens of this sort?
 
I've watched a video recently on Canon 70-200 2.8 mk2 IS (which is probably the best lens in that range at the moment) vs the new Sigma and the new Tamron, all with IS/VR.. and the differences were really small. If you're happy with that Tamron, it's all that matters. If you can afford a brand new (last gen) 70-200 nikkor, it's going to be better. Simple as that.
 
That lens will likely not live view as it came out before the current d7000 series. I had the same issue with a sigma 50-150 which requires a firmware update to live view on newest bodies.

As far as I know also, no screw driven lenses will focus in live view
 
That's a huge help with the auto focus thing in live view. I was so confused. Is this an update I can do? Or will it just simply not work in live view. I don't use live view often but would maybe like to sometimes but isn't a deal breaker. Would I need to send it out to TAMRON or can it even be updated?
 
Tamron could only do this if it's even possible. I know it says in Nikon manual that lens needs to be AF-S for live view focus to work, in sigma this is similar to hsm and in tamron it's USD. I believe that older Tammy has a different motor than USD, so I'm not sure if it's at all possible
 
What would Nikon models be that are not a year or 2 old for this type of lens? Want to look up the correct ones if I go that route. Bran new ones are out since they are a tad bit pricey
 
I personally wouldn't use live view for this specific lens. Do you need it to focus in live view? If not don't worry about it, it does everything else well
 
So all in all do you think the $409 I paid for this lens being 4 years old is worth it? Good/bad deal??
 
It's a good lens. That's not huge money. Do you like it. It should give good results for many types of photo
 
I went through this same scenario about a year and a half ago when I picked up my Tamron 17-50 2.8. The lens would not auto focus on either my D3100 or my D7000 in live view mode. I contacted Tamron and from what the person at Tamron said it was likely that my particular lens was manufactured before those camera's came out so the electronic board needed to be updated to make it work. I opted to not do it as the cost then was around $150 and I didn't feel the need to spend that money since I would never benefit from it as I never shoot in live view mode.

It's likely that this is the same case with your particular lens as Tamron made that lens all the way up until about a year ago when it was replaced with the newer 70-200 2.8 with VC.
 

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