Tamron SP AF 70-300mm 4-5.6 Di USD A-mount lens reviews
 japp#46954 date: Aug-23-2023 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 3 flare control: 4 overall: 4.2 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | big beercan sigma 75-200 2.8-3.5 minolta 100-300mm apo |
| price paid: | €75 |
| positive: | sharpness decently fast auto focus |
| negative: | not the fastes auto focus motor |
| comment: | this lens is to my taste one of the nicest far zoom lenses i have used to this day. (not compared the sony ssm lens, which is to expansive for me) thanks to the built in usm motor the autofocus is around 95% of the time on point with the subject. some times it misses it becouse it starts to hunt but when it has got the subject it can mostly keep up. the sharpness of this lens is for a zoom exceptional to me. i have used some primes and i have to say, it comes close anough for me. CA mostly isn't a thing with this lens. it can show up but when it does, it is in very low amounts. distortion is 'when not corrected out of camera' present but can easily be corrected. the built to me is a bit of a mix to me. the lens tends to creep and the af-mf switch loves to be rocked to the wrong setting when putting in a bag and when getting it out. this is why i gave built a 3 if meanly the switch was a bit stiffer i would certainly give it a 4.5. |
; 24MP| AVLB#45678 date: Mar-28-2021 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.9 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 55-300 (APSC only) KM 75-300 D Sony 70-400 SSM I |
| price paid: | £120 |
| positive: | Great build quality. Sharp. Good flare control. Good CA control with nice petal hood. Not too heavy. Almost silent when focusing. |
| negative: | No zoom lock |
| comment: | I was on the look out for a Sony 70-300 SSM, but I came across this lens by chance and after reading reviews on it decided this was as good as the Sony. When comparing prices, the Tamron clearly came out on top. My first one I bid on, I lost, but was lucky enough to come across another MINT condition lens and actually paid less than the one I lost the bid on! I was pleasantly surprised how good the lens feels on both my Sony A99 and Sony A68. I have not tried it yet on the A850, but as that is similar in weight to the A99, it should feel fine. My first test shots were on the A99 and even wide open at f4, the lens is really sharp, particularly in the centre. Stopping down, even half a stop cleans up any softness in the corners. I was really impressed. Colours as good as Minolta ones too. On the A68, I was also impressed that without any MFA, this lens is still sharp. Compared to the 55-300, this gets a lower overall rating on Dyxum, but my opinion is that it equals if not betters it. It certainly feels a superior build lens and sharpness is better. The less said about the KM 75-300, the better, as this really is an inferior lens to both the Sony and Tamron. Compared to the Sony 70-400 SSM, the Tamron really does hold its own and although the Sony has a slight edge on build and features, it does not really offer much more that being twice the weight. A day out with the long lenses in the future will almost certainly mean taking both the Sony 70-400 on the A99 and the Tamron 70-300 on either the A850, or the A68 |
| A68noob#44548 date: Jul-11-2020 | |
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sharpness: 3.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 3.9 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to own this lens |
| compared to: | Tamron 18-270 Sony 70-300G SSM Minolta 70-210 F4 Beercan |
| price paid: | 100€ used |
| positive: | + for its price, good and beautiful build (i like it much more than the 3x expensive 70-300G sony) + good hood (especially its surface which is resistent to scratches.. compared to cheap and weak G hood) + fast and pretty silent AF (slightly inferior in both terms to G tho) + overall pretty much the best price/performance 70-300 from my experience.. but still nothing to brag about + at lower focal lenghts sharpness and colours were good |
| negative: | - no zoom lock (but mine was luckily a bit stiff, so still no zoom creep - i would have still wished it had a lock) - soft (I did a side by side test and the 70-210 beercan won.. nuff said. especially when compared at ~130mm, where max aperture is 5.6.. the stopped down beercan won easily) - quite some CA (at least at 300mm). at some point as bad as beercan, easily worse than my Tamron 18-270. - especially at 300mm a lot of pumping AF - only 1:4 magnification @ 1,5m MFD - the first lens i have ever had that had problems with the A68 built in 7,5x and 15x magnifier option - it would simply disrupt and therefore not allow me to precisely MF if AF didnt want to work properly - this lens obviously needs some serious stopping down to perform well (+ fast enough shutter speed at 300mm).. resulting to be only an effective lens in nothing but the brightest daylight |
| comment: | I originally started with 270mm Tamron with usually good results. Upgraded to Sony 70300G, but bit disappointed (especially in terms of price/performance). Bought this lens very cheap, mint 2nd hand to do some testing vs lenses stated above.. and I was just disappointed. Yeah, it may be the best budget choice IF you really dont need great performance at 300mm, but if you own at least something compareable like a beercan i dont see a reason why you should need this lens.. especially for closeby animalhunting: Beercan delivers 1:4 magnification at 1,1m while Tamron 1:4 at 1,5m.. but at 300mm F5,6, less DOF, way more light required for 1/300sec at least and similar CA. Beercan more reliable AF up close too and is generally bit sharper, has better colours and is even cheaper to get.. Apart from beautiful and nice build, cheap price and silent AF nothing else to fight my the long list of negative aspects. Bad performance up close, CA, much light required and especially the broken magnifier incamera option was the last dealbreaker for me. Havent had flare issues due to big hood (good) and cant comment on distortion. Disclaimer: My ratings are based on price/performance. |
