Zoom. The 300mm get's right in your face every time! Highly recommend it if tossing up between a 200mm and a 300mm
Simplicity (I looked at many reviews before purchasing this lens and alot of people complained of difficulty in using it, but I found this to be extremely easy, other than the macro which takes like an extra 5 seconds to learn... or just read the manual for once)
Sharp (I photographed my mates flying around off the back of utes on the weekend, at about only 25m, at 300mm still came out crystal clear)
Also haven't noticed any "purple-ing" or something I remember people mentioning. Seems to have just never come up at all.

Can be a bit soft on the macro. Only noticeable if blown up, but yeah, can be a bit.

The AF. I know it is often mentioned, but it really is quite laggy. I don't mind and often will do a whole shoot on MF, you just have to be prepared to at times. If you are shooting sports and you go on AF, you are quite likely to miss a few good shots waiting for it to focus. But MF is very simple on it (although basically the same as every other decent lens lol) and quite easy to do a whole shoot/event using it alone.

You really need an additional flash if you're going to shoot indoors. The in-built flash just ain't gonna cut it anymore if you move up to this size/standard lens. And it is very difficult to just go with a long exposure (might cut it with a higher ISO, but I've found the noise on mine gets too much, again if only a better body lol)

*using it on a Nikon (D40)

Summed most of it up in the pros and cons. I love it, and yeah, any beginners I'm sure would be fine except the note I put below (regarding VR) but I think most people should be fine. Still picks up alot of light and I have used for sports, landscapes, macro, wildlife and portraits (both indoor and outdoor) so far and it has suited all situations perfectly. I do have to admit that the AF is a bit slow and laggy, likes to search all the way in one direction before turning around (aka if the last object you focused on was at 2m and the one you want to focus on is 1m away, it will often search up to infinite, give up and then you have to try and focus again and wait for it to come back) so for obvious reasons I like going on MF a bit, and it is relatively easy; but using MF would be a lot better with a better body =( ...one day... haha.

If you're a beginner or struggle to hold it still... you will learn, but if you've got the funds, Nikon's VR or VR-II really does help. Didn't take me long to learn to hold it steady at all though. I tried my uncle's (with VR) and its a gem, plus you can really see when someone else (another family member) uses this lens compared to someone who is used to it. Doesn't take long to adapt though.

Customer Service

...purchased on eBay. but they were great, really quick shipping and great packaging. I won't push their URL or anything but they really were great and have a few for sale. From memory, there was only one store with them for sale, so i don't really need to push it anyway; you should find it if you have a look (that was on ebay.com.au ... shipped form China somewhere.. probably knocked off the back of a truck, but I prefer not to think about that =P haha)

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Nikon 18-200mm VR (my Uncle's so I don't remember the exact specs) but I much prefer mine just due to that bit more zoom. Even though his had VR (which did help a lot) you get used to holding it with steady hands relatively quickly, but when my sister or dad borrow it, you can definitely see the advantage of having VR for them.

Great lens for the everyday photograph, not for pros. Slow lens but decent enough in good light.

Lens is light weight. Has six-year warranty. Much less expensive than comparable Canon lenses.

Auto focus is slow compared to some Canon EF lenses. Also, the lens has an annoying problem with blue/purple fringe effects at larger apertures and when lens is fully extended. This has ruined some otherwise good photos. To prevent this effect, the aperature needs to be at least f/8 or smaller when taking photos with high contrast subjects or backlighting, e.g., tree branches with bright sky in the background. This, of course, requires slower shutter speeds.

At the present time (April 2008), the lens is being repaired (under warranty) to adjust/replace the aperature assembly.

Pros: Lens is light weight. Has six-year warranty. Much less expensive than comparable Canon lenses.

Cons: Auto focus is slow compared to some Canon EF lenses. Also has an annoying problem with blue/purple fringe effects at larger apertures and when lens is fully extended.

Customer Service

Will know when the lens returns from repairs.

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Canon EF 28-300 mm zoom.

Fast, large

Not as sharp as you want it probably. Especially from 200 on to 300.

Read a lot of test but was surprised when I received this lens. Seems to work fine for me.
You need light. But if you have enough light it is a good lens. Also the macro is very well for a lens of this price. I would recommend it.

