Customer Reviews

Tamron AF 180mm f/3.5 Di SP A/M FEC LD (IF) 1:1 Macro Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This lens is amazing, I am a commercial shooter specializing in medical, and have been a pro since 1980. My philosophy is real simple, buy the best lens for the purpose, and the money is an important part of this. This lens is sharper then the Nikkor 85 mm 2.8 shift lens, ( I have owned 2 of these lenses). Actually sharper then any Nikkor lens I have owned.

This is a superb lens, with a good solid build and a smooth manual focus. Because it's made from polycarbonate rather than metal, it's also surprisingly lightweight. The tripod collar is easy to remove but solid. The filter effect control is a nice convenience.

The automatic focus is not particularly fast, but this is not much of a disadvantage since most photographers use manual focus in macro work anyway.

Highly recommended.

I am using the lens with a Nikon D80 Camera.
As its been reviewed by others, it is a well-made lens. If you don't mind the extra weight (usually you will use the tripod so I don't think the weight would be an issue), this lens is highly recommended. Just be aware that the lens is a little bit slow when it's in AF mode. I mostly use the manual focus when doing macro so that was not an issue for me.

I have tried Tamron before and after using the 180mm Macro, I could safely say Tamron is one of the best companies when it comes to lenses. When you weigh the quality verse the price, Tamron differently would be a winner. No wonder most of its lenses are award winners.

Thumbs up :)

Being an involved amateur, and loving macro photography (the first picture I ever sold, back in the '70's, was a macro) I wanted a good macro lens for my Nikon D80. The Nikon lens, however, was close to $1800. Couldn't justify that price past my wife. So I bought the Tamron . . . and I love it. Yes, it's a bit heavy, but I'm in a wheelchair so it is easy to steady. I would recommend a mono- or tripod, but the quality is clear and it's mechanics clean. It's not "champagne on a beer budget," but it is a quite nice Merlot. I would strongly recommend this lens to the advanced amateur or, actually, the professional looking to really get down into their photographic subject.

I was a little worried about buying a Tamron lens because I have not purchased one previously. I am sure glad I took a leap of faith. Fantastic auto focus capability and very easy to switch to manual focus. From every focal point your subject is brought into a clear, sharp and well defined image. I am using this lens on a Nikon D300. This lens is everything it is advertised to be. Don't spend the extra bucks on a higher priced lens you will be waisting your money.

I have always enjoyed macro photography and I have been doing 'okay' with my 18-200mm zoom lens. It would get me close enough that I could enhance the photo in photoshop and I considered the results acceptable but certainly nowhere close to perfect.

Finally I was sick of 'acceptable' and I wanted to move into perfect. I spent countless hours researching lenses by all sorts of various brands, spending an amazing amount of time on the famous Nikkor macro lens. After doing careful analysis of reviews and careful examination of the resulting photos I had a very difficult time seeing the difference between it and this Tamron's resulting photos. Ultimately I decided to go with this lens because I was buying it directly from Amazon and I could return it if I was not pleased with the quality. If it worked then I just saved nearly 3 times the cost of the famous Nikkor lens.

Photo results:
I have now taken hundreds of photos with this lens and I can certainly say my photos are perfect. The clarity and detail I have obtained from the lens is outstanding and I am truly pleased with the results. I do not see any distortion or pixel loss at the edges of the photo and it captures the colors in correct detail.

Usage:
The lens is easy to use overall. Changing between manual and autofocus is a real breeze by simply sliding the ring back and forth however I did find this to be a pain at time. I would get the subject in focus with manual setting and then switch to autofocus in an effort to squeeze that last bit of 'perfect' out and in doing so the camera would move. This would result in the auto focus now going through the entire range which feels like forever but is actually up to about 5 seconds in time. If you were trying to capture an insect, animal, or something alive and moving you just lost your shot as you waited for the lens to seek. In the end I kept with manual focus to prevent this from happening.

Weight:
As one would expect this thing weighs a lot. I would certainly not recommend letting it hang off the body without holding the lens itself. Also, if you are going to be using a tripod with it then use the ring mount provided. You will get better shots and you don't have to worry about it damaging your body.

Conclusion:
While the seek time on the auto focus can be annoying it is overcome by all of the other pluses of this lens. If you are wanting to get into macro photography or you are needing another lens to add to your macro collection then look no further!

Sharp, easy to focus, allows closeups from a significant distance.
Heavy, requiring a tripod for most exposures.
Instructions could be better written.

I was planning to buy the Nikon 105mm macro when I came across this Tamron. It appealed to me because the longer focal length allows shooting farther away from skittish subjects. The increased working distance means also means you are less likely to cast a shadow on the subject. I couldn't justify paying three times as much to get the Nikon 180mm macro and the reviews indicated that the Tamron was just as sharp. Some reviews talk about the autofocus being slow, but I find manual focus better for macro work, so that wasn't a factor. The Tamron is also lighter than most lenses of this focal length. That makes it nice for hand held shots.

This is my first non-Nikon lens and I'm sorry I bought it. While the lens is OK, the focus mechanism is incredibly, painfully, agonizingly slow. The focus mechanism must make three full revolutions to go from closeup to infinity, stopping and stuttering all the way, and passing the focus point until you attempt a second squeeze at the focus. I'm shooting with a Nikon D700 body and I'm accustomed to near instant focus with the high end Nikon lenses. I needed a longer Macro lens to go along with my 105, and the Nikon 200 was not available at the time I bought it. It was also listed as quite pricey in the wake of the Japan Earthquake. I gave the lens 3 stars because the image quality is decent, but it would have been a 4 star had the focusing mechanism been screwed down more tightly so that three rotations were not necessary to go from closeup to infinity.

even tho this is my first macro lens, i have already taken fantastic pictures!! this lens would zoom close up into an flower, insect, or any other small things with great detail!!. i love the picture quality.
i have to say though i can not compare it to other macro lens out there due to the fact this is my first one. but i could say that its is quite heavy, its long with the hood *this may be a good thing because you could get closer up without scaring the bee or butterfly away*, and the biggest problem with it is that the A-AF is really slow... like REALLY.... you must have alot of light for it to correctly focus it on something. but it dont really matter because you prob would just manual focus it because its faster and more sharp. EITHER WAY i really do love the lens!!