| Magnumúrfi#35793 date: Mar-15-2017 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | 75-300 big bercan 100-300 APO 100-300 APO d |
| price paid: | 140000 HUF |
| positive: | Good sharpness 70mm 135mm 200mm Build Flare CA USD Hight light very fast focus 70mm 135mm 200mm 300mm Good color |
| negative: | Very soft 300 mm Plastik body Low light very very slow all focal lenght |
| comment: | Good lens but very soft 300mm and F5,6 F8 average sharpness. 70mm and 200 mm Very sharp f4 F4,5. Very good flare |
| QuietOC#29649 date: Aug-6-2016 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony DT 55-300 F4.5-5.6 SAM Minolta AF 70-210 F4 Minolta AF 70-210 F3.5-4.5 Canon EF 70-300 F4-5.6 IS II USM Sony 70-300 F4.5-5.6 SSM II Sony 70-400 F4-5.6 G SSM Minolta AF 75-300 F4.5-5.6 BBC Minolta AF 100-300 F4.5-5.6 APO/D Minolta AF 100-400 F4.5-6.7 APO Sigma 70-200 F2.8 EX DG APO |
| price paid: | 185 USD (used) |
| positive: | Flat focus plane Good lateral CA control Very little distortion Parfocal Excellent contrast Full-frame coverage Internal focus Always available DMF Compatible with Kenko DGX teleconverters Very large petal hood 62 mm filter size |
| negative: | Chubby size and weight Extending zoom Slow, somewhat noisy AF AF switch prone to unintentional bumps Stiff, uneven zoom action Zoom creep, no lock Vague, rear focus control No VC, no limiter, no buttons Doesn't support fastest A-mount communication Incorrect Lens ID |
| comment: | After my disappointment with a $250 "new" display model from an authorized dealer, I purchased a second used copy from an individual seller for $150. This used copy is sharper than the previous new one. The normal list price for this lens is $450, but there is often a $100 rebate for it. Tamron offers a similar lens with vibration compensation (VC) for Canon EF and Nikon F mounts for the same price. After selling my A-mount copy I bought a used VC version with a Canon EF mount. This copy was also not very sharp. I replaced it with the newer Canon EF 70-300 IS II USM. "MADE IN CHINA" If you find a good copy, this lens is pretty good optically. Its focus plane is even flatter on APS-C than the 1986 Minolta AF 75-300 "Big Beercan". It also has good lateral CA control giving it the best raw image quality in the APS-C corners. The center sharpness wide-open is very good compared to the other full-frame zooms, but can be softer than the 55-300. This is mostly noticeable at the long end especially when using teleconverters. At close-focus it is a bit wider in field-of-view than the 55-300 at the long end. The A-mount version borrows the lens ID from the Sony 70-300G SSM meaning the A77 and newer Sony cameras will apply the lens compensations for that lens to JPEGs and embed that profile in the raw files. It also means all the special focus modes are enabled. This lens does not support the latest/fastest A-mount communication rate introduced with the A77 and DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM kit zoom, which means this lens does not support the faster tracking that the newer DT 55-300 SAM and 70-300G SSM II support on the current bodies including the Sony A9. The zoom mechanism feels similar but even a little bit worse the 70-300G II. Using the zoom on both of these makes me want to rate their builds as "3". The less expensive DT 55-300 and 75-300 D zooms zoom mechanisms feel nicer to operate. The rear focus control is one of the better clutched mechanisms I've tried. It is nicely weighted and smooth with the stops noticeable by touch and ear. It is still vague and imprecise, and the always available DMF it offers is still practically useless. I often turn the focus ring by accident when trying to zoom. The 70-300G has a similar arrangement but with more separation between the control rings. The last A-mount copy focused better than the previous one perhaps because the lens is sharper. The lack of support for the updated A-mount communication means it works fully with the Kenko DGX teleconverters. I am even able to get the AF to lock on occasionally with real world subjects using the 2X teleconverter at 600 mm. However, the Minolta AF 100-400 APO has better image quality past 300 mm. The USD also works on the Maxxum 70 though the older AF system struggles much more than the one in the A65. It also works much better than the SAM telephotos with the LA-EA1 on the A5000. The actual focusing speed is fairly slow. In fact is the slowest focus racking x-300mm zooms I've tried. It has internal focus, but if you look in the front of the lens while focusing you can see it has to move a group of large elements near the front of the lens a large distance--further than the external front focusing zooms extend for focusing. The EF version doesn't focus any better on the MC-11 on my A7II than the A-mount version on the LA-EA3. Like the Sony DT 18-135 SAM and SSM lenses, the AF switch on the lens is redundant and the lens responds to the AF switch on the camera body. Both switches have to be set to AF for the USD to function. I keep accidentally bumping the switch on the lens. I missed several shots because of AF getting turned off this way. I would definitely disable that switch if could. It lacks the partial range limiter and the focus hold button found on the 70-300G lenses. The second copy of this lens redeems its optical performance. Initial field testing though produced some out-of-focus results. It doesn't seem to have the accuracy of the DT lenses, but that might be able to be corrected on other bodies. The size, weight, and operation are worse than the DT 55-300 mm. I found it very uncomfortable to use on the A65 or A58 for long sessions without additional support. Test chart comparison |
