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.
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: 38 user(s)
Overall rating (weighted)
4.2
Sharpness
4.2
Build Quality
4.2
AF Speed
4.3
Value for Money
4.2
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Good Lens, Monday, 05 January 2009
Overall rating (weighted)
4.5
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
4.0
I'm new to the SLR market, though I own several cameras and camcorders. I bought a $250 Canon 300mm lens without VC, and I found out, you get what you pay for. The Tamron lens was recommended to me by a camera professional, and it's was well worth the money. The zoom is fantastic, and the VC allows you to shoot without a tripod. If you are looking for a $600 quality lens, this is it. You don't need to bring any other lens on your trip, this lens does it all.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Disappointed, Monday, 24 November 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
1.8
Sharpness
2.0
Build Quality
2.0
AF Speed
2.0
Value for Money
1.0
If you really care about very sharp photos, don't buy this one. I have tried every setting available and even with the VC off, the mirror up on my Canon40D and using a tripod, the pictures are very soft.
The older Tamron 18-200 is sharper, and the Canon kit lens that came with my Rebel camera is even sharper.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Very satisfied Customer, Saturday, 22 November 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
5.0
Tamron AF -28-300lens for Nikon Very satisfied with the purchase, Great service and shipping before I expected .
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Great lens for what it is., Thursday, 13 November 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.0
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
3.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
4.0
Having acquired this lens yesterday as a general purpose walk around lens I wanted to post my initial feelings on this piece of glass. Tamron optics tend to be "middle of the road", neither super stellar nor super awful. This lens, however, does go far beyond the middle towards stellar.
The good: The VC on this lens is on par with Nikon's VR. Tamron will tell you it's better because of 3 axis control, but I'm not buying it. Still, the VC is really capable and at 300 mm you can get a usable result at 1/40th of a second with good technique.
Color reproduction is good, too, and the lens provides a nice amount of Contrast. Probably the best result I've seen out of a Tamron to date.
Sharpness is actually amazingly good stopped down, and not bad wide open either. This is what impressed me the most with this lens.
The bad: The VC is loud. You can hear it work. I guess some people may find that assuring, but I find it slightly annoying.
Focus is about as slow as a glacier indoors. Outdoors, it's OK, but not super snappy. It hunts a lot and I find myself using manual focus in somewhat dim indoor light. This is not surprising, given the lens maximum aperture of f/6.3 at telephoto and 3.5 at wide angle.
The small max aperture also dims the viewfinder substantially, again, not so bad outdoors but indoors, it's like you're wearing sunglasses.
The Neutral: Like all lenses on a 35mm sensor, there is light fall off on the corners. It is pretty well controlled, and disappears by f/8. But, it is helped by the fact that its maximum aperture is small, so that helps mitigate light falloff.
Overall: If you are looking for a capable walk around lens that won't break the budget or your back, this is the lens to buy, period. Probably not suitable for APS-C sensor cameras (it becomes a 42-450 then), but on a 35mm sensor camera, this lens is a gem. If you have a APS-C sensor, consider the Tamrom 18-250 VC lens. It is every Bit as good as this lens is.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
better than expected, Friday, 17 October 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.3
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
3.0
I bought this lens for D300. the overall built quality is fair for $599 lens. With my D300, I used AF fine tune to maximize the sharpness, however, it turns out that it always back focus when I shoot the object on the shadow and the background is brighter.
So, I suggest to turn AF fine turn off. (- -")
VC is so good and very useful
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Wonderful lens for many situations, not good for l, Monday, 29 September 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
3.8
Sharpness
3.0
Build Quality
3.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
4.0
I am a serious amateur photographer and the types of photos I do the most are of people, street photography, architecture and landscapes.
I was attracted to the Tamron 28-300 given its broad range and its very light weight and compact size. I also own the Canon 75-300 USM IS and the Canon f4L 70-200. The Tamron seem to me like a great lens for travel and field trips in which I do not want to take a big bag of lenses and accesories with me.
I am very satisfied with the lens. It does a great job across the whole range and is very sharp and delivers great colors. It is quite compact when it is closed or at 28mm and it grows significantly at 300mm. It is a great lens for street photography as it is not a big, intimidating canon. It does an awesome job on street photography, where you can capture buildings by opening the lens or zoom into people easily with the 300mm zoom. The VR shake redeuction also works great, I do not have a very steady hand and still, I was able to capture very crisp photos at 1/100th of a second with the zoom at 300mm.
Where the lens performs poorly is in low light situations. I recently shot a Salsa dance show with low light and the Tamron's performance was very dissapointing. It took too much time to focus, and by the time it was ready you probably had missed the moment you were trying to capture. It basically turned my Canon 1D Mark III into some kind of a compact camera in terms of its low speed.
In summary a great lens for daylight photography and a rather poor lens in demanding night and low light environments, like dance shows.
