Tamron 17 50 vc canon review
In September 2009, Tamron announced an update to its popular 17-50mm ƒ/2.8 zoom lens - the addition of an image stabilization system (Tamron's ''Vibration Control'' technology). Initially available only for the Nikon mount, a Canon mount became available in October 2009. Show The lens is designed for the crop-frame APS-C sensor, meaning it will provide vignetted results if used on a full-frame camera. It uses a constant ƒ/2.8 design. On a Nikon body, the lens provides an effective field of view of 26-75mm; on a Canon body, 27-80mm. The lens ships with a petal-shaped lens hood, takes 72mm filters, and is available now for approximately $650. Sharpness We noted some slight de-centering with the sample of the lens we tested. Sharpness results seem to be a little poorer than the original non-VC version of the lens; stopped down, it retains its excellent performance. Let's look a little closer. Wide open at ƒ/2.8, the lens shows some definite corner softness, mostly at wide angles. At 17mm, there is a nice central sweet spot of sharpness in the range of 1.5 blur units, but corner softness is significant in the top corners, escalating to upwards of 7 blur units. This is about as poor as it gets through, zooming in towards 50mm improves the corner performance, though (to some degree) at the expense of central performance. By 50mm at ƒ/2.8, the lens is producing images which are fairly sharp (around 3 blur units across the frame), but now are slight-soft corners are in the bottom of the frame, at 5-6 blur units. As usual, stopping down does improve sharpness performance. However, especially noticeable at 17mm is a bit of uneven focus, which doesn't really go away completely until ƒ/16. We could certainly chalk this up to a de-centered lens element and imagine that a better sample would provide us with better performance. At ƒ/5.6 at 17mm, there is a nice sharp sweet spot in the central range of the lens, but it's still marred by considerable corner softness in the top left of the frame, and uneven focus in the bottom right. Zoomed in, the lens provides a bit more stable performance, and at 50mm and ƒ/8, the lens shows excellent results for sharpness, providing just over 1 blur unit across the frame. Stopping down further doesn't add much, and diffraction limiting begins to set in at ƒ/16. The lens stops down all the way to ƒ/32, providing even, if slightly soft results across the frame at around 3 blur units. Chromatic Aberration While CA is noticeable if you peep at 100%, for the most part it's not a problem. It shows up mostly in the corners when stopped down to ƒ/8 or smaller - except at 50mm, where (curiously) it's more prominent at larger apertures. Shading (''Vignetting'') The Tamron 17-50mm ƒ/2.8 VC provides consistent corner shading from one focal setting to the next - there is some light falloff when used at wider apertures (between 2/3 and 1 full stop at ƒ/2.8, and a half to 2/3 of a stop at ƒ/4, depending on the focal length). By ƒ/5.6, corner shading is very low, with the corners of the image a quarter-stop darker than the center, or lower. Distortion Tamron has improved upon the distortion control for this lens. While there is some barrel distortion with the lens used at its widest angle (1% in the corners, 0.6% on average) this is to be expected. The distortion decreases gracefully as the lens is zoomed in to 35mm, evening out to essentially 0% between 35mm and 50mm. Autofocus Operation Autofocus is conducted electrically, without the use of a mechanical screw. Autofocus speed is fairly quick, producing a slight noise during focusing, but nothing objectionable. Focus speed is not as quick as that seen on Canon's USM or Nikon's AF-S technologies, and isn't as quiet, either. The lens will autofocus on the ''screw-less'' Nikon D40, D40x and D60 bodies. The front element doesn't rotate during focus operations, making the use of a polarizing filter that much easier. Macro Macro isn't much to write home about - just 0.21x magnification, with a close-focusing distance of just over 11 inches (29 cm). Build Quality and Handling The Tamron 17-50mm ƒ/2.8 VC is composed of mostly plastic, with a metal lens mount. Despite being a lens designed for the smaller APS-C sensor, it's quite a handful, and fairly heavy for ths size. The lens sports an all-black matte finish. The lens has a locking switch for keeping the lens at the 17mm focal length setting. There is a switch to activate and deactivate vibration control, as well as activating or deactivating autofocus. The lens has a distance scale, but no depth of field markings. The zoom ring is the larger of the two, rubber with ribs, just over an inch wide. The ring is very smooth, firm but not too tight, requiring two fingers to move. There is some slight lens extension (1 1/4'') as the lens is zoomed in to 50mm, and owing to this, we didn't find any evidence of zoom creep. It could be as the lens is worn in the zoom could become a little more slippy, but in this eventuality, Tamron has thoughtfully provided a switch to lock the zoom at 17mm. It takes about 90 degrees of turning action to go from 17mm to 50mm. The focus ring is just 3/8'' wide, using the same rubber texture but slightly different ribs. The lens was not really designed with manual focusing in mind, with just 45 degrees of focusing action. The lens focuses past infinity, and there are hard stops on either end of the focusing spectrum. We have done some testing on the vibration control feature of this lens, and we hope to update this review shortly with the results of that testing. The lens hood for the 17-50mm ƒ/2.8 is the petal type, adding an extra 1 5/8 inches to the length of the lens when mounted. The hood is flocked on the interior, and reverses to mount on the lens for storage. Alternatives Tamron 17-50mm ƒ/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical IF SP AF ~$400 The real question most people will be asking is how the new lens compares with the older version. In a nutshell, while the new lens provides vibration control functionality, the old lens provided better results for sharpness, resistance to chromatic aberration and corner shading; distortion is noticeably improved. Sigma 18-50mm ƒ/2.8-4.5 DC OS HSM ~$200 While the Sigma 18-50mm isn't a constant ƒ/2.8 lens, it does provide Optical Stabilization. It can't offer ƒ/2.8 at the same focal lengths as the Tamron, but where the lenses