| jacksprat#27586 date: May-24-2016 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.2 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to own this lens |
| compared to: | beer can 70-210 |
| price paid: | $269 in 2014 |
| positive: | range, USD, overall optics are good, build is solid |
| negative: | size, weight, slower to focus than I would like. This lens is hard to hold and balance while trying to zoom or manual focus mainly because of the large diameter. |
| comment: | Bought this lens thinking that the extra range from 210-300 would be nice. On my A77, the pictures in this range are good but not sharp enough (even after micro adjust). While the optics of this lens are better, I actually like the beercan better in some ways. The size of this lens and weight are the reasons I sold it. IF the picture quality from the extra range would have been better, I may have kept it. I've read that to get a sharper image in the 300mm range, you must push toward F8. Sadly, the lens had to go since I hardly used it. |
| fotograf@akusma.cz#12134 date: Feb-16-2015 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 2 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 3.9 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | missing |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | missing |
| negative: | missing |
| comment: | missing |
| Ssoyd#12047 date: Dec-5-2014 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sigma 17-70 "C" Tamron 70-200 f2.8 USD Sony 75-300 Tamron 18-200 Tamron 70-200 f2.8 USD Sony 35mm f1.8 Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro |
| price paid: | 350 USD |
| positive: | Maintains sharpness throughout the entire zoom range, Build quality is excellent for a lens in this price range. Focusing speed and accuracy is outstanding on both my A77 and A77ii. I use this for sports with excellent results. |
| negative: | Some CA when wide open but not that bad |
| comment: | I don't think any under $1000 lens at this focal length can surpass it. It holds up well even wide open when examined at 100%. I wouldn't hesitate to make a 30x20 print from photos made with this lens. Contrast good. Color good. As You can see I really like this lens. I have used this lens on an A65, A77 and A77ii. My previous lens of this zoom range was the Sony 75-300 and to say this lens is much better in every way would be an understatement. |
| toddd240#11958 date: Aug-25-2014 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sigma 70-300 Macro Sony 55-200 Minolta 70-210 Beercan |
| price paid: | 449 US New |
| positive: | Large but not terribly heavy. Very little distortion. Color is acceptable. Fairly sharp but not world class. No problems with flare unless you purposely try and cause it. Hood does not rotate during zoom. |
| negative: | Some lateral fringing that causes a little extra work in post. Its a bit bulky, but that is to be expected. Lens quality suffers a bit past 200 but not unworkable, you just need to take extra care to shoot at F8-F11 for best sharpness. Bokeh suffers a bit after 200mm. Hunts a bit in low light. |
| comment: | There are other lenses out there that are better, but for the price this lens delivers quality shots if you get to know the lens and what F stops to use in what circumstances, but that is true of many lenses. Autofocus is smooth and fairly quiet, but hunts a little too much in very low light. Bokeh snobs will want to consider a much more expensive lens, but it isn't bad between 70-200. |
| gmanmi#11752 date: Apr-2-2014 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.1 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to own this lens |
| compared to: | Tamron 75-300 |
| price paid: | USD 450 new |
| positive: | Very Sharp Good contrast and Color Silent Motor |
| negative: | AF Issues Good value for money |
| comment: | I had the Tamron 70-300 SP for 2 years. It was a good first long zoom for sports and bird shots. But eventually started having major AF issues. Lens would hunt and refuse to lock focus. Sold this lens recently. |
| Tmark#11637 date: Jan-26-2014 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sigma 70-300 APO 70-200 g SSM |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | weight cost |
| negative: | Cheap plastic Awful sharpness Colors aren't nice |
| comment: | I bought this lense after I have read all the positive review. But I am very disappointed, it does not meet my requirements. especially IQ. maybe I got a bad copy. |
| Warsawpact#11579 date: Jan-3-2014 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 1 flare control: 1 overall: 2.9 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 75-300 |
| price paid: | 3200 SEK (new) |
| positive: | Quiet autofocus Sharpness Build quality Focus-peaking compatible 5-year warranty Price value |
| negative: | Heavy No AF limiter |
| comment: | I use it on my A77 without any issues. A great lense and probably one of the top performers in it's pricerange. Solid build quality but also heavy. |
