Tamron 24-70 - what to do?
So.... with my first wedding coming up, I decided to take the plunge and try one of these. Arrived yesterday, and I am really disappointed.
The good:
- incredibly quiet AF (which seems as fast as any Canon I have)
- lighter than the Canon 24-70 I
- IS is quiet and seems to work very well
- nice included hood
BUT... it's soft. I need to try it just a little more in some "real life" situations, but given that I will likely be using it in crappy light much of the time, I'm not sure having it perform well outside in sunlight is much help to me. I am SO disappointed - I was REALLY hoping it would match my 17-50 for sharpness, a lens which has never let me down for IQ. But my first tests have definitely not been as good as that; other than at 24mm where it was about the same as the Canon, it has been noticeably softer than the 24-70.
Should I send it back and try a different copy?
It's had decent reviews most of which say it matches or exceeds the 24-70. Is it worth trying a 2nd copy, or is it just that this lens can't deliver what I need? If it can deliver what it's crop-sensor sibling offers, I'm happy, but this copy definitely has NOT offered that kind of sharpness.
PS the 24-70 II simply isn't an option - I don't have the extra thousand bucks. Yes, I could rent it... but I'd prefer to get something I can keep and use as needed. I also really, really REALLY want (need) IS, even at lower focal lengths...........
The good:
- incredibly quiet AF (which seems as fast as any Canon I have)
- lighter than the Canon 24-70 I
- IS is quiet and seems to work very well
- nice included hood
BUT... it's soft. I need to try it just a little more in some "real life" situations, but given that I will likely be using it in crappy light much of the time, I'm not sure having it perform well outside in sunlight is much help to me. I am SO disappointed - I was REALLY hoping it would match my 17-50 for sharpness, a lens which has never let me down for IQ. But my first tests have definitely not been as good as that; other than at 24mm where it was about the same as the Canon, it has been noticeably softer than the 24-70.
Should I send it back and try a different copy?
It's had decent reviews most of which say it matches or exceeds the 24-70. Is it worth trying a 2nd copy, or is it just that this lens can't deliver what I need? If it can deliver what it's crop-sensor sibling offers, I'm happy, but this copy definitely has NOT offered that kind of sharpness.
PS the 24-70 II simply isn't an option - I don't have the extra thousand bucks. Yes, I could rent it... but I'd prefer to get something I can keep and use as needed. I also really, really REALLY want (need) IS, even at lower focal lengths...........
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Is your lens soft at all focal lengths? If so, I would try another copy if you have time before your wedding.
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May order another copy; enough reviews have raved about it that I do have to wonder if I've simply managed to land a dud. Everything else to do with cameras and mail order has gone wrong this week, so why not this too?! Course, if they're both the same, I'm out about $40 in return postage to get them back to Amazon with insurance. Le sigh.
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I owned the Tamron 28-75 for a couple of years, and used it quite a bit but I also found it lacking sharpness and the AF both noisy and slow. I didn't have to many problems with hunting, but AF performance was just not good.
I recently replaced that lens with the Tamron 24-70 VC (canon mount) and have been extremely happy with the new lens. It is sharper, autofocuses well, and lends a nice balance to the camera.
I'm glad you like yours, ephur. I do love the size, weight, handling, AF, IS and everything else.... I just want sharper pictures. I had a good look at my test shots and it MAY be that it is consistently front-focusing, so I'm going to try microadjusting and seeing if it helps, but if not... still have to decide whether to bother with another copy or not
PS Actually, what I really really want is a Canon L Mk II, with IS, for under $1500. Yup, that'd be the optimum for this particular focal length. Was shooting with the 70-200II yesterday and thinking how very, very much I'd love that kind of sparkle, accuracy, and stabilisation in a 24-70!!
