Pekka Buttler, 07/2026
(Like with many Tamron lenses of this era, the rubber rings have not stood the test of time. In the case of this lens, the rings have become brittle and have cracked and peeled off)
Versions
During the Adaptall years (1973–1980), Tamron produced three different versions of the 85–210/4.5. All lenses share the same optical recipe (12 elements in 9 groups) as well as the mainline specifications (85–201 mm) and f/4.5 maximum aperture. These versions are detailed below.
• Z-210 (1973–1976). Clear plastic cover on focusing distance scale. Available both in black and light silver. (see below)
• CZ-210M (1976–1978). With macro mode that allows 1:3 maximum magnification.
• QZ-210M (1978–1979). Virtually indistinguishable from previous lens, but reported as slightly slimmer. (see below)
Specifications Z-210
The table below summarises the lens’ key specifications (measurements based on pictured sample with Canon FD adapter):
| Brand: | Tamron | Lens name | Zoom Macro 1:4.5 f=85~210mm Auto |
| Focal length(s) 1 | 85–210 mm | Angle-of-view 2 | 30°–12° |
| Maximum Aperture | f/4.5 | In Production | 1973–1976 |
| Lens mounts (native) | Tamron Adaptall | Other lens mounts | See article on Adaptall |
| Length 3 | 149,5 mm (without adapter) 160,9 mm (with Canon FD adapter) | Diameter 4 | 64,9 mm |
| Filter ring diameter | 55 mm | Weight | 720 grams (without adapters) 768 grams (with Canon FD adapter) |
| Lens element count | 12 | Lens group count | 9 |
| Aperture blades (S/R/C) 5 | 9 S | Focus throw | 180 ° |
| Minimum focusing distance (measured) | 187 cms (@85 mm) 185 cms (@210 mm) | Maximum magnification (measured) | 1:19 (@85 mm) 1:7,1 (@210 mm) |
| Has manual aperture ring | YES | Has manual focus ring | YES |
| Aperture mechanism type | Automatic | Aperture click stops (on preset ring) 6 | 4.5•5.6•8•11•16-22 |
• zoomed to 85 mm and focused at infinity with hood retracted
• zoomed to 210 mm and focused at infinity with hood retracted
• zoomed to 210 mm and focused at MFD with hood retracted
• zoomed to 210 mm and focused at MFD with hood extended.
Further notes (on Z-210):
• This lens was designed to use the Tamron Adaptall intermediate mount
• Tamron has always had its own coding scheme for lens designs. This coding scheme is extremely useful to discern between two (or more) lenses that have the same mainline specifications (focal length and maximum aperture). According to the Tamron coding scheme, this lens is “Model Z-210”.
• The entire zooming mechanism is internal and the lens does not change size or shape when zooming.
• When focusing toward infinity the lens does lengthen by ca. 9 mm. The filter threads rotate on zooming
• Unlike its successors (the CZ-210M and QZ-210M), this lens does not have a macro mode.
• This lens has an integrated, pull out lens hood, that extends by ≈21 mm.
Specifications QZ-210M
The table below summarises the lens’ key specifications (measurements based on pictured sample with Pentax K adapter):
| Brand: | Tamron | Lens name | Zoom Macro 1:4.5 f=85~210mm BBAR MULTI C |
| Focal length(s) | 85–210 mm | Angle-of-view | 30°–12° |
| Maximum Aperture | f/4.5 | In Production | 1978–1979 |
| Lens mounts (native) | Tamron Adaptall | Other lens mounts | See article on Adaptall |
| Length | 147,2 mm (without adapter) 152,5 mm (with Pentax K adapter) | Diameter | 64,6 mm |
| Filter ring diameter | 55 mm | Weight | 612 grams (without adapters) 667 grams (with Pentax K adapter) |
| Lens element count | 12 | Lens group count | 9 |
| Aperture blades (S/R/C) | 6 S | Focus throw | 90 ° |
| Minimum focusing distance (measured) | 192 cms (@85 mm) 182 cms (@210 mm) | Maximum magnification (measured) | 1:7,1 (@ 210 mm) 1;2,8 (@macro) |
| Has manual aperture ring | YES | Has manual focus ring | YES |
| Aperture mechanism type | Automatic | Aperture click stops (on preset ring) | 4.5-5.6•8•11•16-22 |
• zoomed to 85 mm and focused at infinity with hood retracted
• zoomed to 210 mm and focused at infinity with hood retracted
• zoomed to 210 mm and focused at MFD with hood retracted
• zoomed to 210 mm and focused at MFD with hood extended.