| Zastavia#11551 date: Dec-21-2013 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 3 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 3.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | TAMRON 55-200 di II SIGMA 120-400 APO DG OS HSM TAMRON 70-300 Di LD Macro MINOLTA 28-105 |
| price paid: | 539.00 |
| positive: | >Great build quality >Excellent manual focus ability >Sharpness increases above f/7.1 and better still above f/9 >Excellent silent motor drive >Very good control of flare and CA |
| negative: | >Recurring focus-lock problems regardless of light or subject or camera body. >Occasional over-exposure issues only rectified by spot metering(!) >Removal of VC yet no price decrease on SONY version(!) >Oddly, struggles to deliver stabilised images even as high as 1/180 sec. >Struggles to gather light on overcast/darkened days. >New parts fitted under warranty did not solve issues. >High price to pay for average or sub-standard results. |
| comment: | I was quite excited when I first received this lens nearly two years ago. After getting rid of the disappointing Sigma 120-400 (which was poor and hazy at tele end), I put aside my TAMRON 55-200 to get used to this new lens. For static photography on my old a33 it seemed at first fine, delivering fairly sharp photos at bigger apertures and better sharpness around f/9, with decent but slightly muted colors (however I could see less sharpness than my old 55-200 TAMRON). However, the lens proved to be near hopeless for anything moving, regardless of light or shutter speed and also with continuous af and even higher ISO. At an airshow most of my photos were out of focus despite at least 1/500 shutter and great light. Only a few shots were usable. The same happens when it is used to birds in flight, nearly all shots are fuzzy and out of focus-a problem I have never had with the 55-200. I have been shooting action for years which is why I went for SONY's SLT models, and thought this lens considering the price would be up easily to the job. The lens also occasionally stuttered rapidly, refusing to lock onto even static subjects, this was cured by rotating the manual focus ring quickly left and right, or constantly re-priming the shutter...failing that, the camera would have to powered off then on again. Thinking this was a problem between the compatibility of the lens and the a33, I upgraded to the superb a57, and the lens seemed to perform slightly better, however, upon attending a car rally in the bright summer, once again many shots were out of focus giving me the impression the absence of the VC unit was the cause and SONY's built-in SSS was struggling to keep up somehow. Upon turning SSS off, the problem did not go away. The problems have continued to this day and I have struggled greatly with this lens, it's weaknesses outpacing it's strengths of which is sharpness at smaller apertures, smooth (but not fast) focus and good movie ability. Compared to my TAMRON 55-200 di II which was £89 new, there is simply no match. The 55-200 outguns the 70-300 in nearly all areas including sharpness, light-gathering, focus speed and especially focus accuracy on which the 70-300 is just awful, often over shooting, then coming back, then overshooting again. I have never had this problem with any other lenses I have ever owned, even on 35mm cameras on which I am sure I can achieve greater results. As a last resort I recently sent the lens away to Tamron and it came back after nearly 7 weeks (!) with new focus motor, thrust barrel, new circuitry etc and it is still exactly the same. I am strongly considering scrapping it and going for a SONY 70-300 G or even a cheap Sig 70-300 as a stop-gap. The use of this lens is like a roller coaster, one minute giving you a high with good results mainly on static subjects, the next woefully letting you down even in perfect conditions with perfect settings. I would be very reluctant to purchase another TAMRON lens such as this. UPDATE 24/12/13 I got outside for a walk in sunny weather for a couple of hours with this lens. It now has a more major exposure problem especially over 135mm, blasting images with lots of light on anything above f6.3. Changing ISO, shutter speed, light source, re-attaching lens etc made no difference. Dropping to f5.6 and locking the exposure according to the blue sky resolved this mostly. Also the focus started to become very slow and was clearly indicated so in the lens' focus window. The resulting shots of a static tree at 1/160 sec were all out of focus. I switched to the TAMRON 55-200 and everything was fine, so I know my cameras metering is ok. I have searched the internet and cannot find any other issues like this, so I guess I am the only person in the world to have a faulty 70-300 sp that is bad on two bodies! |
| brikas#11369 date: Oct-6-2013 | |
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sharpness: 1 color: 1 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 3.2 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony DT 55-200mm Minolta AF 70-210mm (beercan) Minolta AF 75-300mm |
| price paid: | 220 GBP (used) |
| positive: | Cheap USD feels like SSM on Sony lens |
| negative: | Slow aperture Cheap plastic smells a bit Awful sharpness Colors aren't nice |
