new lens: Tamron 28-300mm VC f/3.5-6.3 Nikon mount

dangin

i got a call from Calumet photo today letting me know that the Tamron 28-300mm VC lens for Nikon that i ordered months ago finally came in. (ahead of the may 30th official japanese release as noted on the Tamron Japan website http://www.tamron.co.jp/en/news/release_2008/0515.html) i rushed down to chicago from indiana to pick it up and made it in just before they closed. i only fired off a few shots with it tonite but nothing to really test it. i've got 2 weddings lined up for this weekend and i'll be putting this one through some real world shooting. is this a pro lens? definitely not. it's prosumer at best. my initial thoughts are:

1) SLOOOOOOOW AF. wow. slow. i'm slightly spoiled by Nikkor AF-S; however this thing is slower than the Tamron 28-75mm and 17-50mm.

2) VC is noisy. who'd ever thought that image stabilizing servos would be this noisy? i could see it getting annoying in a church if i were trying to use it.

3) pretty sharp overall. center iq looks good so far.

4) zoom rotating is nice and tight. we'll see if zoom creep is prevalent as i start to really use it. it does seem as the last twist from 200mm - 300mm doesn't feel quite as exact however.

that's all for now. update again in a day or two.

ziggy53

Thanks Dan.

I gather this particular version covers full frame imagers and do I also understand it to have its own motor (like AF-S).

Will it work with autofocus on the D40/D40x/D60?

Thanks again,

SavedByZero

F6.3 @ 300 is wide open?? I can't even imagine how dark that lens must be looking thru with out high noon sunlight crawling thru it.

Art Scott

SavedByZero wrote:

F6.3 @ 300 is wide open?? I can't even imagine how dark that lens must be looking thru with out high noon sunlight crawling thru it.

I used to use an F8 - 500mm lens for wildlife and other things including moon shots......now it was just an f8 totally manual had to an adaptall adapter for my camera at the time....talk about dark:D:D:D

dangin

i'm still working on the review. i ran the lens through the ringer pretty well these past couple of days. not so well lit churches, blindingly bright outdoor conditions, cloud-covered skies, to mixed lighting inside of reception halls. i'll answer some of the questions posed so far until i've got some images posted with comments.

- it is a full frame lens
- it does have it's own built in AF servo mechanism however it is not quite like Nikon AF-S
- it will autofocus with the Nikon D40/40x/60 cameras
- the wide open aperture ranges from f/3.5-6.3 depending zoom
- f/6.3 really isn't *that* bad considering i was taught "f/8 and forget it" from many old school photojournalists