Hard time deciding.

JasonMorrowPhoto · July 14, 2012

I've been looking at these two lenses and having a hard time deciding. Is it worth the extra $1000.00 to buy the Canon over the Tamron. Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Zoom Lens and the Tamron SP 24-70mm Di VC USD Lens for Canon EOS.

ziggy53 · July 14, 2012

The Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 DI VC USD is, I believe, only Tamron's second lens to have their version of an "ultrasonic" autofocus drive motor (following the Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD). Large, 82mm, filter size may be an issue for some. It's also extremely new, with few reviews. The Tamron lenses manually focus in the opposite direction from Canon lenses, ala Nikon lenses.

It's one of Tamron's most costly lenses, but still less than the Canon equivalent, and it has the Tamron optical stabilization.

I do like the Tamron lens color rendition, with a little more warmth that seems suited for both people photography and for many landscape opportunities.

Tamron lens construction is somewhat less than Canon "L" lenses, but still quite good. Durability of this particular lens is a complete unknown, because of the new technologies.

Early reviews are mostly positive with regard to image quality and focus accuracy.

paddler4 · July 14, 2012

I've been wondering about this too, although I think it is unlikely in the end that I will take the plunge for either. I think I will stick with my Tamron 28-75. If I remember right, there are already a few reviews online that do A/B comparisons of the two you are considering. So far, it looks to me as though the extra $$ for the Canon is not worth it, but there are still not a lot of data.

lifeinfocus · July 14, 2012

MassUnknowledged wrote: »

I've been looking at these two lenses and having a hard time deciding. Is it worth the extra $1000.00 to buy the Canon over the Tamron. Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Zoom Lens and the Tamron SP 24-70mm Di VC USD Lens for Canon EOS.

Cool! I posted a similar thread early this morning about the same question, only for Nikon.

Phil

JasonMorrowPhoto · July 14, 2012

Yeah, I've decided I'm going to a local camera shop and I'm going to test shoot both lenses and compare shots.

JasonMorrowPhoto · July 16, 2012

Now to make things even more difficult, my good friend wants me to shoot his wedding. Now I have to figure out what lens(s) to get to do this now. By the way the len(s) are on his dime. :-)

ziggy53 · July 16, 2012

I presume that this is using the Canon 50D body?

My event lens lineup for Canon crop 1.6x/APS-C:

Sigma 10-20mm, f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Canon EF-S 17-55mm, f/2.8 IS USM
Canon EF 70-200mm, f/2.8L USM
Canon EF 50mm, f1.4 USM
Canon EF 135mm, f2L USM

The Sigma super-wide zoom is for establish shots, exteriors, some groups and small spaces.

The Canon 17-55mm, f2.8 is the standard zoom, which covers most of the before the wedding (getting ready, etc.), and then most of the candids and reception images.

The Canon 70-200mm, f2.8 is for larger events when there just isn't time to get everywhere at the same time. Generally used on a second body. Also nice for some outdoor formals.

The primes are mostly for during the ceremony and for formals, when DOF control is critical or when I want the background to blur more quickly.

A number of flashes, along with appropriate flash modifiers, and proper use of the flashes, is vital to most wedding and event photography. You need to understand key and fill lighting, as well as proper off-camera flash techniques.

Bring at least 2 flashes, and be intimate with their usage. Be intimate with all of your equipment, because a wedding is fast and furious. The bride and groom never allow enough time for photography, so you really need to coach them on how much time to allow for each segment.

Don't even consider doing a wedding without a second body. Don't consider doing a wedding without some experience.

Hard time deciding.

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