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Archive 2019 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

snapsy
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

For anyone interested I recently purchased the G2 and have been comparing it to the FL. This will be a running thread of my observations. I created a similar thread on dpreview.

I usually test at infinity but the heat wave distortion has been horrible here so I chose a slightly closer but still distant target. All shot on Z7, tripod, fast shutter speeds (1/6400 f/2.8 through 1/800 f/8), timer release, electronic shutter. Focus is at center of frame. Shot raw and processed in LR with all defaults except highlight slider -100 and sharpness of 45/0.7/35.

Tamron G2:

200mm: f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8

135mm: f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8

102mm: f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8

70mm: f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8

Nikon FL:

200mm: f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8

135mm: f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8

105mm: f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8

70mm: f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8

Here's my Smugmug gallery link which allows all the above images to be downloaded at once - click the download arrow to the left of the green "Buy Photos button.

Smugmug Gallery Link

Observations from above images:

200mm:
f/2.8: Centers equal, FL noticeably sharper at edges
f/4: Centers equal, FL noticeably sharper at edges
f/5.6: Centers equal, FL a tiny bit sharper at edges
f/8: About the same

135mm:
f/2.8: FL sharper at center and edges
f/4: FL sharper at center and edges
f/5.6: FL sharper at center, edges close
f/8: About the same

102mm (Tamron) vs 105mm (Nikon):
f/2.8: FL sharper at center and edges
f/4: About the same
f/5.6: About the same
f/8: About the same

70mm:
f/2.8: FL sharper at center, slightly sharper at edges
f/4: G2 slightly sharper at center, about the same at edges
f/5.6: About the same
f/8: About the same

Conclusions:

Both copies are very well centered
The FL beats the G2 for most focal lengths / apertures but it's very close
Tamron's performance is remarkable considering it sells for less than half the Nikon.

Jan 04, 2019 at 05:06 PM

charles.K
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

Thank you very much for test results

The Tamron is proving to be an excellent option!

Personally I have always used the 70-200/2.8 for a lot of my shooting. In Australia the 70-200E is not cheap but it is so good in my opinion that it replaces many primes within the range. I also love the rendering with 70-200E for portraits, events and landscapes which is very tough to cater for all. Unexpected the TC 1.7II works extremely well with the 70-200E which opens more possibilities

Jan 04, 2019 at 05:49 PM

sungphoto
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

Thanks for posting Snapsy. I'm tempted to sell on my 70-200 f2.8E and swap it out for the G2, but I've been really impressed with the E.

I just swapped out my wide angle and 24-70 with the Tamron 17-35 f2.8-4 DI OSD and 24-70 f2.8 G2, and will be playing around with them on my Z7 and D850 the next few weeks. Had the G1 version of the 24-70 f2.8 when I shot Canon and was always impressed with it.

Jan 05, 2019 at 03:05 AM

cnzsystem
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

I have 70-200 FL. Love it. Bare lens it needs no AF fine tune on D850 (0 for both 70mm and 200mm). With TC-14E Mk3, I need 0 at 70mm (105mm) and +15 at 200mm (280mm).

Nikon only allows one AF fine tune value per lens, it is therefore a bit of nightmare to shoot with the teleconverter if you plan to zoom out.

Why do I need FL less than 200mm with the tele attached? Sometimes I don't have time to remove TC and need to zoom out to capture the action.

Anyone else having this issue?

Jan 05, 2019 at 06:16 AM

Lauchlan Toal
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

Jan 05, 2019 at 07:38 AM

rico
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

Thanks, snapsy, for the succinct report. G2 holds up well against top-of-the-line competition. My copy of the E is frighteningly sharp in the dead corner at 200mm wide open—as in supernatural.

The Nikkor 70-200/4 is weaker than the E at 200mm wide open, but is otherwise equal or superior in every way. Consider the little brother for that reason and weight and cost if f/4 can serve.

Jan 05, 2019 at 07:41 AM

snapsy
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

cnzsystem wrote:
I have 70-200 FL. Love it. Bare lens it needs no AF fine tune on D850 (0 for both 70mm and 200mm). With TC-14E Mk3, I need 0 at 70mm (105mm) and +15 at 200mm (280mm).

Nikon only allows one AF fine tune value per lens, it is therefore a bit of nightmare to shoot with the teleconverter if you plan to zoom out.

Why do I need FL less than 200mm with the tele attached? Sometimes I don't have time to remove TC and need to zoom out to capture the action.

Anyone else having this issue?

I wasn't intending to test the G2 on a DSLR since I'll be using it exclusively on the Z6/Z7 but to help those who are considering the G2 for a DSLR I just performed an AF-Tune and PDAF precision test on my D800.

Using my DotTune method I tuned the lens at 200mm, 135mm, 100mm, and 70mm, at both infinity and near distances (6 feet). Here are the results:

Infinity AF-Tune

200mm: Confirmed range of +13 to -1, resulting in AF-Tune value of +6
135mm: Confirmed range of +11 to -2, resulting in AF-Tune value of +4.5
100mm: Confirmed range of +13 to -3, resulting in AF-Tune value of +5
70mm: Confirmed range of +13 to +0, resulting in AF-Tune value of +6.5

Near Distance AF-Tune (6 feet)

200mm: Confirmed range of -20 to ??, resulting in AF-Tune value of -20
135mm: Confirmed range of -20 to ??, resulting in AF-Tune value of -20
100mm: Confirmed range of -7 to -??, resulting in AF-Tune value of -13
70mm: Confirmed range of +5 to ??, resulting in AF-Tune value of -12

At infinity the lens tunes consistently across all focal lengths, resulting in an optimal AF-Tune value of around 6.

