Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 AF

Name: Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 AF
Brand: Tamron
Rating: 7.4 (16 reviews)

Tweet Share

Lens Reviews / Tamron Lenses i Lab tested

Navigate Review Jump to review page...

Navigate Review Jump to review page...
Lens Review
Specifications

70-300mm	$190 average price

Lab Test Results

Sub-frame
Full-frame

Blur
Chromatic Aberration
Vignetting
Geometric Distortion

Blur
Chromatic Aberration
Vignetting
Geometric Distortion

Your purchases support this site

Canon EF - Black

Canon EF - Black
Nikon F - Black
Pentax K - Black
Sony A-mount - Black

(From Tamron lens literature) Tamron now offers a lightweight, compact, high-image-quality telephoto zoom lens with macro capability of 1:2 that can be used with digital cameras. This new lens is a Di type lens using an optical system with improved multi-coating designed to function with digital SLR cameras as well as film cameras.

With this 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, flipping a macro switch in the focal length range of 180mm to 300mm obtains a maximum magnification ratio of 1:2 at a minimum focus distance as short as 37.4", enabling close-up shots of flowers, insects, and other objects that normally require the use of a specially designed macro lens. Moreover, this is a zoom lens that casually offers the distant capture and foreshortening effect pleasures of the 300mm ultra-telephoto world.

Note: On January 21, 2008, Tamron announced a Nikon version (part number A17NII) will be available with built-in motor for AF compatibility with all Nikon DSLRs including D40 and D40x.

Test Notes

A telephoto zoom is often the first lens amateur photographers add to their kit after purchasing an SLR. The ability to reach out and bring distant subjects up close is immensely appealing, and essential for many subjects. The 70-300mm focal length range was a traditional one in the film days, covering a range from relatively short to fairly long focal lengths. In the digital world (with its smaller sensor sizes), this lens roughly translates to a 105-450mm zoom, pretty long by any standard. The Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 AF is very appealingly priced for novice users, and throws in surprising macro capability as a bonus. But how did it handle our battery of tests? Read on for all the results!

Sharpness
As is often the case with inexpensive lenses, this entry-level Tamron is somewhat soft when used wide open. It becomes very soft as you approach the 300mm end of its zoom range. Closing the aperture by one stop improves matters greatly though, delivering respectable sharpness from 70 to about 180mm, while results at 300mm remain fairly soft. Closing down by two f-stops produces slight additional improvements, but results at 300mm never approach what we'd call sharp. Many photographers will find this lens usable over a range from 70-200mm, but most will probably find images shot at 300mm on the soft side. (On the other hand, with a street price well under $200, it may be the only way for many amateurs to afford a lens that long, so some softness can perhaps be forgiven.)

Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic aberration is quite reasonable from 70-180mm, and very good in the vicinity of 100mm. As with blur though, chromatic aberration becomes quite pronounced at 300mm, particularly in the corners of the frame.

Shading ("Vignetting")
Here we can see one benefit of using a lens with a 35mm image circle on a digital SLR with a sub-frame sensor: Light falloff in the corners of the frame is very low by any measure, and absolutely excellent one stop down from maximum aperture.

Distortion
As with shading, so went distortion: The Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 showed relatively slight pincushion distortion across most of its zoom range, switching to very slight barrel distortion at 70mm.

AF Operation
AF speed is one area where the Tamron 70-300mm's bargain construction shows: It's downright leisurely, particularly as the focus point is approached, where it seemed to "gear down" on our 5D body. That said though, it almost always went right to the proper focus setting, only rarely "hunting" back and forth. This lens wouldn't be a first choice for situations requiring high focusing speed. That is, it might do fine for a sport like baseball, where the action frequently happens at certain well-defined locations (the bases), but would likely struggle with a sport with wide-ranging action like soccer or football.

Manual focus adjustment is pretty smooth, with a decent range of travel that makes it easy to home in on the precise focus point you need. The focus ring moves so easily though, that it's easily jostled from its setting by a casual touch.

