Tamron lens question
by Doug Lewis
on
Jul 21, 2005 at 3:08:50 am
I currently have a Canon D30 camera with a 28-80 lens, from my old EOS Rebel 35 mm camera. I am looking at the Tamron AF18-200mm XR Di II lens. Does anyone have an opinion about this lens or Tamron in general? I rarely print anything bigger than 8x10 and mostly shoot pictures as a hobby. I shoot video to make money.
But even as a hobby, I miss the wide angle of a 28mm lens and could achieve this with an 18-200mm. Also the 200mm (300mm on a digital camera) would come in handy. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.
Re: Tamron lens question by Nick Griffin on Jul 24, 2005 at 5:29:23 pm
Many (OK, many, many) years ago I had a six week old Tamron lens literally come apart in my hands. The dealer was gracious enough to immediately replace it with a new one which he then let me apply toward the cost of upgrading to an equivalent Nikon. This left me with what I still believe to be the valuable lesson of (say it with me now) YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
Granted I have no current knowledge of Tamron products and their quality relative to the lenses made by the primary manufacturers, but... don't you think there's a REASON that the Tamron is so much cheaper than lenses from Nikon, Canon and especially Zeiss?
With all of the above said, if you use the Tamron lightly and not give it day to day professional abuse, it may be OK. It's not likely that it will last as many years as a lens from an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), but maybe it will be fine. Maybe.
Now about the optics: an 18 to 200 zoom?? I can only imagine the number of compromises made in design to accomodate that range. But then, what do I know? I'm just a photographer with opinions.
Re: Tamron lens question by Ian Schmoel on Aug 4, 2005 at 5:23:02 pm
I just purchased a Tamron 28-75 about 3 weeks ago and have used it quite a bit. The images are extremely sharp with nice color. Check out http://www.fredmiranda.com/ or dpreview.com for more reviews.
Also, as Nick mentioned, the wider the range of the lens the chances the image quality is going to be less.