Find street photos and salsa dancer photos I took with the lens here(cut and paste this in your browser): http://www.flickr.com/photos/carreon/tags/tamron28300mm/
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Incredible value, Sunday, 07 September 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
This is a great lens for anyone that wants the versatility of such a wide focal range and the portability of this size lens. I have even used it for some wedding shots. (Outdoor shots only) Most everyone will love this lens.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Excellent lenses for low price., Monday, 01 September 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD VC (Vibration Compensation) Aspherical (IF) Macro Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Tamron AF 28-300 Di LD VC Lens, Monday, 01 September 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.5
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
Purchased this lens as a gift for my son who shoots lots of railroad pix and was in need of a zoom lens for his beloved Canon DSLR. Got a call from him yesterday to tell me once again how much he loves this lens. He has shot some amazingly crisp photos, hand-held, at long distances in various light levels, and at times, from a truck with the motor running. He is extremely pleased with the lens. A close friend of mine owns the Nikon version and some of her garden and wildlife pix are professional quality, from a person with little photographic knowledge or experience. So far, the only disadvantage I've seen with the lenses is that owners want to spend too much time wandering about taking pictures! They become addicts and I can't wait to add myself to the list.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Grean Lens, Sunday, 31 August 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
This lens is great, the Vibration Compensation works great. I can get shots at 1/60 or slower without blur and much brighter colors. Great for low light and still a good walk around lens.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Monster bang for the buck!, Friday, 22 August 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
After I received it in the mail I went straight to a wedding to click off a few photos. It out performed my other Tamron ten-fold. The only downfall I've run into with this lens is some minor lens creep if you're not paying attention but that's easy enough to prevent. I'm incredibly impressed with this lens. More bang for the buck than anything else in this price range. VC works well!! Much needed if you have shakey hands like me. To get a better lens you'd have to go with pro lenses.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
a little heavy...but,, Saturday, 16 August 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
3.8
Sharpness
3.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
4.0
it's a little heavier than i would like, but it does a fine job as a "one size fits all". i have no problem with the lens shifting when shooting straight up or straight down.Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD VC (Vibration Compensation) Aspherical (IF) Macro Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Tamron good range 300 mm lens for Nikon, Saturday, 16 August 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
4.0
The Tamron AF 28-300mm with vibration compensation is a great lens for the price. I have used it with a Nikon D60 and D200 and works nicely with both.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
disappointing product, Sunday, 03 August 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
1.8
Sharpness
2.0
Build Quality
3.0
AF Speed
1.0
Value for Money
1.0
I've been an avid photographer for around a year now, and have acquired some pretty outstanding quality lenses (Sigma 10-20mm 1:4-5.6, Nikon 50mm 1:1.8D, Nikon 85mm f/1.4D AF, Nikon 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED, and Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG) which give superlative quality and perform exceptionally well.
I'd been eyeing a larger zoom lens for some time, and after reading many reviews about the Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD VC, I decided to drop the $600. It arrived on Friday of last week, and so I had the weekend to take it for a test drive on my trusty D80.
On Sunday I visited the Bronx Zoo - what better way to test out the zoom capability (polar bears, tigers, etc), together with its macro function (butterfly garden, amphibian area) - boy, was it a let down.
Almost every image was disappointing - no real tack-sharpness I'd expected - my Nikon 18-200 gives me pin point sharpness, and the lens is fast too. This Tamron lens produced nothing but either soft focused images, or the images just lacked any oomph. The zoom took forever too - and it was noisy.
I'm returning it today for a full refund, and I think I'll be giving Tamron a wide birth in future - I'll stick to the better quality Nikon and Sigma lenses.
(my returning the product has nothing to do with the seller, J&R - I have bought all of my other lenses through J&R and have received stellar service through this firm - outstanding company)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Great and versitile lens with only a few flaws, Thursday, 17 July 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.0
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
4.0
I have this lens on my Nikon D80. Was going to get the Nikon 18-200 but the image quality on that lens is disappointing. The Tamron 28-300VC has proved to be extremely versatile. I took it to the zoo and it was perfect! The VC is very loud and clunky sounding. It'll take some getting used to but it's not so bad. Panning is nice because it doesn't have the delay you get form the Nikon 70-300VR. As for build quality, it's a tamron so it's plastic. There is tons of lens creep after the first few weeks but there is a little latch to hold the lens at 28mm (I need to use it or else it'll creep). It's also a reasonable macro lens as well. My only real gripe is with the autofocus. It is SLOW. If you shoot a Nikon AF-S, you will think this is slow. The initial focus is pretty close but then it takes a bunch of baby steps to lock onto the final focus. When I'm indoors shooting f4.5 or below, it takes about 1-2 seconds to focus. When it's even darker, sometimes 4-6 seconds! I know i'm pushing the lens but my kit lenses could do much better. You can read more about the slow focusing ability of the new Tamrons with micromotors online. I would recommend this lens but gave it 4/5 stars instead of 5 because of the slow autofocus. Otherwise, given the price, quality, versatility and weight, it'd definitely be a 5.