I rented the Tamron 24-70 vc a while back and I was pretty unimpressed. I generally use primes for that area, but I wanted more flexibility. And I know a zoom isn't gonna match up with primes, but... I was pretty unimpressed with the IQ AND I had a bunch of missed shots due to awful AF times, even with a flash for AF assist. It wasn't worth it, for me.
I've never used another midrange zoom for full frame, so I can't say how it measures up to the Canon L, etc. But when I shot crop, I had the Tamron 17-50 which I adored. This... just didn't work out for me.
Yeah, I guess I'm hoping for 17-55is performance. While this one isn't bad at f4, it's either front-focusing, or just not that good. Hence why I want to try a second copy. I'll get back to you....
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=1911199#post1911199
Thoughts:
- performed equally well on the 7d and 5dII; perhaps slightly better on the 7d, but I'll attribute that to the 7d's better AF rather than a fault in the lens.
- No, it doesn't approach the sharpness of the 70-200L II (few lenses do lol)
- it IS pretty darn close in quality to the Tam 17-50, which is a very good thing
- Like the 17-50 it is not as good at 2.8 as it is at 4.0, but entirely acceptable
- doesn't have the same kind of "sparkle" as the 24-70L I at its best, but it is equally as sharp (or sharper), and does have IS
Need to use it a little more tomorrow to be sure, but if these initial tests are any indication, this one's a keeper.
Overally, if I were a Canon shooter I'd take the Tamron 24-70 any day over either of the Canon L's. Of course I'd be using primes quite often anyways, and I would be going for (gasp) Sigma's 35 and 85 for sure, they're both way better values than the Canon equivalents, and as sharp or sharper.
Third parties are always going to be a hit-or-miss thing, and if you're the type of person who freaks out about poor quality control, in this world of ever-increasing mass-production, well, you're going to miss out in life... Even Nikon and Canon can ship you a front-focusing or back-focusing camera, nobody's record is spotless...
=Matt=
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Hi everybody,
I stumbled across this and thought I'd post it here 'cause it's very applicable to the experience our Diva has related to us. I think I'll also start a new thread with this link, since many folks might not pick up on this one.
Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
I recently switched to a full frame camera (canon 6d) and have two zooms that I have calibrated using the micro af feature. Prior to the 6d I had the 7d. From what I remember on the 7d if you did the af microadjustment on a zoom, there was just one adjustment. On the 6d, and probably the same on the newer cameras, you do an af microadjustment for both the long and wide end of the lens. And when the lens is on the camera and shooting you will see the af adjustment changing for those areas in between the long and wide ends. So if you have a camera that can do the af microadjustment, do it no matter what lens you end up with. I have the tamron 28-75 and thought for sure I would see the shortcomings of the lens if I stuck it on the 6d but to the contrary, after the af micro adjustments, I was blown away. I took my kids out for an engagement shoot and lets just say that I didn't realize that my 28 year old daughter was developing crows feet until I looked at these at 100% magnification! If it would help, private message me and I can give you links to the original full resolution images (jpegs rendered from lightroom with minimal lightroom adjustments).
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Yup - that article was one of the reasons I was hesitant simply to order a 2nd copy but, in this case, I'm glad I did
I need to run the Tam I'm keeping through FoCal - it worked pretty well out of the box and I just didn't have time to run it through. As long as the adjustments aren't different between the focal lengths, I suspect it will give it a little extra oomph.
The Tam isn't a perfect lens - and I can definitely see its limitations when comparing shots in the same scenario taken with the 70-200 2.8 is II (which might as well be a prime for clarity, sharpness, speed and everything else) - but I shudder to think what Saturday's images would have been like using a lens WITHOUT IS. I was regularly having to shoot at 1/50 which, for me, is likely to result in motion blur regardless of focal length (I'm a crappy hand-holder because I tend to bop around a lot when I shoot).
I'll be keeping it for the time being for sure. And continue to hope that it will spur Canon to release a 24-70L with the image quality of the mk II 2.8 AND IS. THAT would be a lens worth saving the pennies to buy..........
Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.