I took the Tamron 12-20 for a quick spin yesterday, and I'm definitely impressed. I didn't take time to do any controlled shots to demonstrate IQ, but I did take some shots in my typical style, Here is one shot at 20mm and f3.2. There are no distortion or vignetting corrections, only some light exposure, etc edits in LR. There is plenty of sharpness in the focal plane (as much as the 12-24 GM), but I did notice the depth of field across all focal lengths seems more shallow than I expected for the given f-stop, which is maybe explains some comments on soft corners? Corners are plenty sharp enough at f5.6 and f8. Autofocus is accurate, quick and silent. It's a keeper for sure.
Be sure to click on the link for a higher resolution version on flickr.
When I used it in Vegas, i didn't stop the lens down more than f/4. And I only took some indoor shots. I noticed the appearance of soft corners of some shots I took. I agree with you that the depth-of-field generated by the lens appears to be shallower and that indeed to contribute to the soft corners.
Here is another one that I stopped down to f/4 and the focus is on the zone between the two large "vases" where the colorful floor pattern is. I also included a crop of the very corner to the bottom right here. I could see some "softness" but I am not sure whether it happens to be the natural floor pattern or not. At any rate, my most user's case will be 1) the night sky in a few weeks from now and the focal plane will be far away distance or close to infinity or actually infinity, that shouldn't be a problem. And 2) for landscape where I will be stopping down to f/5.6 or f/8 or even more, where the DOF will be well extended.
Like your's and other user's opinion here, the lens is indeed impressive. I don't have the 12-24mm GM lens for comparison purposes and refrain from saying one way or another and take your word for it.
I took the Tamron 12-20 for a quick spin yesterday, and I'm definitely impressed. I didn't take time to do any controlled shots to demonstrate IQ, but I did take some shots in my typical style, Here is one shot at 20mm and f3.2. There are no distortion or vignetting corrections, only some light exposure, etc edits in LR. There is plenty of sharpness in the focal plane (as much as the 12-24 GM), but I did notice the depth of field across all focal lengths seems more shallow than I expected for the given f-stop, which is maybe explains some comments on soft corners? Corners are plenty sharp enough at f5.6 and f8. Autofocus is accurate, quick and silent. It's a keeper for sure.
Be sure to click on the link for a higher resolution version on flickr.
I think the "shallower DoF than anticipated," especially near the corners, is due to field curvature; which in turn is of course more pronounced at the wider apertures...
AGeoJO wrote:
When I used it in Vegas, i didn't stop the lens down more than f/4. And I only took some indoor shots. I noticed the appearance of soft corners of some shots I took. I agree with you that the depth-of-field generated by the lens appears to be shallower and that indeed to contribute to the soft corners.
Here is another one that I stopped down to f/4 and the focus is on the zone between the two large "vases" where the colorful floor pattern is. I also included a crop of the very corner to the bottom right here. I could see some "softness" but I am not sure whether it happens to be the natural floor pattern or not. At any rate, my most user's case will be 1) the night sky in a few weeks from now and the focal plane will be far away distance or close to infinity or actually infinity, that shouldn't be a problem. And 2) for landscape where I will be stopping down to f/5.6 or f/8 or even more, where the DOF will be well extended.
Like your's and other user's opinion here, the lens is indeed impressive. I don't have the 12-24mm GM lens for comparison purposes and refrain from saying one way or another and take your word for it....Show more →
Joshua, IMHO, that amount of "softness" from a corner of an UW zoom over the A7R6 sensor being viewed at 100% magnification, is still on the order of "impressively good!" Plus, some of that is the pixel stretching done with the distortion correction -- turn it off, you get more corner visible, and that part sharpens up a bit. More impressive is that the corners get even better from f5.6 on. One can understand why Sony decided to partner with them...
Working thru some of my pics from my trip. Received the Lens from Ace Photo (highly recommend). Proceeded to loose the lens cap running from a storm will have to wait a while for Tamron to get these back in stock have a make shift cover for now. I really love this lens it will replace the 14gm just because of the range it offers. It is balanced well and i like that it does not zoom out. Only thing i dont like is the aperture dial feels cheep for lack of better word and I wish it was a bit more resistant. I really cant wait to see more from this lens and maybe get a distortion profile for DxO would be nice but its not hard to adjust.
eriet30 wrote:
Working thru some of my pics from my trip. Received the Lens from Ace Photo (highly recommend). Proceeded to loose the lens cap running from a storm will have to wait a while for Tamron to get these back in stock have a make shift cover for now. I really love this lens it will replace the 14gm just because of the range it offers. It is balanced well and i like that it does not zoom out. Only thing i dont like is the aperture dial feels cheep for lack of better word and I wish it was a bit more resistant. I really cant wait to see more from this lens and maybe get a distortion profile for DxO would be nice but its not hard to adjust.