| comment: | I'm not surprised about this lens, the only real bonus is silent USD autofocus motor, otherwise it feels like cheap Minolta 75-300mm. I think, instead of this, I'd better go for Sony 55-300mm: cheaper and smaller, as 55-200mm colors I like more than these Tamron and test shots looks like the 55-200 and 55-300 has very similar colors. 300mm end was important for me, not the sharpest lens in that end, about the same IQ as beercan @210mm and F4. Now considering about old Minolta fixed aperture prime 200mm or 80-200, no more money waste on these slow aperture telephoto zoom lenses. Afeter using 16-50, this feels like a class or two lower product, probably it is, but many says it has the same IQ and performance as 70-300 G, can't believe in that... Maybe I'll change my mind after some more serious photo-shoots in the field, but local park experience tells me there wont be many surprises... Updated on 10/10/2013 Was at Richmond Park for some deer hunting, misty day, results- awful, no really sharp image, no one was like I'd like to see, I had two cameras, one with this Tammy, the other- A58 was equipped with 16-50, I have to say, that 100% cropped deer from A58 looked almost better than optically zoomed deer with Tammy, of corse, in terms of sharpness, extremely disappointed about this purchase. Also there was some CA on highlights, I'm excepting no from the modern lens. |
| smallmartin#11300 date: Aug-9-2013 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 75-300 Minolta 100-300 |
| price paid: | 500€ new |
| positive: | - weight - very good optical quality - cost - range |
| negative: | - not f2.8 (but it would weight much more...) |
| comment: | Wonderful lens to carry arround when you want to travel lightly. Focusing is precise, fast and silent. Build quality is good and it has very few optical flaws compared to Minolta 75-300 D or 100-300. Moreover it is really cheap ! |
| graylinghunter#11232 date: Jul-2-2013 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Beercan 70-210 f4 sigma 17-70 os hsm (os system) |
| price paid: | £350 |
| positive: | lightweight sharp very sharp. bokhe is very pleasing. Pretty fast AF in good light as its an outdoor lens this goes hand in hand. |
| negative: | no vc for sony but sold at same price! |
| comment: | Great optics. Light. I have taken some fantastic portraits using this lens at 70mm. Contrast is good colour is fantastic its not minolta beercan but better in its own rendition. I think paying vc price when its not incorporated is the only thing that taints my purchase. The sony steady shot on board both the a55 and a77 is good but in my experience the os /vc built onto the lens has been superior. That apart it a keeper. |
| MediaArchivist#11206 date: Jun-24-2013 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | beercan |
| price paid: | 350 USD (new) |
| positive: | Range Price Contrast/color Weight/size |
| negative: | Aperture Bokeh |
| comment: | I bought this lens to get me by until I could afford a more "proper" long zoom. I have been quite impressed! Steady Shot works exactly like it is supposed to, even at 300mm. I read a lot of reviews dinging the lens for not incorporating VC in the optics like the versions for other camera. I can't see why that is a problem since the camera takes care of it so well. It is pretty sharp throughout the range: on the a99 at 300mm wide open (f/5.6) the corners are slightly soft but you have to pixel peep to notice. Vignetting is also very low. There is a bit of CA, but nothing surprising for a lens like this and it cleans up very well in LR. It certainly feels like a solid lens. Nothing jiggles or rattles, it has a metal mount, and the focus and zoom rings are easy to grip. The zoom ring is not very smooth, but it may soften a little with use. There is no zoom creep. The lens hood is huge, but of course it has to be. Without the hood flare can be a little bit of a problem, but nothing surprising. It has the worst bokeh of any of my lenses-- but to be fair I am somewhat of a bokeh snob and all my lens purchases have reflected that. Comparing it to some of the best bokeh lenses available for the Alpha line might not lead to a relevant conclusion. The lens surprised me in so many other areas, so maybe my expectations were a little extreme? Looking at the sample photos of other zooms it seems to be in the middle of the pack. AF is fast, quiet, and accurate. Neat trick-- the a99 and a99ii think the lens is a Sony 70-300 G, which supports AF-D mode and hybrid AF (respectively). Sure enough, all the little extra focus points light up in those modes! I suspect that since the lens is not *identical* to the Sony, it is not working in the same way. I have not noticed any issues in any focus mode-- DMF works and right out of the box it was accurate without any micro adjustment. On both the a99 and a99ii, AF-C tracking works very well. The focus ring rotates about a half turn, and is nicely damped. What really impressed me was the color and contrast throughout the focal and aperture range. Due to the bokeh it will not be my first choice for a portrait, but I have used it for portraits and the results were quite good. The big test for me was using it indoors, handheld and at 300mm, for a comedy show. Wide open at 300mm is only f/5.6, but the fact that a spotlight was on the stage helped. I got some great shots that would not have been possible with any other lens in my collection. I am not a big fan of zooms in general, but I have been forcing myself to use this outdoors from time to time. So far, I continue to be impressed! I wish it had a wider aperture, but of course that would make it more heavy, larger, and much more expensive. It works extremely well outdoors in sunlight, and surprisingly well indoors if the lighting is adequate. It is well worth the money I paid for it. Recommended. |
| ryanmont#11202 date: Jun-19-2013 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.1 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 100-300 APO, Sigma 70-300 APO, Tamron 200-400, Minolta 80-200 2.8 |
| price paid: | 300 USD- Used |