The macro setting on this lens is restricted to use between 180 and 300mm, unfortunately the range where the lens is at its softest. Note that the macro/normal switch, focusing ring, and zoom collar are all interlocked, so you have to have the zoom set to between 180 and 300mm before you can switch into macro, and you won't be able to switch back out again until you move the focus ring outside the macro range. (This could cause some confusion if you weren't expecting it, a case where reading the manual (or this review) might be helpful. At 300mm, the minimum working distance is just over three feet (just under one meter), a pretty long working distance that can either be a benefit or limitation, depending on the subject you happen to be photographing. At that distance, it takes in a subject area a bit under three inches wide on a full-frame camera, correspondingly less on a sub-frame model.

Build Quality and Handling
For an inexpensive lens, the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 felt surprisingly solid and operated quite smoothly. As noted above, we'd actually like just a little more resistance in the focus ring, but the zoom ring worked very smoothly, and with just the right amount of resistance: It was stiffer than many zooms in this respect, but the upside is that it showed virtually no tendency toward "zoom creep" when the camera was held with the lens pointing straight up or down. Overall, the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 felt better than we'd normally expect from a lens with such a low street price, a pleasant surprise in the handling department.

The Competition
As of this writing (early February, 2007), we haven't tested any lenses in this focal length range from the camera manufacturers, nor any competing models in the same price bracket from other third-party manufacturers. The lenses most Canon or Nikon DSLR owners will probably consider against this Tamron model are the 55-200mm lenses from the respective camera makers. Priced slightly higher than the Tamron 70-300mm the Canon EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM is also a full-frame lens, although we only tested it on a sub-frame body. (It was one of the first lenses we tested, before we began using the EOS-5D for full-frame tests.) It's actually quite close to the Tamron unit's performance in many areas, although the Tamron is a fair bit sharper, even at 300mm than the Canon is at 200mm. Chromatic aberration is roughly similar on both lenses, although the Canon does noticeably better in the middle of its focal length range. Distortion and shading are quite similar between the two optics, so the Tamron probably gets the overall nod for its combination of lower price, longer focal length range, and somewhat better sharpness from 180-300mm.

In the Nikon camp, the Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED AF-S DX is a reduced image-circle lens build specifically for digital SLRs with sub-frame sensors. It's moderately sharper than the Tamron across its focal length range, and has lower chromatic aberration at large apertures, but similar CA when you stop down. Distortion and shading are both quite a bit higher than in the Tamron model though, so the Tamron again probably gets the nod, although the better sharpness of the Nikon lens is appealing.

Conclusion
While there are a few standout bargains to be found, the lens world is much like the rest of life: There's no free lunch, you tend to get what you pay for. It's thus no surprise that lenses as inexpensive as the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 don't perform as well a those costing three or four times as much. Within its price bracket though, this Tamron competes quite strongly against the camera makers' own offerings, delivering as good or better image quality, a long zoom range, decent build quality, all at an exceptional price. If you need a long zoom on a tight budget, the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 AF is worth a close look.

Full-Frame Test Notes:

Sharpness
The larger pixels of our full-frame Canon EOS-5D test bed make for somewhat better blur performance. We were surprised by how well the lens did in the corners of the frame, where we often see increased softness at the edges of a lens' image circle. A surprisingly good performance, as long as your camera's pixels are large enough.

Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic aberration was also somewhat better on the 5D, although it did get a little high at maximum telephoto.

Shading ("Vignetting")
While the Tamron 70-300mm's blur characteristics held up quite well on the 5D's larger sensor, shading was another matter. There was a full 1/2 stop of light falloff in the corners at all focal lengths, decreasing as the aperture was stopped down. One stop down cut the falloff about in half, two stops brought it down to a pretty low level.

Distortion
There's once again very slight barrel distortion at 70mm, but that quickly changes to rather pronounced pincushion distortion as you zoom. You may not notice this much on landscape or nature shots containing few straight lines, but shots of buildings or other man-made objects will show pronounced curvature where straight edges run parallel to the edges of the frame.

Conclusion
While the larger pixels on our full-frame EOS-5D test bed helped some aspects of this lens' performance, its distortion and vignetting become quite high when you ask it to cover the full 35mm frame. Stopped down, it might do in a pinch, but if you've invested in a full-frame camera, you should probably make the extra investment in quality glass to get the most from it.