At near distances the lens tunes significantly different vs infinity, meaning use of the lens will be problematic if one desires a single AF-Tune value for subjects all distances. This should be correctable using Tamron's TAP-in adapter, which allows distance-specific tuning on the lens itself. Right now my TAP-in is
on loan to other FM'ers, but when I get it back I'll use it to correct the near-distance focusing and report back. Note the ?? values in the above chart reflect a confirmed DotTune range that extends beyond the maximum -20, meaning the optimal tune value could not be determined.

PDAF Precision

Here are my PDAF precision (ie, consistency) tests of the lens after tuning to the above values. The below composite image contains 6 100% crops at each focal length (for both infinity and near-distance). The first photo for each focal length is focused via Live View / Manually, providing the baseline optimal focus. The next five photos were taken via PDAF (VIewfinder AF), with focus racked between each photo to force the camera to focus each time.

Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 PDAF Precision Test (Composite Image)

Jan 05, 2019 at 01:33 PM

cnzsystem
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

snapsy wrote:
I wasn't intending to test the G2 on a DSLR since I'll be using it exclusively on the Z6/Z7 but to help those who are considering the G2 for a DSLR I just performed an AF-Tune and PDAF precision test on my D800.

Using my DotTune method I tuned the lens at 200mm, 135mm, 100mm, and 70mm, at both infinity and near distances (6 feet). Here are the results:

Infinity AF-Tune

200mm: Confirmed range of +13 to -1, resulting in AF-Tune value of +6
135mm: Confirmed range of +11 to -2, resulting in AF-Tune value of +4.5
100mm: Confirmed range of +13 to -3, resulting...Show more →

I would be very interested in Nikon 70-200 FL + any Nikon Tele on D800 and see if the combo needs different AFFT values. I assume bare 70-200 FL on D800 needs the same constant AFFT throughout zoom range and across different distance? At least on my D850 it does...

Jan 05, 2019 at 09:01 PM

snapsy
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

The Tamron is remarkably parfocal for a tele-zoom. Here's a quick parfocal comparison of the Tamron vs the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8E FL. For each I focused @ 200mm and then slowly zoom out to 70mm, and then back to 200mm. This is at 100% magnification in Live View. Note the framing is much tighter on the Nikon, due to the heavy focus breathing on the Tamron near MFD.

Best when watched in 1080HD:

Jan 07, 2019 at 10:47 AM

snapsy
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

Here's a video demonstrating an interesting AF issue with the Tamron on the Z cameras: the lens will misfocus when AF is performed on an already-focused subject. It only happens at particular focus distances. I could not reproduce this with other Nikon lenses, and the issue doesn't occur with the Tamron on my D800.

Here's a video demonstrating the issue. Notice how nearly every-other focus operation results in a slightly OOF result. One operation yields good focus, the next slightly OOF, then the next in focus again. Then in the next sequence I rack focus between each focus attempt and the focus is always good. You may need to watch in 1080 to see the detail difference between an OOF and in-focus result. Sorry for the shakiness - this was at 200mm + full Live View magnification.

This isn't a huge deal for single-shot shooting since you're typically OOF before focusing, even if just slightly. However it may have implications for AF-C, since the camera is constantly measuring and adjusting focus, so there may be cycles where it reissues focus on an already-focused subject. I'll have to do some experimentation to see what the impact is in real-world AF-C scenarios.

Jan 07, 2019 at 10:50 AM

sungphoto
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

snapsy wrote:
The Tamron is remarkably parfocal for a tele-zoom. Here's a quick parfocal comparison of the Tamron vs the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8E FL. For each I focused @ 200mm and then slowly zoom out to 70mm, and then back to 200mm. This is at 100% magnification in Live View. Note the framing is much tighter on the Nikon, due to the heavy focus breathing on the Tamron near MFD.

Ha seems like the tamron is a good candidate to play around with a little dolly zoom then

Jan 07, 2019 at 02:07 PM

LMT1972
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

Any thoughts on AF speed, tracking & consistency? This is typically an area where the Nikon versions perform much better than the third party equivalents.

Cheers
Leigh

Jan 07, 2019 at 05:13 PM

rand1951
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

Have really enjoyed your thread as the tamron has been been touted by a couple friends, but your comparison is very impressive and has made my decision easier.

I do have a question now though, that you may have input on. Is the 70-200mm 2.8E FL good enough that one could consider selling a 200mm F2?

Thanks,
rand

Jan 20, 2019 at 12:40 PM

snapsy
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

rand1951 wrote:
Have really enjoyed your thread as the tamron has been been touted by a couple friends, but your comparison is very impressive and has made my decision easier.

I do have a question now though, that you may have input on. Is the 70-200mm 2.8E FL good enough that one could consider selling a 200mm F2?

Thanks,
rand

I don't own my 200 f/2 anymore but going by recollection alone I would say the FL competes very well across the frame vs the f/2.

Jan 20, 2019 at 02:19 PM

rand1951
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

Thanks for your input on comparing the 70-200mm 2.8E FL to the 200mm F2, there is no one locally to talk to from hands on experience about this.

rand

Jan 20, 2019 at 02:42 PM

kaila21
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 G2 vs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL

I see that this has been archived since 2019, but I'm curious to know how the verdict still stands. Debating between these two myself lately. The Tammy is obviously the far cheaper option but looking at the FL's image thread on here makes me drool.

Mar 04, 2021 at 12:02 PM


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