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.
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.
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.
firewireguy wrote:
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
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.
