Customer Reviews

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD VC (Vibration Compensation) Aspherical (IF) Macro Zoom Lens with Built in Motor for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have owned and tested the Tamron 28-300mm VC zoom lens for about 2 months now. Here is an early review from my experience so far.

Pros:
Excellent optical quality (stronger at shorter focal length)
Versatile multi-purpose walk around lens. Leave this one on your camera and no need to lug around extra lenses.
Amazing focal length range 28-300 equals to 44-480 on 1.6x crop sensor.
Compact size and light weight.
Vibration compensation works very well zoomed out and in macro shots
Solid and well built quality
Rubberize grip feels much better then most Canon lenses
Reasonable price relative to comparable lenses
Included hood
Center-pinch lens cap should be an industry standard.
Extra peace of mind with standard 6 year manufacturer warranty

Cons:
Wider angle would be nice on a 1.6x crop sensor. If you shoot a lot of landscapes 44mm may not be enough.
In low light, indoor conditions, the f3.5-6.3 aperture means I have to increase the ISO and use longer shutter speeds to shoot brighter.
Occasionally, the AF searches a bit in low light shooting
Not a big deal but, the lens creeps (extends with gravity) when lens lock is off and the lens is pointing down.

In conclusion, the Tamron AF 28-300mm VC lens is an exceptional choice if you are looking for a general walk around lens to keep on your camera. You can not beat the optical performance with such range from a relatively compact, light and well-built package, especially considering the price.

I replaced two Canon lenses (18-135 and 70-300) with this single lens and I'm glad I did it. Most of my pictures are hand-held, on hikes or vacation, and I really don't want to carry a bunch of lenses or change them in the field. In the last year, I've been hiking on a glacier in Canada and crossing the Sahara on horseback. Neither is a great place to change lenses and there were too many times I missed a shot I wanted because the right lens was in the bag, not on the camera.

This one is small, light, easy to use. I see no color or shape distortion. I can get the same results handheld at slower shutter speeds using Tamron's VC as I got with Canon's IS.

I do have a few small gotcha's, though. One is that the direction of the twist to zoom in is opposite direction to the Canon lens. That took a bit of getting used to. Another is that auto focusing is a little louder. That might be a problem for places where silence is important. Third (and last), there is very little twist difference between 200mm and 300mm focal lengths. In other words, it is difficult to make precise choices at the upper ends of the range. (All zooms are more granular at their lower numbers; it is just that with a range this wide it is more pronounced than usual.)

All in all, I'm very happy with this lens and recommend it to you.

I love this lens -- an all-purpose carry-around lens with VC built in, and very good optics. I am surprised consistently by the IQ of the photos I am taking - not what I expected from a general walk-around lens of this type.

With my previous Nikon kit -- the 18-200 was one of my favorite lenses, but the IQ was always a bit worse than what I got with any of my dedicated lenses...

Now with my Canon kit, I can clearly state that the Tamron 28-300 VC lens consistently gives me far better shots that the Nikon 18-200 ever did in the same lighting situations. The added zoom is a blessing and basically allows you to take your Canon camera, this lens, and nothing else on most photo shoots, especially when traveling.

I highly recommend this lens as an all-purpose walk-around lens, and I think you will find that the IQ is stunning -- beyond what you would imagine with a lens of this type.

My only wish -- that it was 18-300 because you DO miss the wider angle from 18-28 at times...but at this price point and this quality, I can't recommend it more. You will not be sorry with this lens, and you might, like myself, find yourself basically using this for almost all situations. It hasn't come off my Canon 40D in the two months I have had both.

I have a Canon 1DMkII, 1Ds and a 40D. I also have the Canon lenses - 28-300mm L IS, 100-400mm L IS, 70-200mm L IS and 300mm L IS The lenses and cameras are great needless to say. However they are big, heavy (except for the 40D) and not great to carry around all day when spending the day taking photos of something when you are not looking for that ultimate quality.

