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Tamron AF 28-300mm F3.5-6.3 XR Di VC  Hot PDF Print E-mail
Lenses Tamron
User rating
4.1
out of 5
Editor's rating
3.0
out of 5
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Reviewed by:
Editor
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Average user rating: 4.1 
66 User reviews
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Lens Summary

Overview

Product Overview


Tamron's Vibration Compensation—Blur-Stopping Power With No Annoying Motion Delay In Your Viewfinder!

Camera shake can ruin your photos, particularly at telephoto or in low light. Tamron's state-of-the-art Vibration Compensation mechanism incorporated into the award-winning 28-300mm zoom gives you blur-free hand-held images for incredible results! Finally, the technology you need in the lens you want.

 

Lens Specifications

Generic Lens Specifications
Lens Type: Zoom
IS / VR / OS: VC
Min Focal length (mm): 28
Max Focal Length (mm): 300
Number of Elements: 18
Element Groups: 13
Max Aperture: 3.5
Minimum Aperture: 40
Diaphragm Blades: 9
Closest Focus Distance (m): 0.49
Maximum Magnification: 1.3
Filter Type: Screw In
Filter Diameter (mm): 67
Diameter at widest (mm): 78
Lens Length (mm): 99
Weight (g): 555

Details


Model A020
Lens Construction (Groups/Elements) 13/18
Angle of view 75°23'-8°15' (APS-C size equivalent)
Type of Zooming Rotation
Diaphragm Blade Number 9
Minimum Aperture F/22 ~ F/40 (28mm-300mm)
Minimum Focus Distance 19.3in.(0.49m) (entire zoom range)
Macro Magnification Ratio 1:3 (at f=300mm, MFD=0.49m)
Filter Diameter ø67
Weight 555g (19.4oz)*
Diameter x Length ø3.06 x 3.9in.
(ø78 x 99mm)
Accessory Flower-shaped Lens hood
Mount

Canon - Now available

Nikon - Coming Soon, please check back
(with Built-In Motor for use with all Nikon DSLR cameras)

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Editor review : Tamron AF 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC
Overall rating (weighted)
3.0
Sharpness
3.0
Build Quality
3.0
AF Speed
2.0
Value for Money
4.0
This is Tamson's first lens to feature optical image stabilization, known as "Vibration Correction", or VC, and impressed us with its two to three stop use of slower shutter speeds. Not only that, but the length of the zoom makes it ideal as an all-in-one travel option, whilst it's macro capabilities add more value, While we don't expect superzooms to be perfect, the Tamron put in a great performance throughout the focal range, with excellent performance at 28mm and consistent Resolution at 300mm.
Why should you care what I think?
My relationship with this item: Editor review
Conclusions at a glance
Would you recommend this Item: Yes
Pros: Price, VC, Good for travel photography
Cons: Not alot for this price.

User Lens Reviews

Average user rating from: 66 user(s)

Overall rating (weighted)
4.1
Sharpness
4.1
Build Quality
4.1
AF Speed
4.2
Value for Money
4.1
 

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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Tamron lens breaks down often, Monday, 02 August 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
1.0
Sharpness
1.0
Build Quality
1.0
AF Speed
1.0
Value for Money
1.0
I own the Tamron 28-300 mm lens for my Cannon camera. It's a fine lens for my purpose. However, both last summer and this summer it broke down right in the middle of my photo vacation. The zoom mechanism, which is manual and shouldn't break, gets stuck. Last year I was able to continue using the lens by pulling it out (rather than turning the mechanism). This year it got stuck completely and became unusable. I do photography mainly in the summer when I'm on vacation, so having a lens that breaks down is very frustrating. They do fix it, but for the end of my vacation I didn't have a zoom lens. I asked for a replacement lens this year, but just got my old lens returned "repaired." Next year I'll take a back-up lens. I may have a lemon -- but they said they would replace it if it broke down three times, so they must be used to fixing this problem. BME
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Tamron 28 - 300 Lens Feedback, Thursday, 08 July 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
5.0
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
I have been looking for a more universal lens than the 18 - 55 kit lens that came with my Canon T1i. I have done tons of research on the Sigma, Canon and Tamron lenses.

All have positive and negatives about them. I shoot mainly outdoors and lots of car and motorcycle races as well as shows.

I love the heft and smoothness of the lens. Yes, it does creep a Bit if I don't have it locked and it is pointing down, but that is a minor issue. I generally have my battery grip on and it the camera just feels better, like a high end unit.

The stabilization is great! There is no way I can hand hold my 75 - 300 EF Canon non stabilized lens. I know someone will point that fact that the Canon is not stabilized, but I could seldom use it in anything other than full sun and <150 zoom.

There is some softness at full zoom, but not a problem for me. I love to take images and work more on my composition than worry about small technical issues.

I would recommend a lens hood to protect the lens as it is easy to bang into stuff. I am very careful with my equipment, but still have had some cringe moments.