AF works fast, but you need some contrast to work well.

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None

Truly lightweight, allows great mobility especially in outdoors and sport photography.

Blurred, noisy, and relatively slow in autofocusing.

We bought this zoom lenses immediately before we purchased our new EOS 350D and we were told that this was the ultimate light weight, money for value zoom. For the first 6 months we tried to get some clarity in the pictures, but with no luck: indoors, outdoors, in sunny, cloudy and rainy days. At the beginning we thought the we messing up the camera settings (but also the automatic "point and shoot" has been frustrating) but then we realized that pictures supposed to be crystal clear were always blurred, as if a plastic curtain had been laid all around us.
Then two weeks ago the Error 99 situation occurred, firstly when using the maximal extension at 300, especially at apertures above the 5.6 and the manual focus but finally also with f4 exposures and autofocus. Now more than once we are missing out pictures because the Error 99 appears unexpectedly. Needless to say the lenses never sustained any shock, or other damage.
Macro, another disappointment. Even in the best conditions, with pointed light, long exposures on a stable tripod the images are far from being sharp.
Colors are wonderfully maintained, and considering the price, this Tamron has sustained the versatility of the EOS 350D in a wide range of ambients.

Great lens when you need a light zoom for taking pictures of people or animals who you can not get as close to as you woud like. It sufficiently blurs the background and is a fast enough lens for most normal applications. Sharp. Macro feature allows for close up work.

This lens is a bit of a pain in terms on having a rotating end as opposed to internal focusing. It's hard to put on a polazier or graduated ND filter.

The lens is light but also feels a bit cheap in the hand. Does not inspire confidence however comes with a good warranty.

I hate how in order to take it off Macro you need to twist the focus ring past 3 ft so you either have to listen as the focusing motor grind as you turn or you need to take it off AF and then remember to turn AF on again. When you want to switch to Macro you'll need to rotate the lens passes 180 mm. At 180mm you need to get a fair ways away to take a picture of even the smallest object. You really disconnect from your subject when you have to backway in order to focus and fit it in the frame. It all sounds straight forward but adds complexity to the phone shoot. I want to concentrate on composition, lighting, and camera set up and not worry about why my lens is not switching from one mode to another. I use it in 10% of my shooting so I can live with it for the price. Price is the big seller here, IS and USM would be nice but that whould just add to the price tag.

I hate and love this lens at the same time. It is not the best lens to work with but time and time again it delivers great pictures on both my Rebel XT and now with my XTi. It fits nicely in a kit with the 17-85 EF-S IS from Canon. It's light and very portable strapped to the side of my Lowepro top load AW. I also have the Sigma 18-200 and I think this lens is a fair bit sharper over the whole zoom range. The Sigma's niche is its very acceptable wide angle to about 90mm. Afterwards its sharpness drops of fast. I've used the Tamron (and the Sigma) for everything from small venue concerts and kid's parties to wildlife viewing. It consistantly provides crisp results especially at the second half of its range.

Customer Service

Have not tried

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Listen above

Excellent image quality throughout.
Effective macro feature.
Cost effective telephoto power.
Light weight and compact design.
Firm but smooth zoom ring.
Good sized focussing ring.
Metal lense mount.

Focus is slightly slow ( but tends to be accurate ).
Would like to feel a bit more resistance on the manual focus ring.
AF motor a bit noisy.
Plastic construction ( if that bothers you ).
Lense barrel rotates when focusing.
Possible QA issues, pehaps very isolated, see below.

For such a cheap lense the image quality is outstanding. Sharpness / contrast is very acceptable up to 200mm. At 300mm sharpness does suffer slightly but not really noticed unless you pixel peep. There is some CA at the wide end when fully open but no worse than anything else in this price range. Build qulity feels OK and is certainly better than most cheap kit lenses.
The macro facility is an added bonus and works very well.
I would not hesitate in recommending this lense to even more advanced amatures.

Customer Service

I have had a problem with Error 99 with this lense on my 20D. Hving spoken to Tamron, they suggest that I send them the lense for repair as they are certain its an internal problem.