| positive: | Very quiet, good focus, good sharpness, nice color. DMF |
| negative: | Hood Design, mediocre focus speed |
| comment: | I really like this lens, I've had several lenses in this focal range and this one is my current favorite. It's a nice overall package when considering the sharpness, focal mechanism, the size, and price. I've used in on my Sony A77 and it was good but once I micro adjusted the lens profile to -2 it is now outstanding. I find that it is a very easy to use and the DMF feature makes it very easy to fine tune the focal plane when you need to slice though layers of foreground. I've only used it for a few hundred clicks but I consider it a keeper. I feel that it's sharp throughout the focal range and above aperture 6.3 it really produces some spectacular images. No lens is perfect but since I've got familiar with how to best use if for my purposes I appreciate its capabilities and enjoy the range it offers. |
| Malina DZ#10960 date: Mar-3-2013 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.2 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 70-400/4-5.6 G Sony 135/1.8 ZA Sony 85/1.4 ZA |
| price paid: | 350 USD (new) |
| positive: | Great general use tele-zoom lens; 6-year warranty; $350 after rebate; USD is on par with SSM; Excellent print quality up to 20"x30". |
| negative: | Decent AF accuracy prior to recalibration; No VC; If you are picky, some distortion can be noticeable on portrait (head) shots.; Heavy vigneting from F4 till F5.6 (Easy fix in post-production); Poor 300mm IQ at any F-stop. |
| comment: | The best bang for a buck for Alpha system among all tele-zooms available so far. Its price positions it among other easy-choice lenses with very high IQ. It's a Sony 70-300 G sibling without a focus limiter. AF speed and accuracy is good enough for slow moving subjects but for action shots I'd look for a lens with a focus distance limiter. My copy had a front focus issue and was sent to Tamron for recalibration. Since then no missed focus images for slow moving subjects. Exif reads "70-300mm F4.0-5.6 SSM"! The lens is worth way more than the price paid. I'm keeping it as a backup if I ever find an as worthy tele-zoom-bang-for-a-buck-lens. Tamron SP 70-300 USD AF Speed Test http://youtu.be/rXkNWkJ7nKo Its performance is not as solid at the long end but one can't complain about it for this ridiculously low price. Here you can see some samples in DNG at 300mm: https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0BzDJkyUbS4xgMU9QR1lCVUROUlU/edit?pli=1 Here you can find comparison shots between Tamron and Sony 70-400 G at the long end with a subject near the infinity mark in DNG: https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0BzDJkyUbS4xgYW1EUmJoNEdXMzg/edit |
| Sabrowenie#10686 date: Nov-10-2012 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.1 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 75-300, Sony 70-300. |
| price paid: | $389 |
| positive: | Great general use tele-zoom lens. IQ seems much better than the Sony 75-300 kit lens. The USD is fairly quiet. Pretty much 90% of the performance of the Sony G for less than half the price. Works on FF and APS-C sensors. |
| negative: | Lack of focus limit switch and small variable aperture makes it less than ideal for sports/action in other than ideal daylight conditions. |
| comment: | Got this lens to use for a bit more reach for personal work when I go out and don't want to pack the 70-200G. Very pleased with the IQ but the focus is much too slow to use reliably for action shots. I test new stuff using my two favorite action models, Sydney and Cooper. My dogs. We let them run around the yard chasing a Frisbee and each other. With the camera set to release priority we took Over 300 shots. About 50% were OOF and a number more soft. With the camera set to focus priority on C mode the lens hunted and failed to focus lock quite a bit. Keeper rate went up to about 60% with some others on the margin of being soft. But this is an extreme test. The dogs are running around a big yard in an unpredictable manner. Much harder to focus on them than even a HS football player running with the ball. This isn't bad but not near the keeper rate for the lenses with a focus limiter. I would definitely recommend this lens if you are on a budget and want good general daylight images with decent bokeh. |
| godsakes#10546 date: Sep-28-2012 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.2 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Big Beercan minolta 100-300mm apo Sony 70-300mm G sigma 100-300mm f4 |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Best value lens of it's class (near) silent sonic motor manageable size/weight of it's class |
| negative: | No focus limiter No VC as on other mounts Not a huge image quality jump up from mid priced options |
| comment: | First impressions: Good performer, a touch better than the mid priced lenses such as the big beercan or minolta 100-300 apo, producing a crisper image with less glow and CA than the older alternatives. I'd say the G and sigma 100-300/4 are still better lenses but on a value for money basis, it seems to be the best option for someone looking to spend more than budget money. One of the things I like about this lens is it's a decent size/weight that's manageable. It's shorter (but fatter) than the big beercan which makes the Tamron easier to fit into smaller bags and unlike the sigma 100-300mm f4 it's weight isn't problematic, it can be packed in as a just in case lens (just) where as I would be reluctant to carry the sigma around unless I was confident I needed it. AF speed is okay but nothing special (seems to pause briefly when the motor needs to change direction, as if the lens is having a think about which direction to go), but then none of the other lenses mentioned are particularly fast IMHO. The (near) silent AF motor is a nice bonus from the older models. All in all a good compromise on image quality, price and bulk, but I wish they included a focus limiter and VC. |
