If you want your image good only for short period time (like half year), it should be OK for this lens. I think I am unlucky guy for this lens.
After read Popular Photography Magazine test result for this lens, I took the plunge. But it was out of the stock in New York. I call all Tamron retailers on my planed trip location. Found one in Boulder, Colorado. Flew to Boulder, bought in MSRP price at Mike’s Camera.
The first impression was the build quality – plastic; Down-toward zoom is too easy; up-toward zoom is very hard. I think there is no damping inside the lens. The non-internal focus lens, when you zoom out, like at the plastic inner barrel. I am worry it will be broken some day; Focus always hutting in low light, I must turn the lens zoom to some location and focus again and again.
When I brought this lens from the warm temperature of the car to the cold temperature outside (17F). Some time later, I found 3 racks in front glass. Back to Houston, I called Tamron USA If is it belong the 6-year warranty (material defect). Said “please mail to us. It is very difficult to discuss on the phone…”
After one week waiting to input my data to Tamron system. I called them again. They asked me $160.87 to replace the UV-Filter-Like glass. 6-year warranty only for mechanical defect. Not for material defect. I have the experience with Sigma for 50-500mm. I dropped the lens to the concrete ground. Both zoom and focus rings are locked (barrel deformed), I called Sigma USA. They ask me for $70 and then mailed to Sigma USA. Two weeks later I received a new serial number lens (change the outer barrel) – this was after one year warranty and it was gray market lens.
If you look at Tamron website Contact us – there is one sentence “All declined repairs will incur a $10.00 return shipping fee.” Do you think how many customs like choose - “declined sky high repair price”. I did.
Right now I am choosing macro lens. No Tamron any more. Do not be cheated by the 6-year warranty.
I bought this lens in Hongkong via Ebay, with some reservations as reviews mentioned the huge variability in quality of the lens. The seller assured me though that the international warranty was valid in Europe so I decided to see what would come of it. When the lens arrived there was some dust between the elements, so I sent in the lens to the service department here in Holland asking to clean and calibrate it, which was done without any cost and trouble. So finally I could try the lens, which proved to be awsome. I made test images comparing the performance with the Canon 50mm 1.8 and the Canon 85mm 1.2. Compared to the first lens the images were comparable in sharpness though the excellent contast of the Tamron stood out clearly. This was even the case when compared to the 85mm. (the Tamron on 75mm F8), where the difference in sharpness was almost negligeable. Quite an acievement, if you know the outstanding MTF figues of the Cnon 85mm 1.2 (4.6 on photodo.com). The pictures made with the 85mm were a bit cleaner and had more transparancy, but didn't have the beautiful contrast of the Tamron (which probably also has to do with the excellent flare control). Anyway, I was considering replacing the cheap Tamron by the Canon 24-70mm, but after my tests I relized how extraordinarily good the Tamron actually is. My copy gets a 5, without any qualms, I am very happy with it and can only recommend it as the absolutely best buy in this zoom range.
Strengths:
Sharpness, contrast, build quality, relatively low weight and inconspicuous size
I love this lense. You can't beat the quality for the price that you pay. It is very sharp for f2.8 thru f8.0 then the sharpness tends to degrade a little. Perfect for a Canon 10D or 20D. I shot some portraits with it, the picture were extremely sharp.
The detail is amazing for a lense priced below $400.00.
Strengths:
Super Sharp. Not so heavy. Quiet.
Weaknesses:
I wish the range was better. It would be nice to have a 28-135mm for this quality and price.
I purchased this lens for my niece who uses a Canon 10D. For Canon users, this is a very nice lens and she loves it. If you notice in these reviews, most of the photographers have Canon cameras. Many Canon lenses are made by Sigma, so Tamron is actually a step up. If the Canon lens line could match their digital cameras in quality, they would be used by more working pros.
Strengths:
Build quality is not all that bad. A solid feel. An extremely sharp lens around f8 or there abouts. For Canon users, this should be a highly considered lens.
Weaknesses:
None to speak of, especially when you consider the price for a 2.8!!!!!! It does the job very well.
Similar Products Used:
None in the Tamron line of lenses. When you use Nikon lenses, you don't have to go to Tamron for quality.
I bought this lens primarily for travel and for portrait photography when I don't have a lot of opportunity to pose the subjects. Prime lenses are almost always better quality for the same price, but I've lost a lot of moments due to not having the right lens on at the right time and not being able to change before the moment is gone. So this lens fills that gap.
I use this lens on a Pentax *ist D and so with the "crop factor" I more-or-less get a focal length of 42-113mm, which is a reasonably good range, especially for candid portraits.
This is a very usable lens. It absolutely kills the cheap Sigma 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens that came with my DSLR. The build quality isn't as good as top-of-the-line lenses, but it doesn't feel flimsy either. There's a reasurring weight to it.
The images are quite sharp. They rival those produced by my Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro lens. In fact, I'm hard pressed to see any real difference between the shots they each do. The lens is usable at all f-stops, though I rarely shoot it wide open or fully stopped down. Generally, I have it between f4 and f11.
I don't really notice distortion at either end. There is a small amount at the wide end, but it's only to be expected and it is hardly noticable, really. The colours and contrast are excellent for a zoom lens.
The manual-focus ring is a nice size compared to many modern zooms. You can usually tell if a lens is serious quality by the size of its focus ring.
Strengths:
See above!
Good image quality. :)
Weaknesses:
There are none, really. I do wish that it had a slightly bigger range (say from 18-105mm), but there are no lenses for Pentax that come close to that right now.
The build quality could be a bit better.
Focus speed isn't great, but most Pentax or Pentax-compatible stuff has that problem.
Vignettes a little at the wide end.
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