Tamron SP AF 90mm F2.8 Di Macro A-mount lens review by tmoreau

tmoreau#974 date: Jul-3-2006
sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 3 distortion: 5 flare control: 2 overall: 4	tested on: film camera: APS-C: 6MP; 10MP; 12MP; 14MP; 16MP; 20MP; 24MP full frame: 12MP; 24MP; 36MP; 42MP; 61MP
ownership:	I have experience with this lens
compared to:	Tokina 17mm f/3.5 ATX Pro 28/2, 24/2.8
price paid:	missing
positive:	Incredible image quality, 1:1 macro
negative:	Dosent handle extreme conditions well, poor autofocus
comment:	I have the non-di version, Superb image quality, best of any lens I've used. Clarity, color, sharpness, when the conditions are right this lens just 'pops' like no other. Flare can be very bad, night street scenes are not even possible with this lens because the whole scene washes out badly. Sometimes a problem indoors with a window in the scene, etc. I've only seen purple fringing once or twice with a backlit scene, but it was very bad. Glad this is a rare occurance. Autofocus is fast at standard ranges, I use manual focus for macro. In some conditions autofocus is unusable, it hunts and fails to lock on (usually indoors, combination of low-light and close ranges?). When used for macro I have not seen these issues (except for occasional overexposure), very good performance here. Works great from wide open. List of lens versions here: http://home.comcast.net/~tmoreau2/dyxum_90mm.htm