Further notes (on QZ-210M):
• This lens was designed to use the Tamron Adaptall intermediate mount
• Tamron has always had its own coding scheme for lens designs. This coding scheme is extremely useful to discern between two (or more) lenses that have the same mainline specifications (focal length and maximum aperture). According to the Tamron coding scheme, this lens is “Model QZ-210M”.
• The entire zooming mechanism is internal and the lens does not change size or shape when zooming.
• When focusing toward infinity the lens does lengthen by ca. 9 mm. The filter threads rotate on zooming
• The zoom ring also operates the macro mode. When you rotate the zoom ring toward 85 mm, then press the macro button and keep twisting the zoom ring, you enter the macro mode. To exit the macro mode, you need to again press the macro button.
• This lens has an integrated, pull out lens hood, that extends by ≈18 mm.
• zoomed to 210 mm and focused at MFD with hood retracted
max macro engaged mm and focused at MFD with hood retracted
Adapting
Given that this lens uses an intermediate mount, there are several ways to go, depending on what your intention is
If you intend to adapt your Tamron Adaptall lens to a dSLR…
There are original Tamron Adaptall adapters to both Pentax K and Nikon F (Ai) available. These adapters allow you to use the tamron Adaptall lens as if it was a native (manual focus) lens (including aperture and aperture priority exposure automation). There are also modern adapters available from several adapter manufacturers, but – in general – these adapters are dumb adapters and do not allow aperture control.
If your dSLR is a Canon EF or Sony/Minolta A and Four thirds camera, you can get an aftermarket dumb adapter, but will have to manually control aperture.
To film SLRs?
You’re in luck, because there used to be Adaptall/Adaptall-2 adapters made for pretty much every mainstream SLR system available before the mid-70s, (including at least7: Canon FD*, Contax/Yashica*, Fujica X†, Konica AR*, M42 (several variants8), Mamiya Z°, Minolta SR*, Miranda°, Nikon F° (Pre-Ai and Ai), Olympus OM*, Pentax K (K° and A† versions), Praktica B†, Rollei QBM° and Topcon RE° (Exakta). What you need to do is head to your favourite online classifieds platform and procure an adapter (adapters for dSLR mounts are still available new).
Notes:
* Available both as Adaptall 1 and 2 (with different features)
° Available only as Adaptall 1
† Available only as Adaptall 2
To Mirrorless
If you already have a number of adapters from the typical SLR mounts to your mirrorless camera (e.g. Canon FD / M42 / Nikon F / Olympus OM / Pentax K …) your best choice is to either:
- get an original Tamron adapter from Adaptall to whatever your most favoured SLR era lens mount is or
- get a modern Tamron adapter to mirrorless adapter from one of the contemporary adapter manufacturers (K&F Concept seems to offer dumb adapters for Adaptall to most mirrorless mounts)
Of these, the earlier option is likely to be cheaper and the later less finicky.
History of Tamron
A short history of Tamron can be found as part of the Tamron company profile.
Footnotes
- Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
- Picture angle is given in degrees and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
> 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
< 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎ - Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at infinity. ↩︎
- Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
- S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
- Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎
- This list will only contain adapters that we at JAPB have witnessed. ↩︎
- There were both adaptall adapters to vanilla M42 mounts as well as some of the M42 variants (such as Fujica M42, Mamiya M42, Praktica electronic M42). For details, see the JAPB article on the m42 mount.
↩︎