Tamron 24-70 2.8 VC Test

Rick M

Senior Member
I had a coupon from my dealer for a free weekend rental so I picked up this lens to see how well it performs. It gets pretty good reviews with a few issues I was concerned about. Softness at 70mm was noted and onion/distracting Bokeh. All of the shots I'm going to post are at f2.8, sole purpose to buy this lens if I like it. I decided the filter size would not really be a concern to me as I would mostly use it as a people/event lens. Here is my first set at 70mm, no post processing with crops of about 50-75%



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Krs_2007

Senior Member
Pretty good, except it looks like on the first one the focus is front of the cat. The mulch looks sharper to me but that may be the ole eyes.
 

Rick M

Senior Member
Here's a couple more shots outside to pick up the Bokeh. The first is at 38mm, the second at 70mm. This lens is sharp at 70mm, perhaps some reviewers had "bad copies". The bokeh is slightly busier than my Nikon primes, but that is an unfair comparison. I did not see "onion" Bokeh. Rarely would I shoot into such a background, but I wanted to get the worst case scenario.

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Rick M

Senior Member
Pretty good, except it looks like on the first one the focus is front of the cat. The mulch looks sharper to me but that may be the ole eyes.


​I think that may have been my downward angle, not the most scientific test :). I'll be shooting some more to assess that.
 

Krs_2007

Senior Member
Yeah, the bokeh does look different, but it appears to be sharp on both ends. The bokeh doesnt look bad, just different. Look to the top right of the 3rd shot, you can kind of see the onion layer.
 

Rick M

Senior Member
This next set is all about the VC. I have to say, it is fantastic! I would say as good as Nikon's newest version on the 70-200 f4. I'll note each speed above each shot, crops to follow. Again no sharpening applied and handheld.

1/10th!
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1/20th
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1/15th
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The crops,

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gqtuazon

Gear Head
Thanks for the images Rick and nice cat by the way.

How well does it focus indoor and outdoor? Average, fast or slow compared to your other lenses? Does it hunt?

Any sign of CA at f2.8 when shooting outdoors? How is the distortion at 24mm? I know the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 is not so good at 24mm with regards to distortion.
 

Rick M

Senior Member
I found the focus to be as fast as I would need and did not hunt too much. It did hunt once when I did not have enough contrast, As far as Ca's, have not really tested it for that as it is correctable and I wouldn't use this as a landscape lens. Barrel distortion at 24mm is high, as with the nikon, around 3%.
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
So far I'm pretty impressed with this lens. This is actually the first time I have ever used a third party lens. I've been going around inside shooting snapshots now that it is somewhat dark and even without the assist lamp, it has not missed a shot. The VC is definitely it's strongest feature, it's pretty solid all around with the exception of wide end distortion. The Tamron and Nikon both suffer from the same distortion issue and both have their own "sweet spot" optically. The build quality is very solid, the Nikon still wins there. If I were a pro Wedding Photographer, I would probably buy the Nikon, but the Tamron is definitely up to the task, ever so slightly behind the Nikon in the Bokeh area. As far as my interests in an event/people lens, this would fill my needs, but I'm not so sure I want to lug an almost 2 pound lens around (the nikon is 75 grams heavier).

In reading reviews of the Tamron, many pros that worship their Canon and Nikon pro 24-70 2.8's all spouted that the VC (or VR) is a waste and not needed in that focal range. I agreed with them until I used it, they (and myself) were completely wrong. After shooting the cat shots at 1/10s I became a believer fast. I'm not that much of a snob to not realize when someone has something better and (temporarily) has an edge. Once the Nikon comes out, it will of course be stellar.

Price wise, it is a difficult decision. If it were below 1K it would be in the bag. At this point I'm thinking my casual lens is going to be a Nikon P330.
 

vindex1963

Senior Member
How do you like it? The VC is fantastic isnt it!
Be here tomorrow I'll let you know real soon. ;)

I think sometimes we look at a third parties cons more harshly than Nikons
Always been that way and that's really OK. I had a person (Nikon fanboy) that would follow me from forum to forum stalking me because I choose Tamron over Nikon most of the time. He ended up getting banned or ran off on all of them but one and they gave him a month off to think about it. He backed off. That guy is a sick minded exception to the norm. The norm to me is buy what you like and if you have to bash then your just justifying your own purchase buyers remorse perhaps. To me it narrow minded. I'm looking forward to the fun this lens will bring me.
 
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riverside

Senior Member
Be here tomorrow I'll let you know real soon. ;)


Always been that way and that's really OK. I had a person (Nikon fanboy) that would follow me from forum to forum stalking me because I choose Tamron over Nikon most of the time. He ended up getting banned or ran off on all of them but one and they gave him a month off to think about it. He backed off. That guy is a sick minded exception to the norm. The norm to me is buy what you like and if you have to bash then your just justifying your own purchase. To me it narrow minded. I'm looking forward to the fun this lens will bring me.


So true of almost anything in life. Society has a poor record of generating live and let live attitudes.
 

Rick M

Senior Member
Once I messed around with Tamrons new 70-200 2.8 I could see they are a serious contender, their new lenses are really great.
 

papa2jaja

Senior Member
I had a Tamron once when I was still using Canon, and it was a really good lens, costing a fraction of the price an original Canon lens would have cost me, with only minor quality differences. Currently I use a Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4 D as my standard zoom, and it is sharp enough, not perfect but it only cost a little over £500. And it is not so heavy. But this Tamron is tempting. My Nikon is sharp enough, but getting a little sharper would be even nicer ;-)
 
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