Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 SP XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Lens for Konica Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras (Model A09M)

First of all, this lens is fantastic. There are a few reasons why, and I will go over them, but if you are looking for a great walk around lens that is nice and fast, look no further. This lens is heavy, built well, and produces wonderful images.Visit Tamron's site to download the lens guide PDF: http://www.tamron-usa.com/lenses/prod/2875mm.asp#ad-image-0Let's get down to brass tacks, the pros and cons of this lens. I will tell you why I like this lens and how I use it.I am a working photographer. I earn a living shooting weddings and events in Hampton Roads, Virginia. This lens helps me earn money because it produces great results in a wide range of applications. To be truthful, I push the limits of both my camera and the lighting situations I find myself in and would consider my knowledge at an expert level.First there must be a basis for comparison. Lenses are not created equal, and the price of a lens is volatile, that is to say that once a professional level of optics are attained, very small advances in performance can come at a very high cost.Therefore, I consider the Category, Sensor Size the lens is designed to work with, Distortion, Chromatic Aberration, Aperture, and Price, in that order.CATEGORY: Constant f2.8 28-75 Full Frame Lens.This Lens is competing with other Lenses with constant aperture at f2.8 with a focal length between 16-75. TamronDoes offer a weather sealed version of this lens for around $1100. It has a pezio drive and is directly competing with the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S DX Lens. You can find these two lenses here:Nikon: http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-17-55mm-2-8G-ED-IF-Nikkor/dp/B000144I2Q $1399Tamron: http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-17-55mm-2-8G-ED-IF-Nikkor/dp/B000144I2Q $1099SENSOR SIZE:No, the lens does not have a sensor in it, but it is made for a Full Frame camera. You can use this lens on an APSC sensor size, which is good. Some even believe that you will have better results using a FF lens on an APSC sensor because of the crop factor pulling the sharpest part of the lens, the center area, into focus and discarding the edges of the lens.DISTORTION:Distortion, This is a legacy designed lens. This is important because the lens was designed when cameras did not have built in line correction and micro correction. Moreover, this lens was designed when the average consumer did not have access to programs like DxO Optics Pro 9 and Light Room (both of these programs have built in profiles to correct lens distortion on specific camera bodies).This is important to you because it was designed when the lens had to be good optically because corrections in post production were very difficult. This lens Hit the market in the at least 2003.This lens has some soft areas wide open at 28mm. They are mainly in the edges of the lens. Center is tack sharp. This is not a bad thing though, remember that an aperture of 2.8 should give a very shallow depth of field, and an extremely narrow focus. Therefore one would expect the edges to be soft. I absolutely love this. DXO optics has tested this lens and approves of it. But don't let someone else's numbers confuse you. All their numbers mean is that it is a great lens for the price. I'm sure that someone will begin comparing this statement to some $4k plus lens, but remember, this lens is not competing in the $4k arena. It does, however, hold up very well.In my use I have seen very little to no distortion. I take portraits of individuals and groups, so I would not expect to see a lot of distortion. If I were taking photo of buildings, any distortion the lens has would become more apparent.CHROMATIC ABERRATIONSo far I have seen nothing that I would say detracts form the image. The Lens is prone to flaring when pointed toward direct bright light, like a sunset, but what better of an image to get than a silhouette of a bride and groom with a natural lens flair? For me its great, maybe not so much for you.APERTUREThis is an f2.8, constant throughout the zoom range, right? Yes. but do you know what that means? Are all 2.8's equal? The answer is both yes and no. To make this simple, aperture is nothing more than a mathematical ratio. it actually looks like this f 1:2.8, We just drop the "1:" and display it as f2.8.So now that you know it's a ratio, what is it competing? It is comparing goal length to the diameter of the aperture, or how big of a whole the aperture has at a known focal length. To find out how big your aperture is in MM just divide the focal length by the current aperture. So a focal length of 100mm at an aperture of 2 would be 100mm/2=50mm. This means that your aperture would be physically open by 50mm at a focal length of 100mm.This is important because, as