Lots of lens testing by different authors on YouTube but in my opinion I like Dustin Abbott's presentation best for several reasons: (1) first he gives a general description of the lens appearance, feel, features, some comparisons with other lenses, (2) next he shows chart examples of resolution, etc. and finally he takes shots so one can see the image performance. And he speaks clearly and his videos are well done as well.
Hello,
I am a hobbyist and I am interested in this lens. Unfortunately, i cannot check it locally. Has anyone compare it against sony 24-105? I can buy the sony at the price of 839 euros after the cashback and the tamron at the price of 940 euros. I have used the sony a couple of times (two different copies) but the zoom ring feels a little stiff at longer focal lengths and the focus ring a little loose. Are the zoom and focus rings better in the tamron? At the moment, i am mostly using sony zeiss 16-35 f4 , voigtlander 35 1.2 and samyang 85 1.4 mf version. I really like the two primes but i often miss using a standard autofocus zoom. The thing is that although i enjoy using the sony zeiss 16-35 f4 i did not enjoy using the 24-105 as much as i expected i would. I suppose the obvious choice is the sony 24-105 but for some reason i feel that i will like a 2.8 zoom better, as long the handling is a bit better than the sony and the image quality as good as the sony. I haven checked many reviews and photos online. I thought of buying one of the sigma's zooms but the 24-70 costs 1200 euros and would probably be too heavy to carry around. The samples i have seen online with this lens look great though. The 28-70 is supposed to be inferior compared to tamron g2.
I apologise if i am off topic.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Dimitris
sandycrane wrote:
After going through 11 pages it looks like only one person here actually takes photos with this lens.
There is the image thread for this lens. I have taken photos with it, but my copy was flawed. Still waiting on the replacement, I have unreasonable hope for this week.
Petegh wrote:
Thanks Tim. From what I've seen elsewhere, the Tamy's flare performance and sunstars probably limit its apeal as a good all-round 28mm (prime substitute) landscape lens.
I picked up one of these today (best of 3 tried in the store) because the price was just too good to resist. The sunstars at f11-13 are actually quite well defined, but like any other zoom clearly not in the same class as straight bladed primes from Zeiss or CV. However the pretty average flare performance means I won't usually be using this lens to shoot into the sun, so it's perhaps a bit of a moot point. The exception being when the sun is well obscured so flare is not much of a problem. Here's an example of the sunstar under those conditions, with the lens stopped down to F13 (at 28mm).
Compared to the Sigma 28-70 DG DNs that I tried a while ago, the Tamron G2 seems sharper in the corners on A7R4. Only in the last few pixels at 100% do I see a clear softening of fine details at 28mm on my copy (50mm seems to be it's sweet spot), but at 50% on my 27" monitor (corresponding to rather large prints) it's a non-issue. So it may be a better candidate for a fairly compact complement to my 12-24GM for a two-lens land/seascape solution for now.
p.s. if you are in Australia and interested in this lens, I was told that digidirect are about to lower their already excellent post xmas sale price on this lens even further in the very near future (but I don't know how long for).
Having done a bit more testing wrt to corner sharpness, I'm finding this Tamron great at 50mm, but less so at both the long and short ends. Below is an illustration of top left corner infinity sharpness at F7.1 (A7R4 100% crop with minimal sharpening). It was just a quick test but it's in good agreement with my general impressions with this lens.
For critically sharp images across the entire frame, I think only the 50mm performance is comparable to an excellent prime. I'm probably expecting too much from a relatively compact zoom in this range, and may have to look at something larger like the Sigma 24/70 (or the next iteration of the GM) to get the IQ I'm after in a zoom.
My results above seem to match the infinity corner crops shown at the digital picture site.
But after reading both here on FM and elsewhere, I'm not sure the Sigma 24-70 DG DN would actually be much better. And for now at least, a zoom in this focal range with high end prime-like performance may not be available, which is in stark contrast to some of the exceptional UWA zooms we now have. Is there a fundamental design constraint that explains this difference?
Nice little lens .. added to my bag on Friday. Lightweight, sharp, but colors - not convinced yet - blues seem off.
Photo of the Cardinals stadium, clicked through a thick glass window at a colleague's place.
Went out and did some testing my way today and shot some photos from 28-75mm. I find this lens just fantastic throughout its focal range. I actually found no weakness regardless of focal range. The colors, rendering, sharpness are just fantastic to my eyes. MFD is great and the bokeh looked great. I have owned 2.8 primes that did not perform this good. I even find the images more pleasing than my 24-70mm GM including corner to corner sharpness. I think for the price its a steal. Just my eyes and opinion.
saaketham wrote:
Nice little lens .. added to my bag on Friday. Lightweight, sharp, but colors - not convinced yet - blues seem off.
Photo of the Cardinals stadium, clicked through a thick glass window at a colleague's place.
