Tamron lenses questions

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Jeremy Wright
Posts: 144
Joined: December 14th, 2015, 4:56 pm

Tamron lenses questions

Post by Jeremy Wright »

Hi all,

I'm getting to there point where I'm considering a few new lenses. I was wondering if anyone had experience with the following lenses and if you could let me know what you thought.

New vs old Tamron 90 mm macro
(Tamron AFF017N700 SP 90mm F/2.8 Di VC USD 1:1 Macro vs Tamron AFF004N700 SP 90MM F/2.8 DI MACRO 1:1 VC USD)
As far as I can see, just an update to the lens, maybe optically a little better? Both versions seem to be pretty popular. Anyone have experiences with either of these 2 in comparison to the 105 mm 2.8 by Nikon?

New Tamron 17-35 f2.8-4 OSD
- Looks like this could be an interesting lens. Probably not as good optically as the 15-30 and obviously lacking the VR, but about the same field of view, the same minimum focusing distance, etc. Could be interesting.


Tamron 15-30 2.8 vc
-Curious to hear what people have to say about this lens. I'm big into wide angle here - in habitat shots but not a big fan of the laowa lenses and the distortion they often give. I'm sure vc could be a big help too.

I am currently shooting with Nikon for what it's worth. If anyone here has experience with the Nikon equivalents of the lenses listed above or even better have used both Nikon and tamron and have preferences or differences worth noting, those would be greatly appreciated.

All the best, and happy shooting (with a camera not a gun that is :lol: )

Jeremy
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Chad M. Lane
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Location: Manteca, CA

Re: Tamron lenses questions

Post by Chad M. Lane »

I own the middle version of the Tamron 90mm (also owned the first version) if you can get the newest, at the high resolution bodies it's testing quite a bit sharper (it's an already sharp lens!) It also has better weather sealing and no push and pull front.

I own the first version of the Tamron 15-30mm, let's just say it's a fantastic lens.
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Kevin Price
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Re: Tamron lenses questions

Post by Kevin Price »

Hi Jeremy,

I've only owned one Tamron lens, a 10-24 wide angle, and I loved it WHEN IT WORKED. One of my images taken with it has earned me a fair amount of money and a lot of recognition, though it's not a herp image, so I was really disappointed when I began having problems with it. It would stop letting me select the aperture and would fix on one f-stop. I sent it back to Tamron who fixed the issue and it was fine. Then it started having focusing issues and the aperture problem came back. Sent it back a second time and Tamron fixed it. Well it formed a very cloudy spot in the center of the lens internally that would not go away. I sent it back to Tamron a third time and then was told they were not going to fix it and that I should buy a new lens. Really? A lot of problems with just one lens, and then the manufacture flaked on me. You've seen my lenses, all Canon, and I've never had an issue with any of them. The two times I went third party; one was a Tokina 12-24 wide angle that just stopped working entirely, and the Tamron wide angle.

I'm not saying Tamron is bad, but my experience with them was. I know you shoot Nikon, maybe Tamron lenses work better with those bodies. I for one am never going back to Tamron. I've shot with Sigma lenses and would go that route if a third party lens was something I was looking for. Just saw that Adorama has a Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S lens used for sale for $300.00. I'd stick with Nikon.

Kevin
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Jeremy Wright
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Joined: December 14th, 2015, 4:56 pm

Re: Tamron lenses questions

Post by Jeremy Wright »

Chad M. Lane wrote:I own the middle version of the Tamron 90mm (also owned the first version) if you can get the newest, at the high resolution bodies it's testing quite a bit sharper (it's an already sharp lens!) It also has better weather sealing and no push and pull front.

I own the first version of the Tamron 15-30mm, let's just say it's a fantastic lens.
Chad M. Lane wrote:I own the middle version of the Tamron 90mm (also owned the first version) if you can get the newest, at the high resolution bodies it's testing quite a bit sharper (it's an already sharp lens!) It also has better weather sealing and no push and pull front.

I own the first version of the Tamron 15-30mm, let's just say it's a fantastic lens.
Kevin Price wrote:Hi Jeremy,

I've only owned one Tamron lens, a 10-24 wide angle, and I loved it WHEN IT WORKED. One of my images taken with it has earned me a fair amount of money and a lot of recognition, though it's not a herp image, so I was really disappointed when I began having problems with it. It would stop letting me select the aperture and would fix on one f-stop. I sent it back to Tamron who fixed the issue and it was fine. Then it started having focusing issues and the aperture problem came back. Sent it back a second time and Tamron fixed it. Well it formed a very cloudy spot in the center of the lens internally that would not go away. I sent it back to Tamron a third time and then was told they were not going to fix it and that I should buy a new lens. Really? A lot of problems with just one lens, and then the manufacture flaked on me. You've seen my lenses, all Canon, and I've never had an issue with any of them. The two times I went third party; one was a Tokina 12-24 wide angle that just stopped working entirely, and the Tamron wide angle.

I'm not saying Tamron is bad, but my experience with them was. I know you shoot Nikon, maybe Tamron lenses work better with those bodies. I for one am never going back to Tamron. I've shot with Sigma lenses and would go that route if a third party lens was something I was looking for. Just saw that Adorama has a Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S lens used for sale for $300.00. I'd stick with Nikon.

Kevin

Much appreciated Chad and Kevin! I think I'll try and find a used 105mm 2.8 and then try out a few wide angles. The 16-35 Nikon would be interesting as it has vr.

Jeremy
bgorum
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Re: Tamron lenses questions

Post by bgorum »

Guess I haven't been on this forum in quite a while, so hopefully my month late reply will be of some use to you. I have the Tamron 15-30. Mine is the original version, but from what I've seen review wise so far, there really isn't a lot of difference between the 1st and 2nd versions of this lens. I bought the lens with astro-photography in mind, as well as Herp in the environment, and more general landscape uses. The lens is quite good optically, sharp, with little flare, chromatic aberration, ghosting, or coma (really only important for astro work), and it has vr, which the equivalent Nikon lens lacks. The auto-focus is accurate though slow. I did have trouble AF fine-tuning it to my D500, but that turned out to be a problem with the camera, not the lens. Still, I was able to AF fine tune all my Nikon lenses on that body, even before having it repaired. For herps I think it has two drawbacks. #1, its really heavy. Before this lens I had a Nikon 20mm f1.8 that was much lighter and easier to hike with. #2, it doesn't focus as close as I'd like. Minimum focusing distance for this lens is about 12 inches, compared to my old Nikon 20 f1.8's 6 inches. For herps that difference can be significant. However, the 20mm Nikon had pretty bad coma when used for astro-photography, which is why I made the switch. Guess I'm still looking for the perfect, do it all, white-angle!
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