Lens Question - lens without iris?
 

I found a lens today - Tamaron 1:4.5 80-200mm zoom, but I think the iris was either stuck or wasn't there at all. I couldn't turn the iris barrel for the life of me in the shop. Do they make lenses without an iris? Is there a way of checking before I buy it?

If it is a lightweight plastic body lens, you may find something which looks like a little sliding switch somewhere on the lens near the back which should release the aperture ring, or there may be a tiny push-in button release on the ring itself. Otherwise you may have to tape or pack open the little auto-exposure lever which makes the iris open and shut.

If that lens is for digital still-camera it may blacken the corners as f4.5 is a bit tight, otherwise if it is an older black and heavy adaptall model it may be allright. The older 80 -250mm Tamron adaptamatic is a nice lens, even on a 16mm motion film camera. Tamron just happened to get it right with that one and people seem to hang onto them.