The Tamron fits that need perfectly. Remember I am comparing it to the best that Canon makes so being second is not a bad thing! Combined with the 40D or a Canon XTi it makes a perfect walk around combination. You can go from wide angle to telephoto with one lens. The resolution is fine and the image stabilization performs nicely and is especially noticeable at the 300mm range.

The price is good and the build quality is good. I wouldn't buy any other lens of this type. There are reviews in Popular Photo magazine and on their web site.

Ben Lanterman

I have been using this lens for about a month and I am very satisfied with it. The sharpness of the photographs is more than adequate for my needs and the VC works great. I routinely take photographs down to 1/8 which come out very sharp. When I need a flexible lens that will rapidly switch between wide angle and telephoto, this is the one I use.

Pros -
1. Huge range. I find my photographs are reasonably sharp at all focal lenths.
2. The VC works fantastic and truly allows you to capture photographs at much slower shutter speeds.
3. The build feels very solid.
4. Your options for a lens in this range are very limited. For the price and functionality I feel this is a very good lens.
5. The macro functionality works very well. It is not as good as a dedicated macro lens, but again, it is very nice to have the feature in an all-in-one lens.

Cons -
1. Without flash, this is not a practical indoors lens if your subjects are moving. For stationary objects the VC makes this an acceptable indoor lens.
2. The autofocus is not fast enough for photographing sports or other quick moving subjects.
3. There is a catch when zooming around 250mm. When the lens is at 300mm and you zoom back, the lens encounters resistence around 250mm and feels like it is stuck. At first I thought there was something wrong, but I have decided it is just a quirk that I need to get used to.

I gave four stars because it is has some minor drawbacks, most of which I knew before I purchased it. To get five stars the next version needs to autofocus faster. Constant f/2.8 would be nice also, but you can't expect that in a lens covering this range at this price. In fact, there is no lens on the market covering this range that has constant f/2.8.

That is how I like to think of this lens. No matter what the situation or lighting, I can make this lens work.
It was a major revelation for me: I was at a point in my photography where I had rejected all other lenses in favor of the much vaunted Canon "L" class lenses (which are wonderful and wickedly expensive). Yes indeed, call me what you will; lens snob, optical bigot, glass gas-bag - whatever.
I confess my mind was closed until I came across the Tamron 28-300mm. It debunked for me the myth that only "L" class lenses produced great pictures (that is a self-effacing statement in-itself as I would like to believe that my vision and creativity have something to do with the process.... but back to the Tamron) and I came to accept this as fact until a friend of mine lent me this lens to use as a walkabout lens. I was impressed enough after one week to buy this lens. The truth be told that of all the lenses I have (and that is quite a few) the best pictures I have ever taken were taken with this lens.

Pros in plain english:
It is a light lens and compact (hence a great walkabout lens) and when compared with the Canon 70-300, so much lighter and overall better feel and action.
At first I did not like the lens lock but once you get used to it, it's a great asset. Gravity will extend the lens if you tilt the camera down without the lock-tab activated.
The VR image stabilization is as good as any Canon lens.
Autofocus is fast and quiet.
At f/3.5, you have a lot of versatility with lighting, ISO, shutter speeds that you would not have with a f/5.6, but that seems fairly obvious and yet it makes the difference in many great shots.
Cons:
I don't like the center pinch lens cap. It's an innovative design but often doesn't hold unless you get it "just right".
The manual focus ring is as poorly placed as it is on most Canon lenses. A minor inconvience.
At maximum focal range the lens does tend to perform its worst. That is not true of all telephoto lenses.

If you're a premium lens snob, try this lens, rent it and I think you will buy it.
After all, for photographers, what price can any of us put on such versatility?

The 28/ 300 Tamron lens is both small in size and lightweight. I understand it to be the smallest and lightest zoom lens in its class. Its focal length ranges from 28mm in wide angle to 300mm ultra telephoto - outstanding.

