I currently own all Sony lenses and have no experience with Sigma or Tamron.
Im considering the new Sigma 20-200 or the upcoming Tamron 25-200. I plan on using the lens on an a9 and a1 II in dusty, dirty, wet or snowy conditions where changing a lens would not be ideal. Google says the Tamron lenses are better weather sealed. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Lon
I'm a fan of both companies but have more recent experience with Tamron lenses. I use the 28-200 regularly and it's a gem of a zoom. I imagine the new version will be even better. Having said that, if you need wider the Sigma might be the better choice. I do not know if the Sigma is weather sealed but I do know they leave that out on a lot of their lenses. I would check that before deciding since it will be important for you.
Sigma has apparently made massive steps forward in quality since the bad old days. I've only had a single prime recently. I do have the 28-200 but living in Southern California don't get too much exposure to really hostile environments. Since I have both the 28-200 and 20-70/4 Sony, I'm not likely to swap for either of the two "new" lenses. If not having any of them, I'd really like to see how the Sigma does. I've been quite happy with the 28-200 as a much of the time single lens approach.
All current Tamron lenses including the original version of the 28-200mm are weather sealed at multiple points along the barrel. They have not stated anything about sealing on the new 25-200 but I'd assume it will be of comparable to the 28-200.
Sigma Contemporary lenses up until now have either had no sealing or only a mount gasket. Sigma Sports and Art lenses are fully sealed to the level of Sony GM lenses. The pcmag review of the upcoming 20-200mm lens says it is "fully sealed". Sigma only describes the lens as having a "dust and splash-resistant structure". That's exactly how they describe other "Contemporary" lenses which only have mount gaskets. Sigma doesn't clearly specify anywhere I've seen exactly what the barrel construction looks like.
If weather sealing is critical for you, I would opt for the Tamron unless you can get more specifics about the Sigma to know for sure how it is built.
For those two specific lenses with not insignificant specification differences, I think you're best off waiting for some reviews and/or hands on experience before making a decision between the two.
More generally, in their consumer zooms, Sigma seems to design for high resolution, decent bokeh, color fidelity, and low field curvature, and will sacrifice distortion correction, flare resistance, and coma and SA correction to get there. Tamron is more concerned about better distortion correction and overall aberration correction, and less about getting the highest resolution, best bokeh, and lowest FC. Neither company concentrates on getting consistent performance regardless of focal length and focus distance out of this class of zoom (and neither does anyone else, so it shouldn't come as a surprise).
Personally, I think "weather sealing" is as much marketing as it is engineering. Plenty of people can give you anecdotes about a lens surviving x conditions, but they might've gotten lucky or taken steps in use to help minimize the potential harm. In my experience, they're all tougher than you'd expect, but none are invulnerable to environmental conditions.
A9Lon wrote:
I currently own all Sony lenses and have no experience with Sigma or Tamron.
Im considering the new Sigma 20-200 or the upcoming Tamron 25-200. I plan on using the lens on an a9 and a1 II in dusty, dirty, wet or snowy conditions where changing a lens would not be ideal. Google says the Tamron lenses are better weather sealed. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Lon
Do you need 20mm or will 25mm suffice. That can determine which lens to get.
Thanks everyone for the insight. I had read the Sigma contemporary lenses are not that well sealed. I'll have to see if the new 20-200 is sealed better?
I believe 25mm will be wide enough for my uses.
Lon, I don't remember how the A9 behaves but the A1 II has a great dust protection system. Especially if you turn on that feature that closes the shutter each time you turn the camera off. I don't remember the exact name of that feature but it minimizes dust from going onto the sensor by closing the shutter if you turn the camera off to change the lens. If that's your only concern, I wouldn't bother buying another lens to achieve that. Plus, you still can clean the sensor electronically and even manually, let's say using a blower, if there is a need to.
But if you have some GAS issues and would like to get an extended zoom range lens, then by all means 😜😎.
As others have said, both companies are making great lenses, and weather sealing is a fairly arbitrary term.
In your specific case of needing a weather sealed zoom the Tamron will probably have better weather sealing, but I would wait for it to come out, and see how both lenses review against each other before making a final decision.
Joshua, the a9 doesn't have sensor protection feature like the a1. For my uses the extreme zoom range is most important followed by the lens being able to withstand dust, dirt, mud, rain and snow. Of course, I want reasonably good image quality and pretty good AF speed and accuracy too.
I know your concern is weather sealing but I think there is another consideration worth mentioning here. I switched from Sony’s a6000 series to full frame a while back so some new lenses were in order. I read lots of reviews before opting for the highly rated Sigma 24-70 DG DN II f2.8 knowing full well that the zoom ring was opposite from Sonys and Tamrons and that it worked in the opposite direction. I can get used to that. Well, that lens got lots of use this past summer but I never got used to it. In fact, it’s replacement arrived today, the Tamron 28-75mm Di III VXD G2. So, having all Sony lenses it’s something you might want to consider.
Thanks for the insight. So you are saying Sony and Tamron lenses both zoom in the same direction? And Sigma zooms in the opposite direction?
If so, that is very valuable information because 5 of my 7 Sony lenses are zooms! Thanks!
I have a number of Sigma lenses: the 20, 45 and 65 from the Contemporary series, the 85 art and the 70-200 Sport. I live in Vancouver, and am never shy about going out and shooting in the 5 months or so of rain we get every year - I have never had an issue with weather sealing on any of them.
From my experience, the photographer needs to dry off before the lenses
I'd look at other metrics when choosing between those two lenses - the wider end of the Sigma vs. the faster long end of the Tamron. When they're released, testing might show obvious optical advantage for one over the other as well.
Thanks Dave that is encouraging regarding Sigma Contemporary lenses. And yes, the wider field of view on the Sigma and the 1/3 stop faster on the Tamron are viable considerations.
Not only in the opposite direction, but the zoom ring and focus rings are reversed. Sigma's zoom ring is near the camera body. So when you pull up to zoom you will be grabbing the focus ring.
A9Lon wrote:
Thanks for the insight. So you are saying Sony and Tamron lenses both zoom in the same direction? And Sigma zooms in the opposite direction?
If so, that is very valuable information because 5 of my 7 Sony lenses are zooms! Thanks!
First, any lens that extends when zooming is essentially an air-pump. As such, when it pulls atmospheric air, it pulls the dust with it (right past the seals). Such lenses, regardless of brand, will become contaminated when used in dusty environments, over time. I'm speaking from decades of experience with many brands of lenses. The "flashlight" test never lies.
I do not consider any of my cameras to be fully weatherproof. As such, I might use in a very, very light mist, but would never subject any of my bodies to a real rain. Have a look at the the lack of great sealing at all those critical intrusion points such as access doors and multi-shoe. We won't even get into all the controls that depend on perfect O-ring sealing.
I feel the same about my lenses. A few of the high-end professional lenses have reasonable weather sealing, but I wouldn't trust any of my less expensive Tamron, Sigma, Viltrox, etc lenses in any sort of adverse environment.
When traveling or venturing into the elements, I carry a cheap plastic cover that is made for the lens/camera combination I am using for the excursion. Been doing this for years and this solution works great.
This is very helpful information, the Sigma focus and zoom work in the opposite direction and the zoom and focus rings are transposed, too. Those things would most likely mess with muscle memory! Thanks, for sharing.
Trout Fisher wrote:
Not only in the opposite direction, but the zoom ring and focus rings are reversed. Sigma's zoom ring is near the camera body. So when you pull up to zoom you will be grabbing the focus ring.
