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Canon EF 28-105 F/3.5-4.5 II USM
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Review Date: May 9, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $229.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Best bang for the buck as far as image quality goes. Great performance from a nice little package.
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Cons:
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Zoom action feels a bit 'jumpy', but this may improve with time.
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I bought this lens new, primarily as a walkaround lens for my EOS Elan 7e. Rather than load up some film, I tried the lens on my 30D. All of my test images were very sharp and crisp, from close-up to distance shots. The test images were shot in RAW and needed very little PP. To be honest, I was pretty much surprised at how well this lens performed, even compared to my 24-105L. This is an awesome little lens, and I would highly recommend it.
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Tamron AF 24-135MM F/3.5-5.6 AD Aspherical (IF) Macro
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Review Date: Nov 21, 2006
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Build quality, great range, crisp/clear images, good color and contrast, great lens for the money
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Cons:
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A bit soft wide open
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This was the first lens that purchased for my 30D. I wanted a versatile walkaround lens before getting additional lenses. At first, I was a little leery about buying a Tamron lens until I read the reviews here first. Tamron has definitely improved. Even though its a bit soft when wide open, once stopped down it takes razor-sharp images at all focal lengths. After getting the lens, I took several shots of a metal horse barn as a way to test out the sharpness. Since the metal panels have many seams and ridges, I figured that this would be a pretty good test. I also took additional shots of the same barn with my 17-40L. When comparing the full size images, the sharpness of the Tamron almost equaled that of the L lens. Its that good. I'm very satisfied with this lens, and would definitely recommend it as a good, everyday walkaround lens. This is still my primary lens.
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Tamron AF 200-500MM F/5-6.3 Di LD (IF)
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Review Date: Nov 12, 2006
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 5
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Pros:
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Build quality, balance, range, bokeh
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Cons:
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Sharpness
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Maybe I have a bad copy, I don't know. I tried many shots at various apertures and focal lengths, but neither seemed very sharp (all were taken at ISO 100). Most of my neighbors have metal horse barns, so I figured shooting the barns would be a good indicator of sharpness due to all of the vertical lines in the barn siding. I wasn't very impressed with the results. The pictures looked good when sized for the screen, but at 100% the lens limitations became obvious. No amount of USM seemed to make them acceptable. Looks like I'll probably send the lens back in exchange for the Canon 100-400 IS zoom. Its a bigger dent to the wallet, but if I keep exchanging the Tamron in order to find a decent copy, I'll probably spend the balance in shipping fees. Too bad...the Tamron is built and balanced really well. If the picture quality had been better, this would definitely be a keeper.
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