Handling and Features
Performance
Verdict
Specification
Tamron have offered a 28-300mm super-zoom lens of one kind or another for 35mm full frame cameras for quite some time now. This lens is the latest refinement, which sports optical vibration compensation, a silent piezo-electric focusing motor and a splash-proof construction. The lens costs around £620, and we'll take a look how it performs in this review.
Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD Handling and Features
The size of this lens is fairly typical for an optic sporting a 10x zoom range, as is the weight, which is 540g. It balances well on the Canon EOS 5D Mark III body used for testing, and will make a good companion for smaller, more compact SLR camera bodies as well. Matte finished, high quality plastics have been used for much of the construction of the lens barrel, and the bayonet fitting is metal, so it feels reasonably robust as a result. A rubber gasket, located around the metal lens bayonet, will help to prevent the ingress of dust and moisture into the camera body. The lens professes to be dust and splash proof, and is sealed internally.
A Piezo Drive motor powers autofocus and speeds are fairly quick, for a super-zoom lens. Manual adjustments can be applied at any time via the narrow focusing ring near the base of the lens. Manual focusing action is smooth and well damped, which makes fine adjustments a pleasure to apply. The zoom action is as smooth and although it seems to tighten up a little when being zoomed from 200mm to 300mm, it doesn't snag at all. Enough resistance has been applied to prevent the zoom creeping forward when it is pointed down, even so, a switch to lock the lens at 28mm is provided, to prevent the lens from being extended accidentally when removed from a case or bag.
Closest focus distance is 49cm, which is fairly typical for a lens covering this zoom range and focusing is performed internally. The 67mm filter thread does not rotate, which should make this lens ideal for use with graduated filters and polarisers. A petal shaped hood is supplied with the lens, which attaches to the bayonet fitting on the front of the lens.
Tamron's Vibration Compensation system promises to allow hand held shooting at shutter speeds slower than would otherwise be consistently possible. The system settles down quickly , providing a steady viewfinder image, although it is best to leave a short pause after focusing to allow the system to settle properly. With care, sharp held held shots were possible at shutter speeds as low as 1/30sec around half the time at 300mm, which is roughly four stops slower than the usual rule of thumb may recommend.
Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD Performance
At 28mm and maximum aperture, the sharpness delivered by this lens across the frame is already excellent. Stopping down improves performance across the frame, with peak sharpness being achieved at f/8. Here clarity is outstanding across the frame.
Zooming to 100mm, results in a drop in sharpness to very good levels in the centre of the frame at maximum aperture, and good clarity towards the edges of the frame. Stopping down to f11 provides the best performance across the frame for this focal length, here sharpness is excellent across the frame.
Finally at 300mm, overall performance is reduced a little further, but the lens still holds pretty well, especially for a lens with such a large zoom range. At f/6.3, sharpness reaches good levels across the frame. As is the case with 100mm, f/11 provides the best performance, producing very good levels of sharpness across the frame.
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How to read our chartsThe blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column.The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Canon EOS 5D Mark III using Imatest. |
Levels of chromatic aberrations are kept within acceptable limits throughout the zoom range, with fringing only exceeding one pixel width at f/6.3 and 300mm. This low level of fringing should pose few issues, even in images with high contrast towards the edges of the frame.
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How to read our chartsChromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Canon EOS 5D Mark III using Imatest. |
Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is reasonably controlled for a lens of this type. At 28mm the corners are 2.39 stops darker than the image centre and at 300mm the corners are 1.69 stops darker. Visually uniform illumination is achieved with the lens stopped down to f/8 or beyond throughout the zoom range.
As is often the case with super zoom lenses, distortion is noticeable at both ends of the zoom range, although it isn't too intrusive. At 28mm 4.51% barrel distortion is present, which is a noticeable level and at 300mm 1.1% pincushion distortion is present, which is much less apparent. The distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, so any distortion should be fairly easy to correct in image editing software subsequently if required.
A petal-shaped hood is supplied with the lens, which does a respectable job of shielding the front element from extraneous light that may cause flare or loss on contrast. At 300mm, shooting into the light does result in a little loss of contrast, but otherwise, this lens is fairly immune to flare.
Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD Sample Photos
Value For Money
This 28-300mm lens costs around £620, which is comparable to Nikon's 28-300mm VR lens, which retails for around £659, although the Nikon optic has a slightly faster f/5.6 maximum aperture at 300mm.
This lens will be of particular interest to owners of Canon or Sony full frame cameras, as neither manufacturer currently offers a similar lens. Well, Canon do offer a 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L USM lens, but it is huge, heavy and costs around £1900, so it is hardly similar.
Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD Verdict
Superzoom lenses like this offer a versatile, compact option which is great for travel, or simply for when a large zoom range is convenient. This lens adds a decent vibration compensation system, resistance to dust and moisture and fast focusing to allow this lens to be used in a wide range of shooting scenarios, further increasing the convenience on offer.
Although Nikon camera owners may see that the difference in price to the marque alternative is only slight, it will be owners of Sony and Canon full frame cameras, looking for a convenient option for travel, or simply for when wandering with their camera, especially as there is no sensible alternative from these camera manufacturers, or any other third party lens brands currently available.
The Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD offers a versatile, compact option which is great for travel.
With thanks to Harrison Cameras for loan of the Canon EOS 5D Mark III.