Good zoom range. Good opticall quality. Well build.

Very poor autofocus performence at reduced light levels (and I do not mean night, but just lower than daylight) Pricy considering total package and alternatives in the market.

I bought this lens after reading all the rave reviews and after my Canon 28-105 did not survive a 2-feet fall on a hard-wood floor. Initially I was very pleased with this lens. It is a good lens optically with a very usefull zoom-range. However, it just focuses very poorly when the light levels are anything other than full daylight. The hunting and waiting for a autofocus-lock just drove me crazy! So I decided to trade it in and get the Canon 28-105 back, this time the new type II version. Optically these lenses do not differ much, but the USM and the slightly wider aperture on the Canon just make a world of difference in autofocus performance

Customer Service

Never needed

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 28-105 USM 3.5-4.5 I/II

-Seems to be built well -Handy focal range -Zoom lock is nifty -Comes with hood -Good contrast and color saturation -Price is reasonable

-Pretty heavy lens to carry around -AF is slow -Sharpness at 24mm is terrible, even at f/8 and f/11, primarily around the edges and in the corners of the frame -

I bought this lens to use when shooting at night clubs and raves. I really didn''t want to bring multiple lenses, but I wanted the wideness of 24mm. I was about to go out and buy a Nikon 24-120 or 24-85 which sound like good lenses. I bought the Tamron after reading most of the stuff on hear, and because of the price difference. I had not really had any experience with Tamron so I figured I''d give it a try (didn''t know who to believe in the argument between hardcore nikon people and those who use off-brand). I am very disappointed with this lens...it''s not half what I had hoped. The first thing I shot when I got the lens was a few rolls at a club of dj''s and people dancing. The shots came out pretty well. The color saturation and contrast look real good. The sharpness is nothing spectacular. On 8x10 prints there is noticeable fuzziness in mostly every shot...could be the AF but it''s hard to tell in these photos. I shot a few rolls of landscapes recently with only this lens for a school assignment. Everything was shot at f/8 f/11 or f/16 at varying focal lengths (primarily between 24-35 though). I used 100 asa film and printed everything on 11x14 paper. Every print showed a HUGE amount of fuzziness in the lower left corner. Looking at the center of the photos, they are pretty sharp. Every frame showed lack of sharpness at the edge of the frame and more in the corners, the bottom left corner much moreso than the rest. I''m a college photo student and I don''t have incredibly high standards. I didn''t expect this lens to be anything truly incredible simply because of the focal range. I did expect that the lens would perform better than a sigma 28-80 I bought for $40 that I used up until I had the money to buy something decent. It could be that I just got a crapper...I''m sending it back to Tamron to see what''s going on. I hope the lens I received is an exception because otherwise all of the reviews on this page are completely false. You''re welcome to email me in a few weeks to find out what happens with sending the lens to Tamron.

Customer Service

Will find out soon enough...

Similar Products Used:

Nothing near this zoom range except a bottom-of-the-line sigma 28-80 which appears to have outperformed this lens as far as sharpness.

Build quality bests the Nikon products (28-105, 24-85), lense quality surpases any other single non-pro lense (even at that you''ll never see the dif at anything less than full page spread), reasonable speed, compact single lense solution for virtually everything but an African safari.

Only the unfounded paranoia and fear I initially felt about twisting that "off- brand" F mount onto my F100 - that vanished with the first developed roll.

I know what your''e thinking, "it doesn''t say Nikon on it". Well I thought the same thing! Went to local camera shop and tried it on my F100 at least 4 different times. Compared it to Nikon''s 24-85 - at least 4 different times. Bottom line is I wish it said Nikon on it also - but, then Nikon would nick you for an extra hundred bucks for no better value! Beginner to pro this lense can handle most every situation. Don''t waste your time on anything else this lense is the real deal in terms of color, sharpness, contrast and build quality. Traded my 28-105 toward this lense and, after I got back my first roll, I never looked back! Sure I love my Nikon 80-200 2.8 -do you carry yours around everywhere? Who wouldn''t like to have a 17-35 & 28-70 2.8. But would you carry them around all the time - if you could afford them? Believe me, this lens does it all for a fraction of the cost for 98% of your shots. Buy it, use the money you saved for Fuji 100 and 400 film and the results will blow you away.

