Tamron SP AF 70-300mm 4-5.6 Di USD A-mount lens review by Michevan
 Michevan#10421 date: Aug-1-2012 | |
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| sharpness: 3.5 color: 3 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 3 overall: 3.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 70-210 BC, Sigma 24-135, Tamron 18-250, Tamron 200-400, (compared to Minolta 200 2.8 for kicks but not a fair matchup) |
| price paid: | $350 after rebate |
| positive: | Focus speed, size, price, better CA control than the beercan |
| negative: | Sharpness, blokeh, colors, overexposure |
| comment: | As always, looking for a walk around zoom that beats the beercan. Let me first start by saying that I have a nice copy of the BC, and have owned it for nearly 25 years. On the positive front, the Tamron is way faster, and so much quieter. I think the wonderful praise stops there. To be sure, this is a nice lens, but I do not feel that it had been appropriately reviewed in this forum. I think there is a case of higher lens rating based in part on the price of the lens. No question, this lens provides good value for the money. Comparing the shots throughout the focal length range (including cropped BC photos), the colors were not as nice, and the sharpness was really a toss up. Either wide open or stopped down, the lens had a tendency to slightly overexpose each shot. The same issue occurred on both the A700 and the SLT57. My father and I took the lens through a really complete workout using hand held, tripod, sunlight, cloudy, and indoor shots. The results were solid, but certainly not great. In both our views, this lens falls below the BC in overall shot quality. Assuming the G lens is a 5, and the BC is a 4, this falls to about a 3.75. Nice, but certainly not worth the current rating of 4.72. |
; 14MPrating summary
- total reviews: 55
- sharpness: 4.50
- color: 4.38
- build: 4.35
- distortion: 4.62
- flare control: 4.53
- overall: 4.47