Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 SP XR ZL Di LD Aspherical (IF) Lens for Pentax Digital SLR Cameras

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Product Details

• Item Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0007YZLFS
• Item model number: AF09P-700
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 8, 2005

Product Description

Product Description

The most compact and lightest in the history of fast zoom lenses. Thanks to the revolutionary downsizing "XR" technology employed by Tamron in the development of high-power zoom lenses, the dramatic compactness that makes this lens the world's smallest and lightest is achieved. Its compactness makes it look and feel like an ordinary standard zoom lens, yet the versatility that a fast constant maximum aperture offers will definitely reshape your photographic horizons.This lens features a rotation type of zooming.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Legendary Pro-Level Bargain Performer, February 17, 2008

By	P. VANDALEN - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

The Tamron 28-75 has become somewhat of a legend due to its phenomenal image performance for the price. Yet, when you take price out of the equation, this lens still holds its own surprisingly well against the top-dogs from Canon and Nikon costing anywhere from two to four times the price of the Tamron. So far, I've found this lens is consistent with what I've been hearing across the Internet: image quality is at a professional level.

The lens looks and feels like most Tamron lenses I've seen, plastic but reasonably well built. The zoom ring is at first a little snug in operation, but I suspect it will loosen a bit over time. The focus ring rotates during automatic focus operation, but that's really a non-issue in my view of things. However, everything still feels generally solid and of quality construction, in contrast to the loose and rattling lens barrels, zoom and focus rings of the Pentax "kit" lenses: the 18-55 and 50-200. Autofocus operation with the 28-75 is a bit on the noisy side, but I've found it to be fast enough so far. What's most important, it's been spot-on in typical shooting situations (a welcome relief to the Pentax DA* 50-135 f2.8 I had to return due to poor autofocus performance and resultant soft images). Some comparison shots between this lens and the Tamron 18-250 taken in the 28 to 75mm range show that the 28-75 is clearly a sharper lens and maintains that sharpness nicely boarder-to-boarder. The 18-250, my basic walkaround lens, is a strong performer in that lower range, but it is simply outclassed by the 28-75. Contrast and color saturation is also superior to the 18-250. Interestingly, color tone with the 28-75 looks to be ever so slightly warmer. I've found that CA (chromatic aberration - purple fringing) is present in some rare shots near the boarders such as with the edges of overhead florescent lighting in a gym where that lighting is overexposed in contrast to the rest of the picture, but I haven't seen it appear in many other situations where one would expect to find purple fringing. At f2.8, I've found that this lens still produces impressive images, especially at the long end, but not quite up to the sharpness at f4.0 and higher. So far, I haven't really noticed any issues with vignetting or distortion.

The 28-75 is also a full-frame lens, meaning that it is designed for cameras with a 35mm film frame-sized sensor, but it will also work on the smaller APS-C sensor of the Pentax D-SLRs (dedicated APS-C lenses such as the Tamron 18-250 will not work properly with a full-frame sensor). The positive of using a full-frame lens with the APS-C sensor is that the smaller sensor benefits from being more in the lens' "sweet-spot, " that is, the potentially softer/distorted boarders seen by a full-frame sensor for a particular lens are just outside the reach of the APS-C sensor. Kind of makes one wonder why all D-SLR lenses aren't full-frame.

Considering the limited lens options for Pentax D-SLR owners, especially higher-end products, this is certainly the lens to have. While the Pentax APS-C factor of 1.5x, and an effective focal length of 42 - 112.5mm is perhaps not quite wide enough for some shots, it does, however, work great for general use including portraits and low-light interior shots without flash. A nice surprise I found with this lens is that it has an aperture ring which means I should be able to use it on my old Pentax ME Super film SLR for a true 28-75mm focal range. As I continue to be impressed with the 28-75, I'm hoping that the new Tamron 70-200 f2.8 due out in a few weeks will be in the same league as this legendary lens bargain.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Buy for the Money, January 15, 2007

By	O. Biton (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I got this lens one month ago. I use it with a K10D and as long as I can shoot in the 28-75 range I use it! Sharpness is excellent and being able to shoot at f2.8 is worth the extra-weight.
The autofocus is fast for the price range. AF noise is OK but it gets really noisy when it's not able to focus... But anyway you won't use a zoom with that range for wild-life pictures!
Even though this is not a macro lens you can still focus pretty close (about 1:3, 1:4 magnification).
I recommend this lens...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great lens and great price, June 6, 2008

By	J. Smith - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just received my Tamron 28-75mm yesterday and fired off some test shots while walking around the house and yard.

Wow is all I have to say...This is definitely going to be my walk-around lens.

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I did a ton of comparison shopping between various lenses in a similar focal range -- 16-50mm, 17-70mm, but I eventually ended up picking this lens because I need the 75mm more than the wide angles. I also compared lots of numbers at various web sites, although not on Pentax mounts.


GREAT picture quality wide open and only gets sharper if you stop it down. I'm cursed to be a pixel peeper, but I would not hesitate to use this lens at f/2.8 at any focal distance -- it's just that good. Vignetting is almost unheard of, which isn't surprising since it's a full frame lens and I'm shooting with a Pentax K200D.

Zoom feels good and snug -- I don't see myself using the zoom lock button any time soon.

Manually focusing feels okay, but a bit of a "geary" feeling as you turn the dial, and it's considerably smaller grip than the zoom grip. Still, it's fairly snug and doesn't have any play in the turn action, so it's decent.

Build quality seems pretty good for a composite lens body.

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I have no problems recommending this to anyone that would like normal to moderate telephoto action . Very crisp images and great color / contrast and a fast f/2.8 throughout.

Only one small complaint - Shadow visible in images when zoomed out using onboard flash, even after removing the lens hood. I guess I should stop being cheap and get a real flash :)

Tamron has an excellent lens here and the price is a steal.