The lens is easy to operate and fairly priced for what you get. It has an anti-shake mechanism which is activated once you push the shutter button half-way. I have found this anti-shake (Vibration Compensatiuon) feature to be extremely beneficial and have taken excellent telephoto shots without a tripod. The lens features a lock which prevents the lens from fully extending when you are walking and not shooting - nice feature. The lens has two rubberized rings which are appropriately placed and make it easy to quickly zoom in (or out) on a subject.

The underlying question to all reviews is "Would you buy it again?" Absolutely!!

I have this lens on my Nikon D80. Was going to get the Nikon 18-200 but the image quality on that lens is disappointing. The Tamron 28-300VC has proved to be extremely versatile. I took it to the zoo and it was perfect! The VC is very loud and clunky sounding. It'll take some getting used to but it's not so bad. Panning is nice because it doesn't have the delay you get form the Nikon 70-300VR.
As for build quality, it's a tamron so it's plastic. There is tons of lens creep after the first few weeks but there is a little latch to hold the lens at 28mm (I need to use it or else it'll creep). It's also a reasonable macro lens as well.
My only real gripe is with the autofocus. It is SLOW. If you shoot a Nikon AF-S, you will think this is slow. The initial focus is pretty close but then it takes a bunch of baby steps to lock onto the final focus. When I'm indoors shooting f4.5 or below, it takes about 1-2 seconds to focus. When it's even darker, sometimes 4-6 seconds! I know i'm pushing the lens but my kit lenses could do much better. You can read more about the slow focusing ability of the new Tamrons with micromotors online.
I would recommend this lens but gave it 4/5 stars instead of 5 because of the slow autofocus. Otherwise, given the price, quality, versatility and weight, it'd definitely be a 5.

Thanks.

When I purchased this Tamron Lens a Month ago, reviews were very scarce. I took a chance and was surprised at the sharp focus of this all purpose lens. The action of the zoom is fast, the image is crisp. It is very versatile. Two things that I found that I think would be useful. It has soft focus at the edge below f8 and you really have to remember to lock the lens. It can be agrivating to find the Lens Extended all the time due to gravity. A future addition would be to allow the lens to lock in several positions like 28mm, 50mm, and 85mm. I took several vertical shots and had great results(another review said that this was a problem).
I was happy to see that this lens performs well doing macro work as well even though it is not a dedicated macro lens. I was using two lenses, a Tamron 28-75 f2.8 and a Canon 70-300 is usm to do what this one now does for me. Plus neither of those lenses did macro!

I am a serious amateur photographer and the types of photos I do the most are of people, street photography, architecture and landscapes.

I was attracted to the Tamron 28-300 given its broad range and its very light weight and compact size. I also own the Canon 75-300 USM IS and the Canon f4L 70-200. The Tamron seem to me like a great lens for travel and field trips in which I do not want to take a big bag of lenses and accesories with me.

I am very satisfied with the lens. It does a great job across the whole range and is very sharp and delivers great colors. It is quite compact when it is closed or at 28mm and it grows significantly at 300mm. It is a great lens for street photography as it is not a big, intimidating canon. It does an awesome job on street photography, where you can capture buildings by opening the lens or zoom into people easily with the 300mm zoom. The VR shake redeuction also works great, I do not have a very steady hand and still, I was able to capture very crisp photos at 1/100th of a second with the zoom at 300mm.

Where the lens performs poorly is in low light situations. I recently shot a Salsa dance show with low light and the Tamron's performance was very dissapointing. It took too much time to focus, and by the time it was ready you probably had missed the moment you were trying to capture. It basically turned my Canon 1D Mark III into some kind of a compact camera in terms of its low speed.

In summary a great lens for daylight photography and a rather poor lens in demanding night and low light environments, like dance shows.

Find street photos and salsa dancer photos I took with the lens here(cut and paste this in your browser):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carreon/tags/tamron28300mm/