If you have the bucks to spend, go with a high end lens, otherwise this is a great lens for the money.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

on the 5 d mark ii, Sunday, 27 June 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
3.8
Sharpness
3.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
4.0
I needed a versatile lens for my new 5d mark ii. My criteria for use were: wide zoom range (wide to tele), good image quality, minimal Chromatic aberration, lightweight and affordable. The Canon 28-300L is a magnificent lens. I have seen images taken with it, although I have not personally used it. The MTF charts on that lens are impressive too (I could not find MTF charts for the Tamron). However, the Canon is very expensive, heavy and given its white color, it draws attention to itself. Unfortunately, this can make it harder to take candid shots of people.

The Tamron 28-300 is the only superzoom lens I could find for a full frame camera that met my criteria. The build quality is not quite as good as L series Canon lenses, but it is every bit as good as a regular Canon kit lens, if not better. The image stabilization is by far the best I've seen. Image quality is pretty good, especially at wide angles. It stays pretty sharp until about 250mm but then gets a little chromatic Aberration at 300mm. Overall it is pretty mild and could be corrected with moire control on post-processing.

I bought this lens and had to return it. I was not satisfied with the first one I got. I think it was backfocusing. Perhaps I was not familiar with my SLR enough yet to get the sharpness I wanted. However the replacement lens I got is quite good and I am very happy with it.

I consider myself a serious amateur photographer and do work with some pros from time to time. Unless you are pixel peeping, this lens will do a great job on the 5dii.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

TAMRON Lens, Thursday, 29 April 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
3.8
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
3.0
Does what it says. only thing I didn't like was that my lens would extend itself (zoom out) when pointed down. Otherwise is pretty neat. On my D40X it would sometimes not autofocus If I manually disabled and then reanabled it, had to turn of and back on. Love the VR.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Great lens for a Canon body, Sunday, 18 April 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
4.5
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
5.0
I had concerns when reading the various reviews, until I noticed that most of the negative reviews are from owners of Nikon cameras.

I have tried the lens, over the first few days I've had it, and I am quite pleased. The mount is secure, lens lock works as advertised. I've experimented with wide angle as well as full 300 zoom, in outdoor daylight, outdoor ambient light (with a tripod) and indoors with flash, and it performs very well. Since I am not a professional photographer, there may be aspects I am missing, but for my general use, the lens is easy to operate, provides sharp photos over the entire range and works quite well with my Canon Rebel XTi. The vibration compensation works well, but it should be turned off when not using long exposures, as it does increase battery drain.

This lens is replacing an older Tamron 28-200 zoom lens. I am happy with my new lens, and I encourage other Canon owners interested in a little more versatility to try the 28-300 lens.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

Great lens for a Canon body, Sunday, 18 April 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
I had concerns when reading the various reviews, until I noticed that most of the negative reviews are from owners of Nikon cameras.

I have tried the lens, over the first few days I've had it, and I am quite pleased. The mount is secure, lens lock works as advertised. I've experimented with wide angle as well as full 300 zoom, in outdoor daylight, outdoor ambient light (with a tripod) and indoors with flash, and it performs very well. Since I am not a professional photographer, there may be aspects I am missing, but for my general use, the lens is easy to operate, provides sharp photos over the entire range and works quite well with my Canon Rebel XTi. The vibration compensation works well, but it should be turned off when not using long exposures, as it does increase battery drain.

This lens is replacing an older Tamron 28-200 zoom lens. I am happy with my new lens, and I encourage other Canon owners interested in a little more versatility to try the 28-300 lens.

Tonight, I photographed the moon (300 mm, 1/250, f11, ISO 100), using both a tripod and hand-held with VC on. Both photos turned out sharp, rich in detail, and with very little difference between the two. Some have critiqued the lens as not being sharp at 300mm. Maybe that was on a Nikon. On my Canon, I could not ask for more.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

tamron lens 28-300 VC, Wednesday, 07 April 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
Wonderful product, takes clear pictures even when on the move. Highly recommend this product.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

Nice for the price., Tuesday, 16 February 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
4.0
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
4.0
I had to send the first one back because the VC didn't work and would lock up my camera functions. Apparently this is a mysterious problem with this lens and the Nikon D700 that has no correlation between the serial numbers & etc. This being a non Nikon brand lens, there is of course not much help or answers out there as to why this happens or what can fix the problem. The D700 just doesn't like certain lenses of this model. I did try it on my Nikon N65 film camera and it seemed to work fine. Amazon sent me a new one within three days, and I got it before I had time to mail off the "defective" one that didn't work on my D700! Great service, by the way!!! The 2nd one worked fine and I have been enjoying using it for a several months now.

Nice Contrast, sharpness, and few aberrations. I will say the only draw back being the speed. #1 It takes quite a while for the auto focus to work on my D700 in low light, even with the annoying focus assisting light on the camera. #2 The 3.5 aperture is only available when you are at 28mm, so this limits your range of creative control. Because of these two factors, this is not the greatest low light/indoor/available light lens especially if you are shooting anything that is moving. Vibration control helps a little, giving you about 1 stop more when shooting hand held. If you want a fast and great low light lens go with the prime Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras or Nikon 50mm f/1.4G SIC SW Prime Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras.

