New Tamron 70-300mm

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Archive 2010 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Gaylon Holmes
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p.1 #1 · New Tamron 70-300mm

For your consideration:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10081010tamronsp70300mm.asp

Might just be an interesting contender in this popular range. I hope the new motor performs better than their current BIM system. Non-extending optical formula is attractive but the resultant minimum focus distance is greater than the Nikkor 70-300mm VR.

If this lens shoots as well wide open at full extension as their 70-200mm f/2.8 I'd imagine there will be quite a few of these going into buyer's baskets.

Always nice to have choices.

Aug 11, 2010 at 05:56 AM

camerapapi
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p.1 #2 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Gaylon, it is always nice to have choices, as you said. Tamron has made some nice optics over the years although the lenses have not been built to high quality standards and they have had their issues with AF.
I know it is impossible for anyone to predict the performance of the new lens but I would not be surprised if it is very good. This is their first lens with a special motor that others like you expect to perform better than the previous one.
The announced price is a little bit higher than I would expect and in my opinion is not competing with Nikon.
In my case I already have these focal lengths covered with my Nikkor and I am very happy with the lens I own.

William Rodriguez
Miami, Florida.

Aug 11, 2010 at 06:23 AM

firewireguy
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p.1 #3 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Gaylon Holmes wrote:
Non-extending optical formula is attractive but the resultant minimum focus distance is greater than the Nikkor 70-300mm VR.

Looks like a nice lens, but I think you're wrong about this point above. They only mention that the lens does not extend when focusing, no mention of it not extending whilst zooming.

Aug 11, 2010 at 11:53 AM

MagicNikon
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p.1 #4 · New Tamron 70-300mm

The Tamron is just a tiny bit faster on the wide end too.

Aug 11, 2010 at 11:57 AM

Gaylon Holmes
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p.1 #5 · New Tamron 70-300mm

firewireguy wrote:
Gaylon Holmes wrote:
Non-extending optical formula is attractive but the resultant minimum focus distance is greater than the Nikkor 70-300mm VR.

Looks like a nice lens, but I think you're wrong about this point above. They only mention that the lens does not extend when focusing, no mention of it not extending whilst zooming.

Oops - you're right.

Aug 11, 2010 at 12:49 PM

traveler
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p.1 #6 · New Tamron 70-300mm

I'm holding out for Tamron to release a 24-70 f2.8 LD with VC AND their Silent Wave Motor equivalent. If they do that and sell it for less than $700 we may have a winner.

Aug 11, 2010 at 03:31 PM

ShadowWalker
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p.1 #7 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Gaylon Holmes wrote:
firewireguy wrote:
Gaylon Holmes wrote:
Non-extending optical formula is attractive but the resultant minimum focus distance is greater than the Nikkor 70-300mm VR.

Looks like a nice lens, but I think you're wrong about this point above. They only mention that the lens does not extend when focusing, no mention of it not extending whilst zooming.

Oops - you're right.

Yeah, too bad. One of the (many) great things about the Canon 70-200/F4L is that it doesn't extend when zooming.

Aug 11, 2010 at 04:17 PM

SSISteve
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p.1 #8 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Nikon hit a home run with their 70-300VR so it will be interesting to see how this compares to that lens.

Steve

Aug 11, 2010 at 06:32 PM

robsuh
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p.1 #9 · New Tamron 70-300mm

The Nikon version of this lens is out. Does anyone know of any reviews out there?

Thanks,
Rob

Sep 08, 2010 at 01:01 AM

jmcfadden
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p.1 #10 · New Tamron 70-300mm

robsuh wrote:
The Nikon version of this lens is out. Does anyone know of any reviews out there?

Thanks,
Rob

I think you are thinking (if i dare) about the Nikon 28-300 , we are talking here of the new tamron 70-300

Sep 08, 2010 at 01:16 AM

robsuh
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p.1 #11 · New Tamron 70-300mm

jmcfadden wrote:

I think you are thinking (if i dare) about the Nikon 28-300 , we are talking here of the new tamron 70-300

Yup, I'm talking about the Tamron 70-300mm f4 - f5.6 VC lens.

B&H has it in stock for the Nikon mount.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/728343-REG/Tamron_AFA005NII700_SP_70_300mm_f_4_5_6_Di.html

Sep 08, 2010 at 04:21 AM

edl415
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p.1 #12 · New Tamron 70-300mm

There are some samples here. Bokeh looks pretty impressive!

http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/review/lens_review/20100825_389054.html

Sep 08, 2010 at 06:20 AM

Gaylon Holmes
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p.1 #13 · New Tamron 70-300mm

I've been using the Nikon 70-300 VR since its introduction and I've had the Tamron 70-300 VC for a week now. So far the new Tamron looks quite good against the Nikon but I haven't yet done the mind-numbing tripod work with the two lenses side by side.

From what I've seen I'd give the Tamron the nod in terms of a smoother OOF and the VC seems a bit more effective than the Nikkor's VR. The Nikon tele-zoom sets a rather high bar in this optical category but Tamron seems to have finally delivered a BIM lens with good AF speed as well as very good performance in the other areas.

More to come....