ratios are always comparing aperture diameter to focal length, they should be constant across different lenses. So you could say that a 50mm prime at an f2 has an aperture diameter of 25mm. The example above showed that a lens with a focal length of 100mm at an f2 would be 50mm in diameter. This is correct, but would be costly to build and quite heavy. Instead many lenses have an articulated aperture, which is to say that their maximum aperture changes throughout the zoom range. you will usually see something like an 18-55 f3.5-5.6. That means that on the wide end of the lens the max aperture is 3.5, so 18/3.5=5.14mm and 55/5.6=9.82mm.This lens example from above is almost always going to be bad in low light, and would probably be a kit lens. The Tamron Lens that this article is about is a 24-75 f2.8 which means that the max aperture on the wide end is 24/2,8=8.57mm and on the zoom end the aperture diameter is 75/2.8=26.78mm. Let's compare them:Common 18-55 f3.5-5.8 Max Aperture diameter wide angle: 5.14mm max aperture zoomed in: 9.82mmTamron 24-75 f2.8 Max Aperture diameter wide angle: 8.57mm max aperture zoomed in: 26.78mmBigger diameter aperture is better because it gives you more usable light in low light situations, it also gives you more control on depth of field.PRICE: It's $500. This is a steal for this lens. It works in many situations and gives you the most control over your creativity- considering the alternatives, it is about ½ or less the price. I have truly enjoyed this lens and you will too. My suggestion is to buy the body of the camera you want- do not buy a bundled lens- and get this lens as your walk around lens.Check out samples with this lens and others buy visiting www.RobertHammPhotography.com

I have never bought a non-Canon lens because I just love the look, feel, and optical quality of the Canon line particularly the L series lenses. But I kept reading glowing reviews about this lens. On multiple websites. So, I went out and took a look.First impression: the build quality is not as good as a Canon L series lens. Duh! It costs about 1/4 as much for goodness sake. This is a plastic lens - not metal. But I must admit that the build quality was pretty darn good. Better, I think, than the Sigma lenses I've seen. Fit and finish was very nice and tight. I'd give the build quality a 4/5. Not bad. I figured I could live with it.Next, I put the lens on my camera. I'd read reviews complaining about the speed of the focusing. It may not be quite as quick as my 200 f2.8 L series lens but it was pretty darn good and for my purposes, plenty fast. A 4.5/5I'd read reviews complaining about the noise and the fact that the AF was not USM. I thought the AF worked very quietly. Not at all distracting and barely discernable. Noise - not an issue.Then, I took pictures with the lens and I was absolutely floored! How in the world did Tamron manage to produce a lens that performed so well optically for such a reasonable price?! Beautiful contrast, excellent resolution, gorgeous colors, and extremely sharp, particularly above f2.8. But, f2.8 is very good as well.Obviously the first comparison that comes to mind is between this lens and the Canon 24-70 f2.8 L. I would say, I kid you not, that this lens is in every respect optically the equal of the Canon or better than the Canon. I could not believe it.I tested this lens directly against a brand new copy of the Canon 24-70 f2.8L. Method: I tested both lenses on a tripod @ F 2.8 and 8.0 @ 28mm 50mm and 70mm. Target limestone wall 9.5 feet parallel to the sensor plane. Remote release employed. No mirror lockup. Center and all four corners were evaluated to my naked eye on a monitor using 100% crops. Both lenses were new copies received within the last 7 days.The limestone wall lent itself perfectly to evaluating sharpness and subtle contrast and color rendition. There was enormous detail present in the wall with subtle colorations present.Findings:28MM F8: Tamron definitely sharper in the center and corners28MM F2.8: Tamron definitely sharper in the center and corners50MM F8: Tamron slightly sharper in the center and very slightly sharper in corners50MM F2.8: Tamron slightly sharper in center and equal in corners.70MM F2.8: Canon sharper in center and at corners. Incidentally noted was inability of Tamron to focus as sharply as I was able to achieve with manual focusing.70MM F8: Tamron sharper in center with Canon slightly sharper in corners.Some have said that there is less flare with the Canon, but if you use the lens hood that should not be a problem. I didn't notice excessive flare in my copy.Admittedly there is significant copy to copy variation in both the Canon and the Tamron, but my findings convinced me that at 1/4 the price, and with the Tamron weighing 1 pound less than the Canon that the Tamron was the lens for me. Optically 5/5!!I cannot recommend this lens highly enough. It is the first non-Canon lens I have owned and I am thrilled.