I've had this lens for less than a day and am very impressed so far. I don't regret spending 800€ on it. The lens is surprisingly sharp - even wide open, even at the longest focal length - and at most settings, sharpness extends to the edges of the frame. Having become accustomed to the performance of the Nikkor 24-120mm f/4, I was quite surprised to find that this Tamron maintains excellent sharpness throughout the zoom range - even at the long end where the Nikkor performs worst. Unlike many zooms, the Tamron is least impressive at its narrowest focal length when the center of the frame is sharp but the edges aren't sharp until you stop at f/4 at least. Tamron calls this lens a "portrait zoom" and it appears to be optimized for typical portrait focal lengths of 50mm to 135mm. The short end of 35mm seems like a bonus, no lens focus (pun intended). The autofocus is very reliable, except perhaps (at least on my specimen) at the short end of the zoom range, where there seems to be a slight inconsistency depending on the direction of rotation of the focus motor (my specimen focuses better when the lens is moved from a shorter distance to a longer one). ). The auto focus speed is quite slow. It seems to take almost a full second for the lens to focus from infinity to MFD or vice versa. The AF motor isn't particularly quiet either. I believe this is a micro motor and not a ring motor like the Nikon SWM. However, it is nowhere near as loud as some screwdriver lenses. Manual focus is decent and mechanical, not wire-flying. Unusually for a modern lens, the focus ring rotates during autofocus, which isn't good because you have to remember to keep your fingers off the ring or you risk damaging the autofocus motor. In addition, the lens does not have a focus scale. (Hyperfocal distance? What is that?) This lens focuses very close! When the lens is magnified to 150mm at MFD, the front of the lens is about 6 inches from the subject. And the magnification at that working distance - f/3.7 - is higher than some zoom lenses that call themselves 'macro'. This is a versatile lens. The image stabilization works very well. If you have good hand grip skills, the stabilization on this lens will ensure that the image in the viewfinder stays just about steady. It works better than VR on the aforementioned Nikkor 24-120mm. The VC motor is very quiet when turning on and off, unlike some older Tamron lenses like the 70-300mm f/4-5.6. I was afraid the lens would be heavy, about 10% heavier than the Nikkor for my liking. 24-120mm (a lens that seems a bit heavy to me). Surprisingly, it doesn't really feel too heavy. But what he feels is awkward. This is a very thick lens - too thick to be comfortable for small hands. The outer part of the lens is made of high quality plastic. The surface is smooth matte. I worry that it will scratch easily and that the scratches will be clearly visible. Overall, the fit and finish of the lens is excellent for a consumer model. The zoom action seems pretty good - nice and consistent throughout the zoom range, with no play but with a lingering feel. A little lube wouldn't hurt. There's a zoom lock switch, which seems unnecessary as there's no indication of zoom creep. The lens is shortest at 35mm and longest at 150mm, with the front inside of the body sticking out about two inches. What's impressive is that there is ZERO movement when you take the front of the long barrel and try to rock it sideways. That's quality! I just hope it stays that way.
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