| Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

My Rating: 4.3125 (I gave it 5 stars though), Monday, 24 November 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		4.5
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		4.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		4.0

Price: 5/5
(Great value for a 70-300 lens! BONUS: it comes with a free lens hood!)

Autofocus: 3.75/5
(It takes a while to automatically focus. You might have missed capturing a moment just because of the length of time it consumed for "auto-focusing" especially in dark conditions. The manual focus works fine though.)

Color: 4.5/5
(Outstanding color accuracy! Though some pictures look soft on 300mm.)

Handling: 4/5
(The autofocus and manual focus switch seems like it was going to break everytime you used it. Tamron needs to improve this! Furthermore, using the zoom at 270-300 seems like you are also about to break the lens. This needs to be improved too.)

Overall:

The lens is good for its value. If you're an aspiring photographer, this is probably a good lens to start with. But you can add more to your budget to invest in a lens with IS (Image Stabilizer), VC, (Vibration Compensation), etc. to improve your pictures.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

Great Lens for the price!, Saturday, 11 October 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		4.8
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		4.0

This is a great lens especially for the price! I've managed to get some great shots without using my tripod. I would definitely recommend this lens!

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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful

Not good:( , Wednesday, 08 October 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		1.5
Sharpness		1.0
Build Quality		2.0
AF Speed		2.0
Value for Money		1.0

I read all the other reviews on here and jumped to buy this lens. It seemed perfect for the price and since I am only an amateur I didn't need anything fancy. Well, the lens is no good! The focus in low light is non existent. Even in the shade I couldn't get a photo. It's incredibly noisy and I couldn't even switch into Macro mode. It was stuck! So, don't bother spending your money on this lens if you plan on taking good photos!!

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Very nice non expensive lens, Sunday, 05 October 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		4.8
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		4.0

This is one of my most-liked buys recently. Nice, well constructed, non heavy and easy to use lens. I'm really hooked up to Tamron lenses. The macro function is awesome. It's true that being near the 300 mm, it turns a little soft, but I can tell you this, if you provide or find to your subject better light conditions you can get the right desired picture avoiding this "softness". There is not "the perfect" lens anywhere.Some say the AF is noisy, I like when it zooms like that, this way I know it is working properly. It doesn't bother me at all.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Great Lens, Sunday, 24 August 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		5.0
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

Now I'm an amateur photographer, so I don't know much about lenses and everything, but I can tell what a good picture looks like, and this, for us, has taken many great pictures. Even fully zoomed in, pictures come out wonderful. Compared to the price for the Canon lens, this is quite a bit cheaper, but not cheap at all. We were actually surprised how heavy this lens is, especially compared to the kit lens that came with the Canon Rebel XT we purchased. I'd highly recommend this for those wanting longer distance, but also wanting to save some money.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Awesome for anyone who isn't a pro or semi-pro, Sunday, 10 August 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		5.0
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

I love this lens. Now, maybe if I was a better photographer and not one with only a year and a half worth of experience, I might change my mind. But I have taken about 300 pictures over the week I have had the lens (went on vacation) and very happy with it.

Negative such as slow or tough to focus in low light hasn't been a problem. Maybe it is slow, but unless I was taking action shots, it didn't seem slow at all. And it focused well in low lights - no problems there. As I have learned about telephoto lenses, they take some adjustment. I had a lot of blurry photos at first, but slower ISO and/or increased aperture has helped me not have any problems without a tripod.

Photos are crisp, colors are great. I can't think of anything negative to say. The macro setting is interesting and still figuring it out - but works well.

For $140+ shipping from Cameta - how can you think there is a better deal out there.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Great lens for the price., Monday, 21 July 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		5.0
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

This lens is great for the price. Just a little slow but great picture clarity and again for $400 less than the Canon you can't go wrong. The zoom macro works awesome.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Tamron AF70-300mm f/4-5.6dI ld mACRO LENS, Monday, 14 July 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		4.8
Sharpness		4.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

What a great lens for the money! For that matter, a great lens period! A lens like this for under $150 is an extremely good bargain! A tri-pod is a must since you will definitely have to have something to stabilize any movements.
I am pleased with the lens and it also has a 6 year guarantee! Tamron continues to improve their product line!
\
Al Marth
lsudad@dejazzd.com

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Good lens, great price!, Tuesday, 01 July 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		3.8
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		3.0
AF Speed		3.0
Value for Money		4.0

This is my second Tamron lens. The glass is descently fast and good quality. The lens body is light yet solidly built. The picture quality is really good, yes it gets a little soft at the extreme zoom but not terribly so. Focus is a little on the slow side so keep that in mind when needing switch ranges quickly (such as for sporting events).

I highly recommend this lens for anyone needing the reach of the 300mm zoom and don't have a lot of money to spend. This is a steal at the price and you are getting a good quality lens.

It comes with a lens hood, and a 6 year warrantly on the craftmanship.

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4 of 7 people found the following review helpful

Soft lens, Tuesday, 24 June 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		1.5
Sharpness		1.0
Build Quality		1.0
AF Speed		2.0
Value for Money		2.0

I have had this lens a little over a year now. Because I bought this in lieu of the cheap 18-55 starter lens that came with my Rebel XT (I bought it body only) I wasn't so sure of how this was. Also I was relatively new to digital SLR's so I didn't know enough to judge this lens then.