Customer Service

Haven''t had the need for it yet - but check out that lense warranty from Tamron! Hello Nikon - when are you guy''s going to get with the program.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 28-105, 35-70 2.8, 24-120, blah, blah, blah.

Excellent range. Good built quality

Considering the price, none.

This is an excellent little ''travel'' zoom. Well built and an excellent performer. I''ve noticed very little distortion and the images are sharp and contrasty. If I need to travel light, this is the lens I take. Most of my work is digital now and that extra 4mm at the wide end is REALLY useful. Although I use more serious glass for most of my pro work, I have no qualms if I need to use the Tamron, if I''m photographing for fun, it''s seldom off my camera.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

Canon 17-35L Canon 28-70L Sigma 17-35EX Sigma 24-70EX

Very sharp at all focal lengths, and from edge to edge. Sturdy and firm with smooth operation of both zoom and focus. Nicely compact for the 24mm-135mm range it provides, and has a solid well built feel. Rubber on zoom and focus is easy on the fingers.

Some vignette at 24mm. A couple of dust particles inside lens, but from what I can see haven’t affected any of my photos.

I did a lot of research before I bought this lens. For the price ($370 after the $50 rebate) this is one great lens, and IMO perfect for someone who isn’t a pro but wants comparable quality photos. Even my 8x10s are detailed and sharp. The 24mm wide angle really made a nice difference from the 28mm’s I’ve used in the past. Using good quality film like Kodak RG helps this lens reach its potential. I’ve taken some really sharp macro shots, as well as some very detailed close and distant landscape ones. Also, the lens is consistent in performance when I go back and forth between various exposure settings. After three months of using it and going through 30 rolls of film, I am very, very pleased with the quality of photos it produces.

Customer Service

Haven''t needed it.

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 70-300mm (2000 model), and some point and shoot type cameras with built in lenses.

zoom range construction

soft at wide open

please ignore my previous review as it is for the tokina 100-300/4 but posed on the wrong site. as for the tamron, sharpness is superb at the long end. at the short end, center sharpness is good but softens quite a bit around the corners, that is at wide open. stop down they are great but will be quite slow when stop down. colour wise is great. flare not very well controlled as i have flash pictures where the corner of a metal specs frame has caused flare, which i have never experienced before.overall a great lens to ahve when travelling. the range is really useful.this lens and my 100-300/4 covers a good 24 to 300, w TC up to 600/8. good enough for me.

Customer Service

nil

Similar Products Used:

28-200 28-105 35-80

Very sharp, well built (typical of Tamron), good flare control, excellent bokeh, great focal range.

Terrible distortion all over the place, not near fast enough to be quoted an SP lens, heavy vignetting, poor shielding from dust -- this may be a manufacturing issue as every single one of the five or six brand new 24-135mm SP lenses I have seen in the past few months come with a lot of dust inside the lens from the factory (unacceptable and a first in my experience with Tamron!)

This lens disappointed me... Tamron is marketing it as an SP lens but I can assure you, SP it is not. This is simply another average zoom lens with just above average sharpness. The distortion of the lens at either focal range end is unacceptable even for an average consumer grade zoom. It is absolutely bad. Vignetting is a huge problem for this lens especially when shooting wide open. Also, the speed of the lens is nothing to write home about. On the other hand, sharpness is well above average and surely the best I have seen yet in a Tamron. However, that is not enough to make this a great lens. Don''t be fooled by the marketing and the SP characterization. I have owned quite an array of Tamron lenses and have used almost every other at one time or another; this one is not near what I expected for a 50th anniversary edition SP lens. If you photograph people, then this lens will probably be fine for you, but if you are into landscapes or architectural, then you should look at other lenses before committing on this one.