overlap at aperture, the Sigma is as sharp or sharper - except at the wide end. At 18mm, it doesn't quite match the Tamron. CA performance and distortion control also aren't as good as the Tamron; corner shading is slightly better. Canon EF-S 17-55mm ƒ/2.8 IS USM ~$1000 There really isn't much of a contest between the Canon and Tamron lenses - for a few hundred dollars more, the Canon lens is sharper, though its distortion profile and resistance to CA is a bit worse. Corner shading is about the same. The build quality is much higher with the Canon, and autofocus speed is much faster. Nikon 17-55mm ƒ/2.8G ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor ~$1350 Similarly, the Nikon 17-55mm is a pro-caliber lens. In this case however the Nikon lens does not feature image stabilization, and its results for sharpness, while a little more ''even'' than the Tamron, are not head-and-shoulders better. CA performance is similar, perhaps a little better on the Tamron (in the corners). Distortion is better-corrected in the Tamron. The Nikon fares much better against corner shading. Conclusion Tamron seems to have had to make some sacrifices to add Vibration Control to its popular 17-50mm ƒ/2.8. It's not bad with regard to sharpness, just not as good as the non-VC version, leading potential buyers to decide how badly they need Vibration Control. Sample Photos The VFA target should give you a good idea of sharpness in the center and corners, as well as some idea of the extent of barrel or pincushion distortion and chromatic aberration, while the Still Life subject may help in judging contrast and color. We shoot both images using the default JPEG settings and manual white balance of our test bodies, so the images should be quite consistent from lens to lens. As appropriate, we shoot these with both full-frame and sub-frame bodies, at a range of focal lengths, and at both maximum aperture and ƒ/8. For the ''VFA'' target (the viewfinder accuracy target from Imaging Resource), we also provide sample crops from the center and upper-left corner of each shot, so you can quickly get a sense of relative sharpness, without having to download and inspect the full-res images. To avoid space limitations with the layout of our review pages, indexes to the test shots launch in separate windows. Tamron17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II VC LD Aspherical IF SP AFTamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II VC LD Aspherical IF SP AF User Reviews9.3/10average of 12 review(s) Build Quality8.3/10 Image Quality9.8/10
9 out of 10 pointsand recommended by goldenpiggy (6 reviews) Another winner...sharp wide open, crazy sharp @ f/5.6, VC is fantastic focus ring moves during AF, soft case/pouch not included. This is fantastic lens, period. The lens is sharp right off the bat at f/2.8 (particularly at the telephoto end on my sample). So it's fully usable wide open. Stop down to f/5.6 and it becomes truly spectacular -- sharp, sharp, sharp and great contrast. Very happy in the sharpness and contrast department. The amazing thing about this lens is the VC (image stabilization). I can shoot at 1/4 sec shutter and get crisp images at 50mm. Truly amazing. Coupled with the sharp wide open performance and it's a winner. The VC makes a high pitch noise every, but nothing to be concerned about. Very effective, as good as or better than Nikon's VR. AF accuracy is good, but not as good as Nikons which alway seem to nail it right the first time. Once in a while AF will be slightly off, but nothing bad. AF speed is fast, and now almost silent. The lens is well-balanced on my D300. The zoom ring is damped just right. There is no zoom creep, but then again, the barrel only extends out about an inch and a quarter. There's a lock switch to keep the lens at 17mm just in case. The VC version is noticeably bulkier girth-wise than the non-VC but doesn't weigh that much more. It is amazing how light this lens is for what it is. Construction is good not in the same league as metal Nikon gold ring lenses I would say it is on par with Nikon consumer lens like the 18-200VR. But it is better constructed than Tamrons of yesteryears. No complaints. Mine is made in Japan. This lens takes 72mm filter. My only gripe is that the focus ring moves when it's autofocusing (like the non VC) and you can't just grab the focus ring to do instant manual focus like on most Nikon AF-S. The Tamron does use built-in motor for AF so it's compatible with motorless Nikon DSLRs like D40 and D5000. I was originally going to get the Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 which has a loyal following for its excellent IQ. Someone told me to check out the Tamron 17-50 non-VC which can be had for about 31,000 yen in Japan -- about half the price of the Nikon. I was leery of Tamron, having had bad experience with their original 28-200 ages ago. The reviews for the 17-50 non VC have all been very positive. It was a no-brainer to get a faster lens for less money. I ended up going with the newer VC version for about $200 more than the non-VC. The VC version lists for 70,000 yen (73,500 with tax) and street price is around 50,000 yen. Some may argue that the extra money for VC is not worth it for a lens of this focal length and speed. IMO having VC even on a lens like this is definitely a plus. Never thought I'd buy another Tamron in my lifetime, but I'm a believer! You will not be disappointed with this lens. It will give the Nikon 17-55 a run for the money, a lot less money. As with any lens, I recommend you buy from a local store and bring your camera to test before you walk out. Each copy is different. Is Tamron lenses good for Canon?Many Tamron lenses can be used with the lens adapter in conjunction with the mirrorless full-frame system cameras from Canon (Canon EOS R system) and Nikon (Nikon Z system). For full compatibility, an update of the lens firmware is required for older Tamron Models. What is the best aperture for Tamron 17 50?The wider half of the 17-50 VC looks much better at f/4 and the longer half prefers f/5.6. How much does a Tamron 17Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II Lens Specifications and Measurements. What are Tamron lenses compatible with?Tamron lenses with the designation Di III are compatible with mirrorless cameras from specific camera brands and mounts (Canon EF-M, Fuji X, Olympus and Panasonic MicroFourThirds, and Sony E mounts). |