Overall, the versatility of this Tamron 28-300mm, wide angle to telephoto zoom, with a short focusing distance, that is very compact and portable, with vibration control, is a good one for my general shooting needs. I have used this for portrait, architectural, landscape, nature, and food photography with great results.

Here's a list of minimum apertures at the focal lengths listed on the barrel:

28mm = 3.5
35mm = 3.8
50mm = 4.2
70mm = 5
100mm = 5.6
135mm = 6
200mm = 6.3
300mm = 6.3
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Blurry, blurry., Monday, 15 February 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
2.0
Sharpness
2.0
Build Quality
2.0
AF Speed
2.0
Value for Money
2.0
I am quite disappointed with the lens. I was looking for something that would be light and versatile. This lens does not produce sharp images, especially if using zoom. The images look like if they were enlarged in Photoshop. I've tried many settings, including turning the VR off, with the camera on the tripod. The Depth of field seems to be on an extreme side. It is way too shallow, to the point that you can't even take a picture of a face without some parts of the face being out of focus (blurry). Though it is does not have the range of the Tamron lens, I will go back to the original 70-200 Nikon lens. At least I know that the pictures will be sharp enough with the Nikon lens.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

Just what she needed, Sunday, 14 February 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
5.0
Perfect replacement for similar lens broken in an accident. My wife was pleased to receive it.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

Nice but broke..., Thursday, 11 February 2010


Overall rating (weighted)
2.0
Sharpness
2.0
Build Quality
2.0
AF Speed
2.0
Value for Money
2.0
The features and size of this lens are excellent, especially the wide zoom range (although it's zooms to a bit less than 300mm actually) and the stabilization. The clarity, although good, was not close enough to a Canon 300mm f/4 L IS lens to make it usuable.
And the stabilization, although very effective, failed after a few uses.
So it went back to Amazon which has a very convenient return system.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

Great all-around lens, Monday, 28 September 2009


Overall rating (weighted)
3.8
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
3.0
Value for Money
4.0
When I traded my Canon 50D for the 5D Mark II, I had to surrender all my EF-s lenses and the Tamron 18-270 VC that had been my "walk around" lens. I had found this 18-270 to be better built than the Canon 18-200, so, based on this experience, it was only natural to add the Tamron 28-300 VC lens to my camera bag.
My first usage coincided with a 3 week visit to England that is only now ending. I packed both my Canon 24-105 L f/4 and the Tamron 28-300. I used both about 50% of the time with the 24-105 for close encounters inside castles and cathedrals where the extra wide angle was needed as well as the low light capturing of the f/4 aperture.
While it has been said that comparing a Canon "L" to other less costly lenses is like comparing caviar and hot dogs, I could not see any differences in the computer files that I posted to our travel web site. I'll examine the differences more closely when I get back home and begin making prints and putting together the book that will be published next year.
I am impressed with the smooth zooming of the Tamron compared with the somewhat sticky motion of the Canon. Of course, this is why there is a lock on the Tamron and I usually click it closed when walking around - otherwise, the barrel extends to the full 300mm setting and is awkward. The lock lever on this 28-300 is much easier to use than the lock on the 18-270 (which was a bit sticky and took a lot of coaxing to activate). So, I would say the build quality of the 28-300 is even better than the 18-270. Focus is very quick and the focus motor noise is not objectionable.
Tamron has done a very nice job of building a great super zoom, universal lens that meets my needs, is not too heavy and appears to make great images.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

Excellent travel lense, Saturday, 19 September 2009


Overall rating (weighted)
4.0
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
3.0
I own two Nikon prime lenses that I use with my D700: the 24-70 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8. As I was planning a trip to Europe I decided to look for a more compact, lighter super zoom. After going through a number of reviews I decided to purchase the Tamron AF 28-300. It is very compact and light compared to my other two main lenses. I have been extremely satisfied with the results and so have been my shoulders! Of course it is not a prime lense and it does not feel like a Nikon but it did the job very well allowing me to zoom in and out depending on the situation. The wide range also allowed me to not have to change lenses which I consider a great advantage since I mainly shot outside: I did not have to worry about dust or trying to find a safe place to change lenses. The fact that I use a D700 with it helped make up for the fact that it does not open as much as my Nikon lenses. It did however, as I had read, have a bit of difficulty focusing at 300 and when I did some night shots. It is also noisier than my other lenses but I quickly stopped noticing it. I think that this is a very good lense for travelling.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

Love the versatility!, Saturday, 12 September 2009


Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
4.0
Overall I am pleased with the lens. It's nice not to have to be switching back and forth, but as has been mentioned in many of the reviews I had read, the autofocus is kind of slow. One of my favorite things to shoot is car and motorcycle racing, and for this I've found it's just not up to the task. For motorsports my Canon 55-250 gives me much better results.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Lens Review, Tuesday, 08 September 2009


Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
4.0
Bought lens 6 weeks ago and am very impressed with its capability. The image stabilization really locks on and the lens clarity is excellent. I consider this lens to be of pro quality. Have shot still and air show subjects and the lens operated excellently.
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