Tamron Autofocus 28-200mm f/3.8-5.6 XR Aspherical (IF) Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Silver)

by Tamron

Product Details

Data Sheet [2.88mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 2.8 x 3 x 1 inches ; 12 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005NJEN
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 1, 2001

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the one, December 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Tamron Autofocus 28-200mm f/3.8-5.6 XR Aspherical (IF) Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Black) (Electronics)

If you are the adventure type holiday fotographer, this is the lens you need. Much better then it's predecessors in optical quality and weight. I got triggered to buy one, because it won the joint European Foto Magazines prize of 'lens of the year'.

When you like to travel light, this is the only lens you need.

Watch out, that you get the right lens, because there are 5 different Tamron 28-200 predecessing models around.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Price and Good Lens, September 17, 2004

By 

paparazzi83 (Honolulu, Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tamron Autofocus 28-200mm f/3.8-5.6 XR Aspherical (IF) Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Silver) (Electronics)

I have been using the black intl' version of this lens or some time now (I think) and I have been quite happy with it, except that that if you like using Canon's the direction you have to twist your hand to zoom is the OTHER WAY as with Canon! It's a small annoyance, but yes it will get you frustrated if you turn the lens one way to zoom but start pulling back!

The zoom is slow compared to the new USM's from canon, and it seeks a lot. At the far end of the lens spectrum (about 130-200mm) the lens gets really dark and the picture quality degrades, and since the lens gets longer every little vibration in your body gets exaggerated if you are using a long exposure (on a canon 10D around 1/30 or longer).

This is a solid buy but honestly I think that if you can afford the extra cost invest in a Canon lens.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Got a "pretty good" one on the second try. Poor quality control, October 1, 2006

By 

PhotoFogey (Western NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tamron Autofocus 28-200mm f/3.8-5.6 XR Aspherical (IF) Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Black) (Electronics)

I recently bought a Canon EOS Rebel XT digital SLR, intending to use some Sigma lenses I had for my old EOS 630, and was disappointed to find they wouldn't work on the Rebel and couldn't be upgraded. I picked up a couple of used Canon lenses which covered the range I needed, but still missed the versatility of my old Sigma 28-200mm.

I have had good luck with Tamron lenses in the past, and the reviews looked good, so I bought a new Tamron 28-200mm f/3.8-5.6 XR lens, thinking it would be an equivalent replacement for the old Sigma.

The first tryout of the lens was extremely disappointing. The first images shot in the back yard were soft, edge definition was fuzzy, and contrast was muddy. To give the lens a second chance, I took it out for a nature photo session, running the gamut from macro shots of flowers to landscapes, over the full range of f/stops and zoom positions. Again, the images were poor, exhibiting chromatic aberration, flare, and coma, with no improvement with reduced f/stops. I hadn't seen a lens this bad since a Vivitar 180mm telephoto I had in the 1970's.

Thinking that no one would intentionally manufacture a lens this poor, I returned it as defective, for exchange for another. The replacement arrived, and its performance confirmed that the first one was defective.

While the replacement lens performs acceptably, it isn't up to the quality level of my old Sigma 28-200, or the Canon 35-135mm zoom I recently bought used (but it probably is as good as the 18-55mm zoom that came with the Rebel XT). It exhibits some softness at object edges, but improves at smaller apertures. I'm impressed with the lack of flare, even with no hood and shooting toward a bright overcast sky. After some moderate sharpening in Photoshop most images are pretty good.

So my conclusion from all this is:

There's apparently some quality control issues with Tamron's Chinese assembly facility. If you buy one and it performs poorly, try another before giving up on it.

The lens I finally got is "pretty good" but not terrific. It's adequate for casual use, but I'm keeping the Canon zoom, and saving up for a Canon macro lens for the serious stuff.

The MSR price for this lens is ridiculous, and the "street price" is kind of high for what you get.

I'd buy Tamron again, but not without there being a return policy from the seller.

2115|R2SOST3BQMKJC;2115|R3PVF3IAO2IJBM;2115|R733LSWEACOPF;