Photography News 75 NEWSLETTER

First test

PRICE: £929

TRANSCONTINENTA.CO.UK

Tamron SP 35mm f/1.4 Di USD To celebrate four decades of SP lenses, Tamron set itself a challenge to make its best ever lens. This is it: a fast aperture lens ideal for so many subjects SPECS

Test images were shot on with the Tamron 35mm lens on a camera mounted on a Gitzo GT2545TTraveler carbon fibre tripod with the shutter released using the self-timer. The Raws were processed using Adobe Lightroom using default settings.

› Price £929 › Format Full-frame,APS-C › Mount Canon EF, Nikon F › Autofocus Yes, using USD (Ultra Silent Drive) › Construction 14 elements in 10 groups › Special lens elements Four LD (LowDispersion) lens elements and three GM (GlassMoulded Aspherical) lens elements › Coatings BBAR-G2 (Broad Band Anti-Reflection Generation 2) coating, fluorine on front element › Filter size 72mm › Aperture range F/1.4-16 › Diaphragm Nine blades › Internal focus Yes › Manual focus Yes, full-time override › Minimum focus 30cm › Focus limiter No › Maximummagnification 1:5 › Distance scale Yes,metric and imperial › Depth-of-field scale No › Image stabiliser No › Tripod collar No › Lens hood Bayonet-fit hood supplied

Tamron’s SP (Superior Performance) lens family was launched 40 years ago and by way of celebrating the landmark it gave itself the challenge of producing its best-ever lens. The Tamron SP 35mm f/1.4 Di USD is it. There’s no denying that Tamron has certainly thrown a great deal of effort and optical technology behind its flagship lens, with half of its 14 individual lens elements being either low dispersion or aspherical, plus advanced coatings are used too. BBAR is Tamron’s proprietary Broad Band Anti Reflection multi coating designed to minimise light scatter and maximise light transmission, and now in its Generation 2 guise it is used for the first time on this lens. Autofocusing is handled by Tamron’s USD (Ultra Silent Drive) together with a new Dynamic Rolling Cammechanism which makes moving the heavy focusing section of the lens very fast and accurate. Certainly, I had no quibbles about the lens’s AF skills. I had a Canon fit sample and used it on a Canon EOS 5DMark IV and on a Sony A7R Mark III using a K&F Concepts adapter which retains full AF and exposure functions. In both instances, autofocus was precise and swift. Shoot at maximum aperture and there is little depth-of-field when you are within a few metres of the subject, so focus needs to be accurate and this lens was very good in that respect. There is full-time override too when the lens is in AF mode, and a switch on the lens’s side offers permanent manual focus. The whole focusing range is covered in less than half of a rotation of the focus barrel although the actual infinity-to-minimum focusing distance is quite short. There’s no integral image stabiliser, which would have been a benefit because of the lens’s heft; but equally it would have added to its bulk and price. It is fair to say, though, that balance on the EOS 5D Mark IV is very good so the pair sit nicely in the hands and the combined weight does help with handholding at slower shutter speeds. As you would expect, optically the lens gives an impressive performance, notably at the wider apertures. At f/1.4 sharpness was crisp and detail looked good across the image frame. No point having a f/1.4 lens if you can’t use it

F/1.4

F/2

with confidence wide open; no worries on that score with this Tamron. That high performance level was improved further with stopping down, reaching a peak at f/5.6, and stayed at a high level for the rest of the range. Even at f/16, image quality continued to impress. Resistance to flare is good thanks to the BBAR G2 coating, but aim it towards a low direct sun and flare is going to be a hazard for any lens even with the dedicated lens hood in place and I got ghosting and flare spots. With oblique lighting, however, no flare spots were seen. All told, this Tamron lens is not going to be a let-down optically to anyone. WC

IMAGE As befits Tamron’s flagship lens, it is packed with advanced glass and half of its 14 elements are either low-dispersion or aspherical elements

F/2.8

F/4

for cutting- edge optical performance

› Weather-sealed Moisture-resistant › Dimensions (dxl) 80.9x104.8mm

› Weight 815g Canon, 805g Nikon › Contact transcontinenta.co.uk

F/5.6

Verdict Tamron set out to produce a very high-performing lens and there is no doubt that this optic is seriously good at delivering critically impressive images at the key apertures and that includes wide open. At £929, the Tamron SP 35mm f/1.4 Di USD is not a purchase to be taken lightly but it’s still significantly less costly compared with the equivalent lenses fromCanon and Nikon which are around £1600.With that inmind and the performance this lens is capable of, I would say it’s attractively priced for what you get so this lens comes highly recommended.

F/8

F/11

PROS Fast maximum aperture, optical performance, slick and silent autofocus CONS It’s a big lens for a 35mm

F/16

Thanks go to…Hire a Camera for the loan of the Sony A7R III used in this review hireacamera.com

Issue 75 | Photography News 79

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