Price: $1400
Fine full frame standard
THE LOW-DOWN: The Tamron lens, with an f2.8 constant maximum aperture, is in the category of “standard” zoom for a full frame DSLR. It can be used on a reduced sensor APS camera, where the focal lengths then become 36–105mm. Optical performance improves on an APS camera because of the reduced circle of illumination – the sensor captures the sweet spot in the centre of the image. We tested it on a full frame Canon. Construction quality is good. The new Ultrasonic Silent Drive focusing and the Vibration Correction (USD and VC) add to the versatility of the lens. New glass elements promise better image quality and new diaphragm geometry is said to improve out-of-focus highlights. Zoom action is slightly stiff and rough but manual focus is smooth.
LIKE: Auto focus lives up to the promise in the advertising. It is lightning fast and completely silent. Optical performance is generally good, with reservations about edge sharpness and distortion. Used judiciously the lens produces excellent images with slightly warm tones.
DISLIKE: The barrel distortion at wide-angle and pincushion distortion at 70mm is obvious. However this is characteristic of this category of lens. You wouldn’t use it for architecture.
VERDICT: Canon, Nikon and Sigma all make a lens similar to this one. It is a versatile event lens, useful for weddings and parties where a quick change of focal length is more important than pin-sharp edges. They all seem to work best, with reasonable overall sharpness and reduced distortion, with the aperture closed to f5.6 or smaller. The Tamron is well specified, well priced and well made. To give an idea of how well priced, the Canon equivalent costs around $2500 and the Nikon $2200.
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