Tamron 70-300mm - Little Overweight, But Beautiful

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So after comparing my options, and even considering ditching getting a new telephoto in favor of a new prime (85mm f/1.8 to be exact), I went out and bought the Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD Thursday morning. It was my late night at work, and so instead of driving home, then turning around and driving back to Dallas later in the day once I woke up, I just decided to stop in Downtown and shoot some photos with the old telephoto, the Canon 75-300mm, one last time. I figured I could waste two hours shooting photos until the store opened.

I got to the store a bit after they opened, and played around with the Tamron and the Canon 85mm. I must say I was nearly swayed into buying the new prime, since I would have also been able to get my hands on the Black Rapid strap I am after. But I went ahead and got the Tamron.

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There is the box, and the first look at the lens. Granted I had it out and tried it in the store before this, but I still felt like doing the traditional unboxing photos. Instead of being smart, going home and passing out (considering I did work from 10pm to 6am, then took photos till 9am), I went straight to the Arboretum to try out the new lens. It was horridly overcast, with some storms starting to roll into the area, but I knew I had an hour at least till the rain hit and the dark low contrast conditions would be great to test out the lens in a more stressful manor.

Walking around with it, I could tell just how much heavier this thing was; without a strap carrying it by hand was a serious workout for said hand. The zoom action on this thing is quite stiff but buttery smooth, something I imagine that will loosen up over time. The focus though is just as smooth as could be, with a decent pull from macro to infinity. Full time manual focus is now a must for me, I just love being able to what I guess you could call prime the focus, quickly shifting from near to far, or vice versa, to get a quicker lock in on subjects. I move my finger faster than then the camera and lens can, allowing me to get focus so much quicker. I do need to get used to not moving it while shooting the photos though, as about 2 or 3 photos were put out of focus due to me accidentally twisting the ring without trying too. By the end of the day I got my hand position down where I could quick adjust the focus, but never seemed to accidentally knock it out.

While I can't of course compare it to really high end glass, I can compare it to what my old telephoto lens could do, and it just blows it out of the water. With Tamron's VC (their version of image stabilization, vibration compensation), I was able to get just so many useable shots, far more than ever before. The sharpness and clarity of the photos, even at the higher ISOs I was shooting at all day is just astounding, I dare say even better than my 50mm 1.8 stopped down to f/2.8. And of course it gets even better when you stop the Tamron down to around f/8.0, with the whole focal range getting quite sharp at that aperture. The contrast and saturation are also far and away better than the old 75-300mm, and I can't wait to see its performance in good lighting.

All in all, this lens has impressed me today; its a great mix of features and quality, for a nice mid range price. I know many have said the Canon 70-300mm is better, and has better sharpness throughout its zoom range, but the Tamron is now slouch, especially for those of use coming from the realm of kit and super cheap lenses, this thing is just an absolute beast.

Click the link below to go to a Sta.sh folder where you can see 10 test shots from the Tarmon. They show the lens at 70, 100, 135, 200, and 300mm focal length, first at the widest aperture for each, then of each of them at f/8.0. The images are at varying shutter and ISO settings, as I was shooting in Aperture Priority, so some will have a bit of noise.
sta.sh/21enwhscib0k




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