Customer Service

I don''t know as I have never needed it.

Similar Products Used:

Way too many to mention all of them here, but these are some: Canon 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM II Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Tamron 28-105mm f/4-5.6 Tamron 28-105mm f/2.8 SP Tamron 28-200mm f/3.8-

crisp contrast, vibrant colors, sharp, quality, price, versitality.

i would say this is probably on of the heaviest lenses for this zoom range at this price in the market, flimsy and delicate lens hood, i''m not even sure if it does the purpose of preventing flare to be honest, even though the lens itself is good with flare, stiffness of the zoom barrel (don''t know if it lossens up thru time.

One lense you can depend on it.. as they have said it is very sharp and contrasty which will produce vibrant colors, the zoom barrel is a bit on the stiff side, compared to the EF lenses, if you have a light camera you might experience the stiffness more cause this lens is kind of on the heavy side. Pictures are above average, very good i should say for what is worth, but don''t catigorize it into pro series lenses. but if anyone is going to rate this lense less than 5 it''s worth seeing how they rated other products :)

Customer Service

we shall see...

Similar Products Used:

so many to mentioon

Price Fast Focusing, Outstaning color rendition and contrast Above average sharpness at 24mm and 135mm Excellent shapness from 35mm to 100mm Great warranty, and as of now a rebate 72mm filters, same as most Canon "L" lens Light weight

None really, especially for the price. If it were a fixed F/4 (or 2.8) at the largest with this same color, contrast and even sharpness it would be a perfect lens. But it would probably cost twice as much

I Like this lens a lot. It is fast focusing and considering the price, very good. I''ve used several different film types and speeds an found 2 things to be true no matter what I''ve used. Color rendition and contrast are fantastic. The Macro close focus function works relatively well and sharpness is better than I expected. Many "medium cost wide range zooms" are very poor when judged on sharpness. And 24mm-135mm is a very wide spread. I do find that at 24mm or 135mm you get a "little soft". But not too bad considering what all this lens does. If you''ve used the Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens the sharpness "loss" is very simular to the 85mm at f/1.8-2. I found it acceptable. We sometimes forget that these Zoom lens, costing under $500.00 and doing many "jobs" with wide zoom ranges aren''t going to do everything perfectly. Compared to my Canon 28-70mm f/2.8 L or the incredible 135mm f/2 L, it isn''t as sharp or fast, but Color rendition & contrast are equal. Compared to my Tokina 28-70mm f/2.8 ATX Pro II, I like it much better in all areas. I find my self using it as a general purpose lens, mounting it on my camera when I''m not sure what i want to shoot, and never ever regreting that I bought it

Customer Service

I''ve never had to use it, but a six year warranty i great

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-70mm f/2.8 "L" Canon 135mm f/2 "L" Canon 85mm f/1.8

24mm! Incredible sharpness for a zoom contrast great manual focus fast autofocus and fairly quiet

umm.... I won''t be like everyone else and say that I wish it were a faster lens. If it were then it would cost 4 times as much and be twice the size. No thank you.

This lens opened my eyes to what a higher quality zoom can deliver. I have a Canon 50mm 1.8 and a 28mm 2.8 along with a Sigma 28-105 UCIII lens. The Tamron was on par with both of my prime lens in contrast and sharpness. Perhaps a bit more contrast than the 28mm. The wide angle is worth every penny. For those of you that don''t think the 4mm difference from 28mm to 24mm really need to see it to belive it. It opened a whole new world for me. I absolutely loved having such a sharp versitle lens to carry with me when I did not want to lug a bunch of primes around. The manual focus works great as well , requiring very little wrist movement to move from infinity to .4 meters. Autofucus is among the best compared against the non-USM lenses. Just buy this lens, and you will thank yourself for it.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

28mm 2.8 Canon 50mm 1.8 Canon 28-105 Sigma UCIII