Tamron 17mm f3.5 - Is This Lens Separation?

I bought this online and wondering if this is lens separation or something else? I've been refunded in full, so no issues there, but I'm curious if it's repairable as they aren't cheap to come by these days, and if the cost to repair was better than buying another, I might go that route.

Otherwise, saving my pennies will be the only way to go and I'll display it in my "Camera Cabinet" or use it as a paperweight.

Looks like separation to me.
I would use it - just keep away from high flare situations.
It may also show some reduced resolution at the edges of the frame, or maybe it won't?
You may only see bad effects at larger apertures.
Can you live with a 17mm f/5.6 lens?

Take pictures with it and stop examining it under a microscope. The 17mm is one of the best lenses Tamron made and you'll never see any issues with it.

beemermark said:

Take pictures with it and stop examining it under a microscope. The 17mm is one of the best lenses Tamron made and you'll never see any issues with it.

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I've shot with one of these previously - Tamron's have always been a staple in my kit, but noticed immediately with this one, that the centre has a definite "hotspot" in sunlight, hence the question. Stopping down helps, but if I was needing the extra stops, the shots would be pretty woeful - the hotspot is as obvious as big, pink spots on a hippo.

Compared to the shots taken on a Tokina 17mm I also owned for several years - the Tokina wins hands down as it wasn't showing any issues at all apertures; sure they're soft on the edges and have some funky vignetting, but this one, sadly, is definitely not giving the great performance that I've always associated with Tamron SP lenses.

MattKing said:

Looks like separation to me.
I would use it - just keep away from high flare situations.
It may also show some reduced resolution at the edges of the frame, or maybe it won't?
You may only see bad effects at larger apertures.
Can you live with a 17mm f/5.6 lens?

Click to expand...

Matt, it has a very obvious hotspot when shooting wide open in sunlight (not just high flare situations).
Yes, it does improve as I stop down, but as I like shooting wide open it's not an ideal choice - guess I'll keep looking for a better example and in the meantime use it at f5.6.