Tamron 70 300 Vc Review

tamron 70 300 vc review

Introduction:

This lens has a lot of marketing before actually enter the market. I also wait for it, as a good budget option for birding. After I decided to buy the Canon 200 L instead, but I interested in this lens how is it perform when became available. I only had a chance to check it in one of the supermarkets, so don’t have field experience.

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Build quality – Tamron 70 300 Vc Review:

The first impression of the lens that it is not small. Not very long, but not thin. Compare to plastic kit lenses for example this lens is much bigger. Feels solid and built from quality plastic material (helps to reduce weight), zoom ring rotated smoothly.

Autofocus:

The autofocus is silent and quick.
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Specifications – Tamron 70 300 Vc Review:

Focal length: 70-300mm
Widest aperture: f4-5.6
Aperture blades: 9(rounded)
Weight: 765g
Size: 82x143mm
Filter size: 62mm
Lens elements: 17/12 groups included 1 Xd(extra low dispersion), and 1Ld elements(Low dispersion)
Minimum focusing distance: 1.5m

Optical quality:

Very nice, but hard to judge as I only checked inside the building. Seems usable at 300mm f5.6, what is not very common among consumer zooms. At shorter distances the lens is more sharp than at 300mm, even wide open.

Stabilizator:

Very good, the viewfinder image rock solid (no movement at all), I am very impressed at that one. This quality can be very handy in recording videos.

Focal length:

This focal length make this lens very useful, I think about to buy it even for second lens. From landscape to wildlife it is possible to use this lens for multiple purposes, with the stabilizator makes it much more usable. You can make sharp pictures even with 300mm, at 1/25 second, or little less. Good news that 300mm f5.6 already usable. sharpest at f8-f11.

Price/Performance ratio:

This lens has very good value. The stabilization quality only count a lot.

Autofocus:

seems work as it needed even inside a building.

Difference in copies:

There are different information around the net about this lens: some say their lens is very sharp at 300mm, other say not sharp at all at 300mm. I suspect there are differences in fabrication, some copies better, some are not so good.

Alternatives:

In Reviews you can find many alternatives. The direct competition is the Canon 70-300 is and Nikon 70-300 vr. Compare to these lenses the difference is relatively small. The Tamron has a better stabilizer, than the other two.

The Canon 70-300 is is quite a nice lens with very nice color but also not as sharp at 300mm.

The Nikon 70-300 vr is extremely sharp until 200mm, but not at 300mm.

The Tamron is cheaper than the rivals, this way represents a better value overall. The Canon 70-300L is much better, but much more expensive also.