| cwtbone#10469 date: Aug-23-2012 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Beercan and Big Beercan |
| price paid: | $350 |
| positive: | This lens is pretty sharp and I have noticed almost no PF |
| negative: | slow |
| comment: | This lens has been a mixed bag for me. It is nice and sharp but very slow to focus on things like BIF. I bought it to replace my Big Beercan since I was getting too much purple fringing with the old Minolta and this lens has been very good for delivering clean shots. I am actually shocked at how much faster my old screw drive lens are for focusing than this motor driven lens. |
| rouncey#10427 date: Aug-3-2012 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.1 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | missing |
| price paid: | 200.00gbp |
| positive: | IQ built well colour sharp |
| negative: | Mine needed micro adjustment on the A77 |
| comment: | Really disapointed with this lense after reading all the good reviews,i may have got a bad copy but sharpness wise mine is not good.ca is really good,focus silent,iq is good,just its not sharp!!!!!!!!!!.probably sell and get the sony 70-300 G.After getting the A77 and using the micro adjustment this lense is just fantastic!!!!!!,so happy with it now,superb for the money. |
| 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. |
| stan_pustylnik#10361 date: Jul-6-2012 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta Maxxum 75-300mm f/4-5.6 AF - BBC Minolta Maxxum 70-210mm f/4 - BC Minolta 135mm f/2.8 AF Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro 1:1 |
| price paid: | $350 after rebate |
| positive: | Tack sharp through entire focal lengh range. Sharp starting from initial f/4 and f/5.6 at 300mm. AF is very fast and very silent. Has very good bokeh. Almost no PF or CA compare to BBC |
| negative: | No infinity stopper. No AF limiter switch. |
| comment: | This lens is producing amazing IQ for zoom lens. It has excellent control over Purple Fringing and CA compare to Other zooms I tried in same range: Sigma 70-300mm DL, Minolta Maxxum 100-300mm f/4-5.6 AF, Minolta Maxxum 75-300mm AF f/4-5.6 BBC and Minolta BC - 70-210mm f4 AF. At the same time this lens does great detail definition-sharpness, AF is very fast if light is strong enough. I would define this lens as "perfect action outdoor lens". Also, 5 feet minimal focus is great at 300mm end for macro-like shots! |
| Hotdog#10330 date: Jun-26-2012 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Tokina 80 400 |
| price paid: | £275 |
| positive: | Sharp Quick Permanent Manual Focus Nicely made Good Hood |
| negative: | Chunky No macro mode |
| comment: | This Tamron lens really is as good as the reviews say. It is quick, sharp, lacking in aberrations and has full time manual override. I'm very impressed. I have just tried it out at the Yeovilton Navy Air Day and had lots more keepers than I would have had with my old Tokina 80-400. I also used it at the Silverstone race circuit practising my panning skills and the quick focus made for great results. It is a good wildlife lens too and is even sharp enough for decent dragonfly and butterfly photographs. Rapidly becoming a favourite lens of mine. Unless you need more reach this lens is a no-brainer and a must have lens for Sony users. Excellent value too. |
| robberly12#10321 date: Jun-24-2012 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 Sigma 18-250 f/3.5-6.3 HSM |
| price paid: | 350 USD (new) |
| positive: | Sony G-series quality Bargain price Very sharp Direct manual focus Nearly silent focusing Low distortion & CA Great warranty |
| negative: | Somewhat slow focus Questionable quality control |
| comment: | The Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di USD is an excellent quality telephoto zoom lens. It is nearly identical to the Sony 70-300G F4.5-5.6 lens in size, weight and image quality, but costs less than half as much. One of the few differences between it & the G-series lens is that it is actually a faster lens on the short end (f/4). It is true direct manual focus lens, which allows the photographer to freely turn the focus ring in AF as well as MF mode. This makes it possible to lock focus of the lens in AF mode, but still fine tune the focus as necessary. The lens also includes a well-marked focus-distance window. Auto-focus is nearly silent but, unfortunately, a little sluggish. In low-contrast situations, especially, focus will hunt before finally settling on a setting. Including a focus-limiter would have been helpful for situations like this. Focusing on birds-in-flight is also sometimes a hit & miss proposition. Build quality seems generally good -- sturdy plastic with a metal mount. Quality-control of this Chinese-made lens, though, seems less than stellar. The lens stopped auto-focusing two months after I bought it. Fortunately, Tamron repaired the lens quickly under their excellent 6-year warranty. The other QC-issue I've encountered is that a couple times I've temporarily noticed intermittent electrical contact between the lens & camera body. Images are sharp across the focal-length range with good colors & a low level of chromatic aberration. Flare is well controlled with Tamron's substantial lens hood. On a side note, the lens physically worked well with my Kenko Teleplus MC4 1.4x DGX Teleconverter. It correctly reported the exif data, and I was able to autofocus at 300mm when the subject had good light and contrast. Image quality took a moderate hit but was still good enough that this lens-TC combination was useful to me. The Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di USD is a high quality zoom lens at an unbeatable price. It is equivalent in quality to Sony's expensive G-series lens & blows away Sony's 75-300 kit lens! |
