This week I sold a lens I absolutely did not like at all second hand. The ancient Nikon AF Nikkor 24-85mm 1:2.8-4 D IF Aspherical macro lens sounds cool but fails to live up to all that gibberish! Focus distance is too far away in my opinion, dull and fuzzy when wide open, poor AF and overall just not what I was looking for in a lens. Especially not after using a Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 G2 for so long. I’ve been spoiled!

I sold the 24-85mm and went to buy a Tamron 90mm SP Macro. I was incredibly excited! Macro photography really speaks to me and I want to use it to photograph board games and models and minis. I couldn’t stop talking at work about how excited I was to buy this Macro lens! I met up with the seller and immediately we started talking cameras and lenses. I tried the Tamron 90mm on my Nikon D750 and the AF didn’t work. Confused I passed the lens back to the seller who took out his Nikon D500 and same issue. The lens was broken meaning no Macro for me and I was one camera lens short now.

Desperate to get a new lens since I only had a 50mm prime and a 70-200mm zoom available to me now, I just had to spend the secondhand sale cash burning in my pocket. I found an ad for another long named lens called the Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR DI LD aspherical (IF) Macro lens!

Same story of meeting up in a back alley to make the deal I did a test run before buying. The lens seemed up to snuff and looked in good shape so I paid the man his money and ran away to play with my new toy!

Below you can see a my first few outdoor photos to test sharpness and detail. This was the first church in Montreal I found stepping out of the alley way from the sale.

Next I came across this amazing street view of enormous graffiti which I couldn’t ignore!

Now it was time to go to the Museum of fine art to really get in and close and try the lens out wide open and check the bokeh. The museum is closed on Mondays! I needed a new plan.

A quick look on Tripadvisor showed the closest attraction to me was the Barbie Expo which is the #9 sight to see in Montreal. With the added bonus of a free admission fee I was enticed into the world of Barbie!

With the afternoon passing me by and being all out of Barbies to photograph I ducked back to the hotel to check the results of the shots. Very happy I quickly grabbed my gear and hiked up Mount Royal to shoot a few more while I still had light.

I was getting into the golden hour and took advantage. I snapped a quick panorama of Montreal with the Tamron 28-75mm. Nothing fancy. Just a tripod and 5 photos stitched in Adobe Lightroom classic.

Then I switched to my Tamron 70-200mm so I could grab a few shots of folks enjoying the skyline view of the city. As akward as it feels snapping photos of people passing by and living their lives I really do love the concept of street photography and the life it captures.

Finally I ran into a couple with a camera phone getting someone to take their picture. I felt I was up to the challenge also and offered to shoot a few pictures for them. I am not normally out and about in the golden hour so I was happy for the opportunity to capitalize on the golden light!

I love the way these golden hour shots turned out! I’m looking forward to trying some portraits and low light shots with the Tamrron 28-75mm wide open to make sure I can trust it as an everyday event lens.

Still up Mount Royal and a short walk from the look off I went to the cross and made sure to get a few shots of that as well before making my way down and back to my hotel again.

Thanks for reading and following along if you’ve made it this far.

See you all next time!

Jeff ~ The RPG