Photography News Issue 50

Photography News | Issue 50 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 £1249

Specs

Price

£1249

Format Full-frame and APS-C Mount Canon, Nikon Construction 17 elements in 12 groups Special lens elements

The ‘go to’ lens for most photographers is the standard zoom, with a lens range from wide-angle through standard and on to short telephoto, and given its usefulness it is well worth investing in a top-quality model, preferably with a fast constant maximum aperture. Of course the main camera brands have their offerings and good though they invariably are there is often, literally, a price to be paid. In the shops, the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II is £1684 and the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8E is £1899. By comparison, the guide price of this Tamron is £1249 which means you can probably get it a little cheaper than that if you shop around Tamron has worked hard on its lens range over the past couple of years, bringing out new primes like the 35mm f/1.8 and revamping several of its popular zooms. This 24-70mm is a serious reworking of the original and shares the familiar good looks of the new range. So we have, for example, the champagne-coloured ring near the mount end of the lens and smart white- on-black markings. Pick this lens up on its own and you can appreciate it

has a lovely heft and good balance too. It feels as a quality lens should do – and worth the cash. Fit it onto a full-frame DSLR (I used a Canon EOS 5DS R) and balance remains excellent. Also coming into the excellent category is the smooth focus, with full-time manual override and zoom controls, which I’d expect from Tamron. Personally, I’d prefer a broader focusing ring but that is just a preference and there is nothing amiss with the one provided. Also provided is a zoom lock. This locks on the 24mm setting only. The lens grows by about 3cm as it zooms out to 70mm. Internally a MPU (microprocessor unit) helps to provide fast AF, and it is indeed swift, accurate and silent. An MPU also works with the lens’s VC (Vibration Compensation) system and this claims a 5EV benefit. I did my VC test using the 70mm setting on a still day at shutter speeds down to 1/2sec. If you assume the 70mm requires aminimumof 1/125sec for handheld shooting with a super high megapixel camera like the EOS 5DS R, then a 5EV gain is 1/4sec. I

1x hybrid aspherical element, 3x molded glass aspherical elements, 3x LD (Low Dispersion) elements, 2 XR (Extra Refractive) elements Coatings Tamron eBAND and BBAR coatings, water and oil repellent fluorine coat on front element Filter size 82mm Aperture range F/2.8-22 Diaphragm Nine rounded blades Internal focus Yes Manual focus Yes, full-time manual override Minimum focus 38cm Focus limiter No Maximummagnification 1:5 Distance scale Yes Depth-of-field scale No Image stabilizer Yes, 5EV claimed benefit Tripod collar No Lens hood Locking hood supplied Weather-sealed Moisture-resistant with seven seals Dimensions (lxd) 111x88.4mm (Canon) Weight 905g (Canon) Contact Intro2020.co.uk

Images As usual, our test involved a range of shots and scenes like this that were shot at each aperture at the 24mm, 50mm and 70mm focal length settings. A Gitzo Systematic tripod was used in this case, with the lens manually focused with the camera in its live viewmode. Amonitor loupe was used for a critical focus check. The resulting Raws were processed through Lightroomwith default sharpening only. All told, I thought Tamron’s 24- 70mm turned in a very capable performance, especially at 24mm where sharpness was good from f/2.8 onwards. At the longer focal lengths the lens needed stopping down one or two stops to see it at its very best, but it was still more than decent wide open. There was some distortion, most noticeable at 24mm, but that is easily sorted in software if needed, and resistance to flare rated highly. WC and scenic shots, distortion is not really an issue. In terms of sharpness, this lens is more than a little impressive at f/2.8 and that includes at 24mm, 50mm and 70mm – and only default sharpening was used here so there is potential for more. Starting at the 24mm setting, the centre is very sharp and withstands critical scrutiny so no complaints here and the only significant softening occurs in the corners. Stop down to f/4 and f/5.6 and corner detail improves markedly while the central area improves only a little, which shows how good the lens is at f/2.8. There’s not much to choose between f/5.6 and f/8 as the best aperture value at the 24mm setting. Therewasamoreobviousdifference between f/2.8 and smaller apertures at the 50mm setting. At the widest setting the image lacked a little bite but stop down to f/4 and the benefit was significant and matters picked up further at f/5.6 and f/8 before tailing off after f/11. Itwasn’t adissimilarperformanceat the 70mmsettingwith the image being less impressive at f/2.8, especially at the edges, and an improvement gained with stopping down with f/5.6 needed for detailed edges. F/5.6 and f/8 were the best overall settings at this focal length with diffraction softening edges at f/16 and f/22.

got five pin-sharp shots out of five at 1/15sec, three at 1/8sec, two at 1/4sec and none at 1/2sec. I thought that was a respectable showing bearing in mind the weighty combination and the camera’s resolution. Optically, I can’t imagine too many people being disappointed with this lens. It’s not perfect and there is significant distortion – pincushion at the wide end and barrel at 70mm. That is readily resolved in editing, although it might be annoying for those photographers using straight out of camera JPEGs. Obviously it depends on the subject and for people

24mm

50mm

70mm

F/2.8

F/4

F/5.6

F/8

Verdict

F/11

Whether you shoot full-frame or APS-C format DSLRs, this Tamron new standard zoomwill undoubtedly deliver a performance that will meet the most critical photographer’s expectations, and at a good price compared with the camera brands. Pros Optical performance, price, fast an smooth autofocusing, good VC camera shake defeating skills Cons Distortion at 24mm end

F/16

F/22