A year and a half later and I have had no trouble with this lens. However I am not happy with it at all. Here is a detailed list of issues with this lens:

1. Made with light-weight plastic (sorry I like some weight to my products)
2. The REALLY big problem, the images that this lens shoots are VERY soft. In order for me to get a nice photo in the end I have to run a few filters in Photoshop to crisp up the image. The softness gets worse the further you go out and by stopping down the aperture. (This lens shoots best at about 120mm and f9) Almost forget smaller birds with this lens with those requirements.
3. Colors are awful. They are really dull and outright poor. (Again I have found a fix, if you shoot in RAW you can later adjust this easily)
4. There is often a blue halo effect around objects you are shooting at a distance (250-300mm) There is absolutely no fix to this. I have lost a great deal of good photos because of this issue.
5. Focus is outright nasty. I cant get this thing to find focus in mid-daylight much less the less ideal lighting situations (this lens will almost NEVER work indoors or on highly overcast and rainy days).

I know this list may run you away from the thought of this lens, however it is a great lens for some people.

If you have Photoshop (Pro Version) you can use it to fix a lot of the problems with this lens. Or if you are using this lens to shoot still objects this lens will work fine. This lens still blows away on my Rebel almost any point and shoot so, it is better if you are upgrading from a point and shoot and have no desire to professionally shoot photos or to compete against pros (this lens most likely wont cut it unless you spend more time than it is worth in Photoshop)

Canon Lenses are by FAR superior to any of the 3rd party lens I have used. The Canon Lenses are MUCH crisper and display the colors much more accurately. Also that blue halo I have only encountered maybe 2 times off of my Canon EF 28-105 3.5-4.5f lens. This however does it more times than I can count. I have also used some of the higher end "L" series Canon Lenses and of course they blow all of my lenses away. Point being, my cheaper ($300) Canon Lens blows away this Tamron, however the "L" series blows away my Canon lens, you cant do much with this on a pro level.

Just things to keep in mind when getting this lens, think to yourself, will you want to upgrade later? If the answer is yes then just pay the extra for the Canon version of this lens. If no, then this may be the lens for you.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

Excellent buy for money you pay, Monday, 23 June 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		3.8
Sharpness		3.0
Build Quality		3.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		4.0

Bought it three weeks back and I am very glad that I made a very good decision. I have posted some of my photos the chipmunk and the number 24 parking lot photos. Everything came out very well.

I have to accept with others here that it is bit slow on focusing and sometimes it hunts. But that is the only bad thing I noticed so far.

I wouldn't complain about the noise.. I hardly noticed any.

About the picture quality - at 70MM its came out really great and at 300MM it's still great.

Now when you are at full zoom - 300mm it's highly impossible to take a snap without camera shake. You should have a rock solid hand.
My solution was to use a tripod and shoot with self timer.

Overall I am extremely pleased with this lens and I highly recommend it.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Great Lens for the price, Sunday, 22 June 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		4.8
Sharpness		4.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

This Tamron AF70-300 Lens is a perfect lens my Rebel XTi. Pictures are crisp and AF is fast in well lit situations. Not great in low light situations, but thats not what it is priced for.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Great Lenses; Get More than price tag!, Saturday, 21 June 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		4.8
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		4.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

I absolutely love taking pictures with this lens. I have a Canon EOS Elan 7E (35mm), using this lens, takes absolutely spectacular images. I have read in previous reviews that AF was slow, well, on my model at least, it focuses generally very fast, and it has taken only about 1 second to focus at times. (at longest). The autofocus is a bit noisy, but not really annoying, and if you dont like that, you can solve by changing to manual focus (no noise). Previous reviews have claimed that the lens is soft at 300mm. I found it to be just as clear across the range of 70-300mm, and especially sharp in Macro mode. Macro mode (between 180-300mm) is absolutely superb. Images of flower heads, i can see the tulips and buds, in real life size almost (1:2), and the clarity is astonishing! This lens is WELL WORTH THE MONEY!

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Great lens and price!, Tuesday, 29 April 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		4.8
Sharpness		4.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

This lens is well constructed & takes really nice pictures. I would rate it better than the similiar Canon lens---but much less in price. I don't believe its made cheap at all. So, I have no idea what a previous reviewer was referring too when he said it was a cheap lens? What I want to know is what he was comparing it to? No reference to that in his review...I have Canon lens & really don't see much difference in the quality of the lens---actually I feel that the Tamron is slightly better quality & appearance. Plus you get 6 year Tamron warranty & Canon only offers 1 year warranty. I don't take many fast action shots, so I cannot speak to that. But, from my experience--if you want to take pictures such as fast moving sports; you need a higher quality lens! So, people that are trying to compare this lens to an L series Canon lens; need to get a life. This is a very nice consumer lens for those folks that just want really nice pictures without breaking the bank. I have another Tamron Lens SP AF 24-135 AD Aspherical w/ Macro & I can tell you this lens is awesome, awesome, awesome!!! So, if you want to step up in the Tamron line...this lens takes wonderful pictures and is a nice everyday lens!!! But, if you want the 70-300 mm at a reasonable price this one is for you!!!

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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

Quality lens at a great price..., Monday, 28 April 2008


Overall rating (weighted)		4.8
Sharpness		4.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

All in all, this is a very good lens for the price. The folks at Cameta Camera always have great deals, and everything I buy from them is as advertised, plus the transactions are always fast and smooth. I would definitely recommend this lens if you're on a budget (as most of us are). Truly, the image quality I've come away with from this lens far surpasses the stigma placed on low priced glass. You won't be disappointed, but if you are, well at least you'll have enough money for beer.

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