tamron 15-30 vc inquiry

rocketman122

Senior Member
those who own it...how stiff is the zoom ring?
everyone I spoke to said it was stiff from beginning but smoothed out a bit after some use but never really got smooth.
my friend had his and I used it for around an hour at a wedding and the zoom was uncomfortable to use but it was new. he had a big decentering issue. its not gone to court because the importer says impact damage. considering this or the sigma 14-24 art. only issue is the 30mm is much more useful to me on the dance floor because 24mm is way too wide to shoot a group of 2-4 people half body shot. the sigma smokes the tamron IQ wise.

would like your POV please
cheers
 
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spb_stan

Senior Member
I know this is an old thread but in case anyone is thinking about wide angle zooms I have done testing for myself and had local stores with the Nikon 14-24 2.8 available and one store has a Tamron 15-30 2.8. I have used 14-24's a lot over the years and assumed that is what I would end up getting. Trying both on a shoot that covered architecture, landscape, low light, and people shots I found optically both were very good. The Tamron needed +7 fine tuning on my D800 and the 14-25 needed -12 to be really sharp and sharp there are. Low light night shooting revealed a difference however that swayed my selection(plus price difference) was the effectiveness of the image stabilization. Tamron was my choice after finding very sharp handheld night shots at 1/3 sec shutter times at 30mm. At 14 or 15mm the need for a tripod only became apparent when trying 1.5sec shots. For handheld, the Tamron stabilization greatly extended the usefulness of the lens. I bought the Tamron and more hand-holding into dark venues, and night outdoor shots have been better than expected.
The Zoom ring is a bit stiffer than the Nikon but otherwise feels like a serious pro lens. Last night I even shot portraits in a club that was very dark and had very good results for a different sort of look.
The biggest limitation both models have is no screw on filters due to both having large protruding front elements. Plus I saved $450 getting my first Tamron.
 

Davoxt

Senior Member
Contributor
I have both versions G1 + G2 of the Tamron 15-30 f2.8 VC, the G1 loosened up after about a year of use and still smooth to operate with no signs of whare.
Both are great lens with the G2 being only a month old it’s stiffer than what I can remember of the G1 when new but after dialling in +6 on my D850 fine tuning it’s shaper on the edges then my G1 version.

Now the only reason for buying the G2 version was I can’t get my G1 back of my wife as it’s now lives on her D7500, one little hiccup when the G2 arrived it wouldn’t auto focus but I manual turn the focus ring half a turn and boom of she went perfect, I leave in the outback of Australia so I don’t believe it was not a Tamron issue more likely a postage transport dropkicking issue.
 
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