Tamron
“Its skills are equally
even staying put as I ever so gently moved an annoying foreground twig as I tried to get a more straight-on shooting position. He took flight just before I got to the best viewpoint, which is a shame. I spent another 20 minutes in the area without any further success and, as I was waiting, captured a few flies and explored the hedgerow, before wending my way home via the cricket green behind my back garden. To be honest, taking the Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 VC USD out for a photo walk made me aware of the vast image potential within easy reach of where I live when you have a lens of this potential for company. Furthermore, its capable optical performance and the very useful Vibration Compensation feature ensure your images are technically first rate. impressive for general, scenic andpeople photography”
tamron.eu/uk
SPECS › Price £649.99 Nikon fit, £649.99 Canon fit › Mount availability Nikon F, Canon EF › Optical construction 14 elements in 11 groups › Special elements 1 x LD (low dispersion) element, 2 x XLD (eXtra low dispersion) element › Moisture and dust resistant Yes › Autofocus motor USD (Ultrasonic Silent Drive), Manual Focus Override for instant manual focus correction, internal focusing › Aperture range F/2.8 to f/32 › Minimum focus 30cm › Diaphragm Nine blades › Maximummagnification ratio 1:1 › Image stabilizer VC (Vibration Compensation) with XY-Shift compensation › Coatings eBAND (Extended Bandwidth andAngular Dependency), BBAR (Broad- BandAnti Reflection), fluorine-, oil -and water-repellent coat on front lens element › Filter size 62mm › Dimensions (dxl) 79x117.1mm › Weight 610g › Contact tamron.eu/uk
The lens’s focusing scale is marked in feet and metres, with the corresponding image magnification ratio, too. The lens’s minimum focus of 30cm is where you get 1:1 magnification, where a subject measuring 24mm across fills the width of the 24x36mm full-frame format. Getting this close to a subject means depth-of-field is very limited, even at f/11 and f/16. Not only that, but with the depth of the camera
body, the lens itself and its bayonet fit hood, it does mean the plane of focus is just 8cm from the hood’s rim, so I had to watch out for any shadows. For my shoot, I took the Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 VC USD for a nature ramble around where I live, with the notion of shooting insects – not a subject I have tackled to any degree – and anything else I could find. It was a sunny day, which was a great help in allowing smaller lens
apertures and fast shutter speeds without having to venture high up the ISO scale, but that benefit was countered by a stiff breeze that made shooting close-ups a significantly greater challenge than it already was. I learnt very quickly to look for subjects where there was some protection from the breeze, or to time my shots right. There wasn’t a great deal of insect life around, being quite early
in the year, but I found a sheltered spot where I saw several orange-tip butterflies flying around, so decided to wait for them to land. Of course, landing is one thing – getting close enough and an angle to photograph them is quite another. I did get a few shots of a couple with their wings open, but I was quite distant. Finally, I managed to get in close to a male, even though he had his wings closed. He stayed in place for a minute or so,
Issue 77 | Photography News 15
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