Tamron 28-75 and the 20D, not compatible?

hollynla

I've been eyeing this lens for quite a while (tamron 28-75mm f2.8) but found a couple messages (not here) saying that it doesn't perform well on the 20D, which is what I'm using. Does anyone here use this lens with the 20D, and if so, what is your experience. Tia

Mongrel

Hi Holly,
rest assured the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 XR Di performs flawlessly on the Canon 20D:










Those are just a few of probably almost 1000 pics I've shot with that combo. I don't know where the idea that the Tamron doesn't work well with the 20D came from, but hopefully this will help put that idea to bed.

Now, I have heard of various problems with 'copies' of the Tamron from time to time, but mine works great with my 20D, Digital Rebel, 1D, and my Elan 7n.

I would recommend that lens without hesitation for use with any Canon body digital or film.

Hope this was helpful,

Mongrel

hollynla

Thank you, those are great pictures. Guess I'll go back to looking at this lens.

Khaos

It performs fine on the 20D. The only reason I got rid of mine was because I wanted to go prime.

There is a rumor of bad copies that are too soft wide open. Mine wasn't. My only complaint is that even at a constabt 2.8, it did focus hunt and focus a little slow in low light.

Some examples when I owned it:

David_S85

Tamron 28-75
There is no lens where there is a 0% return rate. Some people will find fault with everything, and the forums are full of those folks.

Threads like this don't help:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=14075731

Reviews like this do help:
http://www.photo.net/equipment/tamron/17_35_Di/index.html

BTW, he's testing the 28-75 lens on a 20D.

I picked up my 20D yesterday, along with the Tamron 28-75 lens (instead of the kit lens). I've shot a bit with it so far. It's quick to focus, is bright to look through, has a handy lens lock feature, manually focuses well with no crunching sounds, and is relatively light in weight. Build quality seems to be good, and heck, they even throw in a lens hood for good measure. The 6-year warranty is also a nice touch. I have yet to perform focus testing with it, but so far so good, and no 99 or 01 lockup errors.

Is an L lens better? Sure, by about $600 better.

hollynla wrote:

I've been eyeing this lens for quite a while (tamron 28-75mm f2.8) but found a couple messages (not here) saying that it doesn't perform well on the 20D, which is what I'm using. Does anyone here use this lens with the 20D, and if so, what is your experience. Tia

pathfinder

I'm with Mongrel, Khaos, and David on the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 DI. I rec'd this lens to Fish a couple of years ago for a 10D and I still have mine. It has ridden around in my motorcycle tank bag for years and performs flawlessly. Even after I bought a Canon 24-70f2.8 L, I kept the Tamron because I like its form factor on a 20D. As for optical quality, I have a large number of 13x19 prints from a 10D or a 20D that are very sharp shot with this Tamron lens.. I think it does have a little more flare than the Canon when shooting into the light - but all zooms suffer this to some extent. For the price, the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 DI just can't be beaten.

This is an example of the quality it can capture - I have a 13x19 print from this image