Sep 08, 2010 at 07:15 AM

robsuh
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p.1 #14 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Sweet. Great to hear that the initial impressions are good.

Can't wait to see some pics!

Thanks,
Rob

Sep 08, 2010 at 07:19 AM

nikt
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p.1 #15 · New Tamron 70-300mm

I've got this lens. Put it on a D300 today.

Focus is much better, and very Nikon like (as apposed to very Tamron like).

And Oh dare I say it...... I had a problem with the image stabalisation. It jumped around a bit. It would lock on , and then every few seconds you could see it shift, trying to correct itself very slightly. It wasn't fun. Might do a side by side tomorrow.

HOWEVER. This thing looks like it might be sharper than the Nikon at 300mm. Dare I say that!

Sep 08, 2010 at 10:06 AM

MagicNikon
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p.1 #16 · New Tamron 70-300mm

This is promising. I just hope they get their VC sorted out and put it in the 70-200mm 2.8....oh, and don't pull a Sigma and charge $1800 for it.

I may pick one of these up.

Sep 08, 2010 at 11:52 AM

edl415
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p.1 #17 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Gaylon Holmes wrote:
I've been using the Nikon 70-300 VR since its introduction and I've had the Tamron 70-300 VC for a week now. So far the new Tamron looks quite good against the Nikon but I haven't yet done the mind-numbing tripod work with the two lenses side by side.

From what I've seen I'd give the Tamron the nod in terms of a smoother OOF and the VC seems a bit more effective than the Nikkor's VR. The Nikon tele-zoom sets a rather high bar in this optical category but Tamron seems to have finally delivered a BIM lens with good AF speed as well as very good performance in the other areas.

More to come....

Gaylon, what's your impression of the Tamron at 300mm and 5.6 compared to the Nikon? How about build quality, are they fairly comparable?

Sep 08, 2010 at 07:06 PM

Gaylon Holmes
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p.1 #18 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Too windy to do any outdoor tripod work right now but here's a couple hand held snaps at 300mm and wide open:

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Sep 08, 2010 at 07:06 PM

rsolti13
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p.1 #19 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Gaylon....do you have an idea of sharpness comparison between the two when shot at 300?

Your first shot does not seem to be 100% sharp anywhere but the 2nd one sure does. CA looks pretty well controlled and it does not appear soft either....from what i can tell from a web size jpg

Beautiful dog by the way....

Sep 08, 2010 at 07:22 PM

Gaylon Holmes
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p.1 #20 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Just from a seat-of-the-pants reaction I find the two pretty similar in sharpness at 300mm.

The tripod will tell for sure and I'm hoping to do that tomorrow morning. I'll shoot some high contrast tree limbs, too, so we can see what kind of CA we might expect from the Tamron.

I forgot the first image is a full size jpg file that received no output sharpening. The second image received a CNX2 sharpening of 20/2/2 after being re-sized.

Sep 08, 2010 at 07:33 PM

eSchwab
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p.1 #21 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Tamron optics are usually REALLY good. Sharp, good bokeh. Focusing and build quality, not so good.

Sep 08, 2010 at 08:16 PM

Gaylon Holmes
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p.1 #22 · New Tamron 70-300mm

The Tamron is easily as well constructed as the Nikkor 70-300 VR. In fact, the Tamron has noticeably less inner barrel movement when fully extended than the Nikkor although this is comparing a 5 year old lens to a brand new lens.

The Tamron weighs approximately .9 oz (26g) more than the Nikon and you'll notice the Tamron has a much deeper hood. The Tamron lens sans hood is just a smidgen longer than the Nikkor. The Tamron hood is deep enough that I can operate the center pinch cap only by inserting my fingers in at one particular angle. A couple of small pieces of traction tape on the cap grips will be of great benefit.

I don't think the Tamron's autofocus speed is quite as fast as the Nikon but its very close and I'm really splitting hairs here. This lens' AF speed is in no way reminiscent of or should be compared to Tamron's previous BIM optics with their terribly slow operation. I think Tamron has done a very good job with this lens and I'm a huge fan and long time user of the Nikkor.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Sep 08, 2010 at 09:14 PM

robsuh
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p.1 #23 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Great. Thanks for the pics. They look plenty sharp to me for 300 5.6. I had a Tamron 28-75 that was plenty sharp. Now that Tamron has their USD and VC, I'm excited about the 70-300.

Sep 09, 2010 at 02:08 AM

Mike Yamin
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p.1 #24 · New Tamron 70-300mm

This definitely has my attention. USD versions of their 17-50 and 28-75 lenses would literally fly off the shelves... I hope they're on top of that and don't jack up their prices.

Edited on Sep 09, 2010 at 04:55 AM · View previous versions

Sep 09, 2010 at 04:30 AM

edl415
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p.1 #25 · New Tamron 70-300mm

Thanks for posting those pics Gaylon. They do indeed appear to be fairly comparable lenses in most respects. If I didn't own the Nikon already, I'd probably give the Tamron a shot. I enjoy using my 28-75 (non-BIM) and 70-200 Tamron lenses, great IQ and easy on the wallet.

If they update the 70-200 with USD and VC and keep it under $1100 it would fly off the shelves.

Sep 09, 2010 at 04:36 AM


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