Managed to capture this gem of a building (Whitney Block in Toronto) in favorable light with the 12-20. Shot handheld, f8, 20mm. Distortion corrected manually. John P. Robarts Research Library by chris dufresne, on Flickr
I'm liking the microcontrast from this lens. Check the detail in hi-res version on my Flickr link below. Front Street Stairwell by chris dufresne, on Flickr
The more I use the lens, the more I like it. I also find myself shooting with it at 12mm a whole lot more often than I thought I would. Quickly processed on my laptop as I am on the road searching out fall compositions...
Editing note. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I encourage to turn off the distortion correction, and I am finding myself doing this frequently for this type of shot to keep the corners less stretched out and more "real" looking. The lens needs the vignette correction, but here I've even dialed that back about ⅓ for some added effect.
ILCE-7RM6TAMRON 12-20mm F2.8 A084 E lens12mmf/10.01/30s200 ISO-1.3 EV
Jack Flesher wrote:
Editing note. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I encourage to turn off the distortion correction, and I am finding myself doing this frequently for this type of shot to keep the corners less stretched out and more "real" looking. The lens needs the vignette correction, but here I've even dialed that back about ⅓ for some added effect.
are you referring to in camera correction or LR..... I am a bit slow
eriet30 wrote:
are you referring to in camera correction or LR..... I am a bit slow
Sorry. I shoot raw and apply lens correction in post. In cam correction is only applied to jpegs, raws get tagged, and then depending on the raw converter you use will get applied by it. In my case I use ACR, and under optics I check “use profile correction.” Under this tool are two sliders, one for distortion and one for vignette; and you can dial these up or down from 100% as suits your needs. I dialed distortion down to 0 turning it off, and vignette down to 67% to add back about 1/3rd of the lens’ natural vignette in the above image. Hope this clarifies.
Jack Flesher wrote:
Sorry. I shoot raw and apply lens correction in post. In cam correction is only applied to jpegs, raws get tagged, and then depending on the raw converter you use will get applied by it. In my case I use ACR, and under optics I check “use profile correction.” Under this tool are two sliders, one for distortion and one for vignette; and you can dial these up or down from 100% as suits your needs. I dialed distortion down to 0 turning it off, and vignette down to 67% to add back about 1/3rd of the lens’ natural vignette in the above image. Hope this clarifies. ...Show more →
Ahh I should have known that only applied to jpeg but had a brain fart. I only shoot raw. I usually edit for basic but for the correction i throw it in DXO viewpoint 5 - but they do not have a profile yet.
Just a question ..... I notice a lot of wide photos are shot at angles not perpendicular to the subject. I am tall so often I am angled down slightly vs up. In the testing I "assume" that would affect corners?
I havn't sold the 14 yet but its more because I do love the corner rendering and handling of distortion. It does that so much better than the 16mm or 16-35gmii however I need to do more testing in real life on the Tamron just to get comfortable with letting the 14 go.
eriet30 wrote:
Ahh I should have known that only applied to jpeg but had a brain fart. I only shoot raw. I usually edit for basic but for the correction i throw it in DXO viewpoint 5 - but they do not have a profile yet.
Just a question ..... I notice a lot of wide photos are shot at angles not perpendicular to the subject. I am tall so often I am angled down slightly vs up. In the testing I "assume" that would affect corners?
I havn't sold the 14 yet but its more because I do love the corner rendering and handling of distortion. It does that so much better than the 16mm or 16-35gmii however I need to do more testing in real life on the Tamron just to get comfortable with letting the 14 go.
I think any perspective lean is a function of rectilinear projection. Hence it’s always going to be negatively affected by any non-parallel camera angle, but I don’t think the lean itself affects a lens’ optical performance. It may exacerbate the effects of field curvature which would show up more at the corners, but I don’t know for sure.
