Tamron SP AF 60mm F2 Di II LD (IF) A-mount lens review by QuietOC
 QuietOC#21445 date: Dec-3-2015 | |
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| sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.3 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro Sony A 50 F2.8 Macro Minolta AF 50 F2.8 Macro RS Minolta MD 50 F3.5 Macro Minolta AF 50 F3.5 Macro Sigma 60 F2.8 DN Art Sigma 65 F2 DG DN Sigma EX 70 F2.8 DG Macro Tamron SP 90 F2.5 Macro Minolta AF 100 F2.8 Macro RS |
| price paid: | 183 USD (used) |
| positive: | Modest size and weight AF accuracy Quiet internal focusing Full-time direct manual focus Mostly covers full-frame |
| negative: | Sloppy focus clutch Axial CA Borrows the Lens ID of the DT 1.8/50 SAM |
| comment: | I capriciously bought another copy of this lens. I did regret selling the previous copy. "Made in Japan" This lens has an impressively large front element for a small macro lens. The front element is nearly flush with the front of the body. The included plastic hood is small for the focal length, but probably generous for the working distance. The hood bayonet is a larger diameter than the similar ones on the Sony 55 mm filter size lenses. At close focus the 60/2 has a tighter field-of-view than the 18-55 at 55 mm, but is slightly wider than the short end of the 55-200 and considerably wider than the short end of the 55-300. The Minolta 35-105 and 28-105 report the focal length as 60 mm. The 16-105 reports 70 mm. Image quality is good except some minor lateral CA at the edges of the frame and some softness on the right side. Rendering at non-macro distances is also very nice. It mostly covers full-frame especially at close focus, but it is not very sharp outside APS-C crop. The least vignette is around f/5.6. The slop in the manual focus mechanism is worse than the similar amount of slop in the 16-105 because the feel is extremely masked. The manual focus ring has little feeling of being attached to anything, almost like it is focus-by-wire setup, which it isn't. The manual focus grip continue to rotate with the same resistance after the mechanism has hit the stops. This seems to have been the first Tamron A-mount lens with a built-in motor. It came out the same year as the Sony DT 1.8/50 SAM and uses the same Lens ID. This caused a problem a couple of years later when Sony added in-body Lens Compensation. It works more like an SSM lens with full-time manual focus. It is quieter than the SAM lenses even the 18-135. It focuses just as quickly as the SAM lenses. It is a bit prone to hunting. AF actually works quite well at macro distances unlike the 30/2.8. Mounting the 30/2.8 reversed using a 49 mm to 55 mm coupler on the front of this lens results in a decent 2:1 macro. |
; 20MPrating summary
- total reviews: 28
- sharpness: 4.89
- color: 4.89
- build: 4.32
- distortion: 4.86
- flare control: 4.89
- overall: 4.77