Photography News Issue 44

Photography News | Issue 44 | absolutephoto.com

First tests

TamronSP70-200mmf/2.8Di VCUSDG2 £1349 Tamron’s popular, highly regarded telezoom is the latest to be revamped. The benefits are improved optical performance, better mechanics and cosmetics to match the new range. There’s a new optical design with 23 elements including Tamron’s LD and XLD glass, 5EV benefit image stabilisation and a build that’s moisture and dust resistant. 200mm f/2.8

Specs

Price

£1349

Format 35mm, APS-C Mounts Canon, Nikon

Construction 23 elements in 17 groups Special lens elements Five LD (low dispersion) and XLD (eXtra low dispersion) Coatings e-BAND coating, Fluorine coating on front element Filter size 77mm Aperture range f/2.8-22 Diaphragm Nine blades Internal focus Yes Manual focus Yes, full-time override Minimum focus 95cm Focus limiter Yes Maximummagnification 1:6.1 Distance scale Yes Depth-of-field scale No Image stabiliser Tamron VC, 5EV claimed benefit Tripod collar Yes, Arca-Swiss compatible, detachable Lens hood Supplied, bayonet fit Weather-sealed Moisture proof and dust resistant Dimensions 193.8x88mm Canon, 191.3x88mm Nikon Weight 1500g Canon, 1485g Nikon Contact intro2020.co.uk

As you’d expect from a fast- aperture telezoom, this lens has an impressive, substantial heft. Looking at weight, it’s 30g heavier than its predecessor and slightly longer, but 40g lighter and 15mm shorter than Nikon’s version of the same lens. To be honest, though, there is not much between the Canon, Nikon and Tamron lenses physically speaking. The zoom barrel is broad; its action is smooth and takes less than one-quarter turn to cover the focal length range. The focusing barrel is narrower but still wide enough for a gloved hand to comfortably use. There is an impressive array of control buttons on the lens body including a distance limiter and a VC control. VC is Tamron’s Vibration Compensation or image stabiliser mechanism and the claimed benefit here is 5EV. Three VC modes are available. Mode 1 gives normal VC operation and you see the benefit in the viewfinder, mode 3 gives VC but the viewfinder image is uncorrected and mode 2 is for panning. Few lenses have an option like mode 3 and it is handy when you’re being critical with cropping when a stabiliser can very slightly alter the framing. Tamron’s VC is impressive. If we said that the minimum recommended shutter speed was 1/250sec for this lens (and even that is pushing it), 5EV takes us down to 1/8sec. For my test, I set at 100mm in VC mode 1 and shot from 1/25sec downwards to 1/5sec. The conditions were calm so no breeze-induced shake in this instance. As a control I first shot at 1/25sec with the VC off and here I got one just barely acceptable shot out of five. With VC engaged, this increased to five out of five so an impressive start. Dropping to 1/15sec, without the VC working you can see the image juddering but half-press the shutter button and the VC kicks in. At this speed I got four out of five sharp and got the same result at 1/8sec. At 1/5sec, success rate fell to three out of five and that still rates highly. The lens performed very well with images just snapping into sharp focus Above The revamped lens may be heftier than its predecessor, but it has an improved optical performance, better mechanics and pleasing cosmetics.

200mm f/4

200mm f/5.6

200mm f/8

200mm f/11

200mm f/16

200mm f/22

The images Tamron has been gradually upgrading its lens offerings and this fast aperture telezoom features a new optical construction compared with its predecessor – and the result is a highly capable and superior lens.

and a venerable EOS 5D Mark II. The lens performed very well with images just snapping into sharp focus so no problems here. No problems optically either. Wide open at 70mm, sharpness is good at the centre and the edges and improved with stopping down with f/5.6 the best aperture for crisp shots. A similar showing was seen at 135mm although f/8 seemed the

optimum aperture. You still get high quality at the wider settings too. F/8 was the best overall aperture at 200mm, although sharpness was fractionally less impressive. One thing to note was diffraction had minimal impact at minimum aperture at the three tested focal lengths, so this lens will let you shoot at the smaller apertures without too much sharpness loss. WC

A lockable rotating tripodmount is provided and while there are no click stops at key points, white dots help with accurate alignment. The tripod foot is Arca Swiss compatible and it also has a tripod bush. As for autofocusing, Tamron’sUSD (Ultrasonic Silent Drive) delivers a fine performance. The camera is a key player here and I tried the lens with a Canon EOS 77D, EOS 5D Mark IV

Verdict

If you want a fast-aperture telezoom, then you should add this Tamron to your shortlist because it offers a high-quality performance, mechanically and optically. Put simply, you get very sharp pictures, swift autofocus and the VC mechanism helps to make sure your images are very sharp even when hand-holding at risky shutter speeds. It’s a lovely lens and competitively priced for what you get. Pros Optical quality, effective VC system, Arca-Swiss tripod foot, great build, price Cons A hefty lens, although comparable to its opposition