| andyken#10276 date: Jun-8-2012 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 100-300 f3.5-5.6 APO Minolta 75-300 f3.5-5.6 N Minolta 70-210 f4 (beercan) Minolta 100-200 f4.5 Sony 55-200 f4-5.6 |
| price paid: | £250 (used) |
| positive: | Superb IQ and very sharp at every aperture and every focal length. Feels well built, impressive hood. Excellent value. |
| negative: | A bit bulky compared to most other lenses I own. |
| comment: | Interestingly I had exactly the opposite experience to Icemantx in the review two below mine. I already owned a Minolta 100-300 APO and while I found the image quality to be very good, I was keen to find something even better without spending an arm and a leg. The Tamron SP 70-300 USD is exactly that lens. Compared directly to the 100-300 APO, the Minolta has a size and weight advantage, but in every other aspect the Tamron out-performs it. I can only think that Icemantx's lens was either faulty or back-focusing on his camera, as my lens is simply astonishingly sharp throughout its range, giving noticeably better IQ than every other lens in my 'compared to' list above. I recently did a group test of several telephoto lenses, taking numerous identical shots at different apertures and focal lengths and then doing A-B comparisons on screen at 100%, looking at centres and corners. As the Tamron was the most expensive lens in my collection, I expected it to come top and it didn't disappoint, although other lenses sometimes came close, it was never beaten to top spot at any setting by any other lens. In my opinion this is a true gem of a lens and as long as it is set up optimally on your camera will produce phenomenally sharp images, which are almost a revelation compared to less expensive glass, almost like someone who is slightly short-sighted wearing glasses for the first time. Having said that, in retrospect I don't want to give the wrong impression as all the lenses in my 'compared to' list are good and the differences, although definitely there, are subtle. If you're not into pixel-peeping and will never print bigger than A4, you're very unlikely to notice any real difference and the Minolta 75-300 N (for example) has virtually the same range and very good image quality for around 1/4 of the cost. You pay a lot unfortunately for excellence. Build quality seems very good, colours are excellent, CA is negligible, I've never detected any distortion and flare is very well controlled (the excellent lens hood helps). I'll still keep my 100-300 APO for times when I want to travel light, but in every other situation I will be using my Tamron, it is simply a better lens. |
| tnagy#10264 date: Jun-5-2012 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.1 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro Tamron 90/2.8 macro |
| price paid: | 380 Euro (new) |
| positive: | silent, sharp wide open, no CA, nice bokeh, |
| negative: | backfocus on my A77 (adjustable) |
| comment: | Very well build, nice, heavy lens, easy to zoom and easy to manual focus. Silent and quick focus. Sigma has a worse IQ like this Tamron (own both). Sharp up to 200 wide then a bit soft. Comparable to Tamron 90 macro (at 90mm). I'm happy I bought this one though had to adjust backfocus problems. |
| icemantx#10229 date: May-21-2012 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 100-300 APO D Sigma 50-150 f2.8 Tamron 70-210 f3.5-4.5 Sony 70-300G |
| price paid: | 449 USD (new) |
| positive: | Quick and silent focus Focuses well in low light Good build |
| negative: | Soft wide open Not as sharp as Minolta 100-300 APO D Bulky |
| comment: | I bought this lens as a replacement for the Sony 70-300G I sold a year and a half ago. I sold the Sony in anticipation of this Tamron and hopes that it would be just as good as the Sony 70-300G and expected it to outclass the Minolta APO 100-300 APO D I acquired at the same time. Maybe I got a bad copy or something, but in most cases, the Tamron USD was not as sharp as the Sony 70-300G or the Minolta 100-300 APO D. I took several hundred photos with each of these lenses and in the end, I had far more keepers with the Sony 70-300G and Minolta 100-300 APO D. I was surprised to say the least after reading the glowing reviews of this lens on Dyxum. The focusing was fairly quick, but I do miss the focus limiter of the Sony 70-300G when shooting birds in flight or fast moving objects. The biggest surprise for me was how well the Minolta 100-300 APO D did against the Tamron. I was fully expecting to end up putting the Minolta back on eBay after comparing the two lenses. However, it is the Tamron that is heading back to B&H for a refund. Based on the very positive reviews of the Tamron, I will chalk my Tamron up as a bad copy and maybe somewhere down the road I will try it out again. For now, I will use the Minolta 100-300 APO D and enjoy the Minolta colors and the diminutive size of this little gem. |
rating summary
- total reviews: 55
- sharpness: 4.50
- color: 4.38
- build: 4.35
- distortion: 4.62
- flare control: 4.53
- overall: 4.47
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