Alex W wrote:
Went out and did some testing my way today and shot some photos from 28-75mm. I find this lens just fantastic throughout its focal range. I actually found no weakness regardless of focal range. The colors, rendering, sharpness are just fantastic to my eyes. MFD is great and the bokeh looked great. I have owned 2.8 primes that did not perform this good. I even find the images more pleasing than my 24-70mm GM including corner to corner sharpness. I think for the price its a steal. Just my eyes and opinion.
At 28mm we're still waiting for a high end (mirrorless) prime lens that is excellent all the way into the corners.
But for the rest of the range, there are many primes that do noticeably better (at 61MP) than this zoom in the corners. But as far as I can tell, the same is true of all other zooms in this range (unlike the ultra-wide range).
Maybe the next version of the GM 24-70 will change that, but in the meantime I will go back to a prime or two.
My copy is pretty darn good all the way to the corners at 28mm, must be due to having an a7R III. At 75mm it seems the weakest to me.
rvh23 wrote:
At 28mm we're still waiting for a high end (mirrorless) prime lens that is excellent all the way into the corners.
But for the rest of the range, there are many primes that do noticeably better (at 61MP) than this zoom in the corners. But as far as I can tell, the same is true of all other zooms in this range (unlike the ultra-wide range).
Maybe the next version of the GM 24-70 will change that, but in the meantime I will go back to a prime or two.
tsdevine wrote:
My copy is pretty darn good all the way to the corners at 28mm, must be due to having an a7R III. At 75mm it seems the weakest to me.
To be clear, I don't mean to imply the Tamron isn't capable of producing very good IQ even in the corners at normal print sizes. But I've been spoiled by the IQ of my 12-24GM, and was hoping to find a mid range zoom to approximately match that. I really wanted the Tamron to work in my kit because it's a great trade off of IQ, size/weight, and price.
My copy was weakest at 75mm too, but it was actually very good at 50mm already, more so I think than at the wide end.
Do you think your Tamron corners (and mid regions) at 28mm match the IQ of your Sigma 14-24 DN at 24mm?
rvh23 wrote:
To be clear, I don't mean to imply the Tamron isn't capable of producing very good IQ even in the corners at normal print sizes. But I've been spoiled by the IQ of my 12-24GM, and was hoping to find a mid range zoom to approximately match that. I really wanted the Tamron to work in my kit because it's a great trade off of IQ, size/weight, and price.
My copy was weakest at 75mm too, but it was actually very good at 50mm already, more so I think than at the wide end.
Do you think your Tamron corners (and mid regions) at 28mm match the IQ of your Sigma 14-24 DN at 24mm?
Tbh, I'd be very surprised if standard lens design is ever on the level of wide or tele zooms. Switching from wide → normal → tele is different than ultra-wide → wide or tele → super tele. Maybe we'll see that on the 24-70 GM II but I have my doubts... I feel standard zoom design basically has to be a generation ahead of wide/tele zooms to reach a semblance of parity.
I would say it's in the ballpark, and I would also say it's excellent well past 50.....I haven't quite figured out at what FL it starts to drop. Remember though, the 12-24 GM is supposedly better at 24 than the Sigma 14-24, and I'm only shooting the a7R III.
I would say it's stronger at 35 than 28 though, so maybe my impression is more shaded by the resolution I'm shooting.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love a CV 28 APO-Lanthar.....
rvh23 wrote:
To be clear, I don't mean to imply the Tamron isn't capable of producing very good IQ even in the corners at normal print sizes. But I've been spoiled by the IQ of my 12-24GM, and was hoping to find a mid range zoom to approximately match that. I really wanted the Tamron to work in my kit because it's a great trade off of IQ, size/weight, and price.
My copy was weakest at 75mm too, but it was actually very good at 50mm already, more so I think than at the wide end.
Do you think your Tamron corners (and mid regions) at 28mm match the IQ of your Sigma 14-24 DN at 24mm?
Alex W wrote:
more pleasing than my 24-70mm GM including corner to corner sharpness
That's good to know. Those are the 2 lenses I compared, but didn't find the 24-70 copy I rented to be very appealing.
I am still looking for a good copy of the 24-70 though, so if I find one, I can do some comparisons too.
I hear the 24-70 GM ii is just months away and I am sure it'll be a hit, but a $2200 to $2500 hit.
Mine is making its way to me in…St. Peter’s. saaketham wrote:
Nice little lens .. added to my bag on Friday. Lightweight, sharp, but colors - not convinced yet - blues seem off.
Photo of the Cardinals stadium, clicked through a thick glass window at a colleague's place.
Just bought the 28-75 G2
I had the G1, then the Sigma 24-70 DG DN ... and now back to Tamron.
I'm really happy with it so far. Same package as the G1 with many improvements. The overall sharpness and bokeh of the G2 is on par with the Sigma (from memory).
DSC08706 by Fred, sur Flickr
75mm f/2.8 - great sharpness across the zoom range
DSC08803 by Fred, sur Flickr
28mm f/7.1 - some macro capability
