Tamron's SP lens line was targeted towards serious amateur and professional photographers. Shown at left (click on image for a high resolution photo) is Tamron's SP lens line circa 1980. All lenses shown, with the single exception of the SP 24-48, were introduced in 1979. The SP 24-48 was introduced the following year. Although the SP 35-80 was introduced in late 1979, this lens was not shown in a similar photo for the 1979 catalog.

Tamron really made quite a splash in 1979 with the introduction of their entirely new SP lens line. All of these SP lenses were in development at approximately the same time and at considerable expense. Each SP lens was designed to fulfill specific applications and needs. For example, the SP 70-150 SOFT lens was specifically designed for portrait photography and featured a continuously variable "SOFT" ring which introduced varying amounts of spherical aberration. Many professional portrait photographers still use this very sharp and fast zoom lens today. Another good example is the SP 300 F/5.6 telephoto. This lens was designed to be both an excellent and lightweight hand-holdable long telephoto lens and an extremely good long distance macro lens. One of our favorite lenses is the SP 24-48 wide angle zoom. This lens is very compact yet provides superior optical performance compared to many similar OEM lenses of the era.

SP Adaptall-2 Lens Index

Lenses are sorted by focal length. Fixed focal length lenses are listed first, followed by zoom lenses and tele-converters.

Lens Description	Model	Introduction	Discontinued	Photo
SP 17mm F/3.5	51B	1979	1984
SP 90mm F/2.5	52B	1979	1988
SP 180mm F/2.5 LD-IF	63B	1988	1992
SP 300mm F/2.8 LD	107B	1983	1984
SP 300mm F/2.8 LD-IF	60B	1984	1992
SP 300mm F/2.8 LD-IF	360B	1993	2006
SP 300mm F/5.6	54B	1979	1984
SP 350mm F/5.6	06B	1981	1985
SP 400mm F/4 LD-IF	65B	1988	1995
SP 500mm F/8	55B	1979	1983
SP 500mm F/8	55BB	1983	2006
SP 24-48mm F/3.5-3.8	13A	1980	1987
SP 28-80mm F/3.5-4.2	27A	1983	1987
SP 28-135mm F/4-4.5	28A	1983	1988
SP 35-80mm F/2.8-3.8	01A	1979	1985
SP 35-210mm F/3.5-4.2	26A	1983	1987
SP 60-300mm F/3.8-5.4	23A	1983	2000
SP 70-150mm F/2.8 SOFT	51A	1979	1983
SP 70-210mm F/3.5-4	52A	1979	1984
SP 70-210mm F/3.5	19AH	1984	1999**
SP 80-200mm F/2.8	30A	1985	1992
SP 200-500mm F/5.6	31A	1984	1992
SP 1.4X Tele-Converter	140F	1984?	1994
SP 2X Tele-Converter	01F	1979	1999*
SP 2X Tele-Converter	200F	1984?	1985

** Information indicates that the lens was discontinued in the given year. Nevertheless, all Adaptall-2 lenses were discontinued in July 2006.