![]() The focus ring is the same composite material as the rest of the barrel, with raised ridges to improve the grip. There's also an anti-smudge fluorine coat on the front element. The barrel is sturdy polycarbonate, and incorporates dust and splash protection. Tamron includes front and rear caps, as well as a reversible hood. The lens measures 2.5 by 2.9 inches (HW), weighs 7.6 ounces, and supports 67mm front filters. (Opens in a new window) Read Our Zeiss Loxia 2.8/21 Review The 24mm focal length here is just a smidge wider than the main lens on your iPhone, and matches the widest setting on the de facto standard pro zoom design, the 24-70mm f/2.8. For photographers who feel limited by the confines of the traditional 50mm standard prime, a good wide prime can be your everyday lens. With more and more photographers cutting their teeth with smartphone cameras, what's been thought of as a standard angle prime has been redefined. Autofocus isn't as speedy or as quiet as pricier alternatives, but if you're shopping on a budget, you won't do much better near this price. Despite an asking price that's a downright bargain compared with others, the lens is sturdily built, with dust and splash protection, and has a very sound optical design. The Tamron 24mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 ($349) is one of three low-cost prime lenses, all with identical housings and 1:2 macro focusing, designed and sold exclusively for use with Sony mirrorless cameras. Barrel distortion and vignette may require correction.How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.The 18-250mm review also compares and contrasts that lens with all the other long-ratio zooms on the market, making it a good point of reference if you're shopping for a lens of this type. This new model significantly outperforms the 18-200mm, albeit for a street price that's about $100 higher - so you may want to consider that newer model if you're in the "Vacation Lens" market. NOTE: We've now posted a test of this lens' successor, the Tamron 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II LD Aspherical IF Macro AF. So here's the bottom line: If you need to just put one lens on your camera and leave it there, yet still want to cover a focal length range from wide angle to a fairly long tele, this lens is a good, affordable solution. This is actually a fairly serious issue with digital SLRs, as dust on the sensor will show up in every shot you take, and your ability to clean your camera's sensor is likely to be severely limited while traveling. Possibly even more important than the sheer convenience factor though, is the security of not having to worry about dust entering your camera body as you swap lenses on and off in less-than-pristine environments. But if space and convenience are overriding concerns on a long trip, softer images may be an acceptable price to pay. Can you do better with multiple, more expensive lenses? Without question. When calculating the bottom line for this lens, it's important to consider its intended market, and its very affordable price point. Distortion covers quite a range, from about 1% barrel at 18mm, to about 0.6% pincushion at 50mm, finally decreasing to about 0.4% at 200mm. ![]() Stopped down to f/5.6, it's never more than 1/4 stop, and often quite a bit lower. Vignetting is very low, with a maximum of about 1/3 stop at wide angle and maximum aperture. ![]() Even stopped down though, this lens is a little soft at 200mm.Ĭhromatic aberration is high at both ends of the zoom range (wide and telephoto), but is actually quite low over a broad range of medium focal lengths. At 18mm, shooting between f/5.6 and f/8 delivers pretty impressive sharpness, but you'll have to go to f/16 for the best results at 50mm, and to f/11 at 100-200mm. As always though, closing the aperture down a stop or two makes a big difference. For the Tamron 18-200, the tradeoff is that it is significantly soft in the corners and edges when shooting wide open, pretty much across the focal length range. Of course, there's never a free lunch, and in the case of long-zoom lenses, this means that tradeoffs inevitably have to be made. (For reference, this lens is the equivalent of a 27-300mm lens on a 35mm SLR.) Thanks to its reduced image circle (it's designed for cameras with APS-C size sensors), the 18-200 is surprisingly compact, given its incredible zoom range. Tamron has long had a history of making some of the better ultra-zoom lenses out there, and this current 18-200mm matches their long-zoom prowess to the needs of the digital market. Super-long ratio zoom lenses have often been called "vacation lenses", since they're the ideal solution when you're traveling, and only want to bring one lens along.
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