Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC LD Lens

Description: Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC LD Lens

Despite a few other imperfections from the Tammy 18-270mm lens. I haven't been able to get the lens to creep as depicted by other reviewers of this lens, but the zoom is erratic and somewhat rough. In fact, I ended up pointing the lens up when zooming in and down when zooming out again. Autofocus is really slow and hesitant indoors and a few times, it just wouldn't even focus period. Other than than that, I'd like to talk about the things I did like.

If you need a low light lens, this isn't it. If your primary objective is to take pictures in low light situation such as weddings and concerts, in the 18-200mm range you need 2 lenses, get the 18-50mm f/2.8 Sigma or Tamron 17-50 VC and a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens instead.

I was able to get some results with this lens that I haven't been able to achieve with any other solitary lens. The image quality is right on and definitely sufficient for shooting travel , sports, and other creative photography. I haven't been able to experience any soft focus anywhere along the zoom range. I'm getting nothing but razor sharp pictures. Now I admit, I'm not pixel peeper, and I found the flexibility and utility of this zoom lens to be worthwhile putting some extra effort into the zoom and doing some manual focusing. That's still much better in my opinion than lugging around multiple lenses and swapping them out in the field. Just keep in mind, there's truly nothing else comparable this lens available and a few compromising sacrifices must be accepted for the groundbreaking engineering. This lens needs to be judged by it's actions and not in comparing it to some other lens.

I know, some of you will go ahead and form an opinion of this lens compared to other lenses (I expect that truly is the whole point of reviewing products). Now the most logical comparison would be with the Nikon18-55mm kit lens and the 55-200mm VR Nikon. as a unit. Both of these lenses have good quality and performance, but combined they cannot replicate the abilities of the 18-270mm Tammy. The optical quality does not appear detectably different. And quite candidly, the Vibration Compensation (VC) of the Tammy is relatively superior to the Nikon VR feature, even though I enjoy the 55-200mm VR and I gave Nikon 18-200mm lens some thought, I'm fond of the Tamron lens owing to the additional range of the long zoom end.

The lens has a good feel and appears to be well built. It is mostly covered by the rubber grip and there is no plastic feel. The lens features an internal motor necessary for auto focusing on the D40/D60/D3000/D5000 cameras,

The lens does show some signs of minor chromatic aberration towards the upper zoom end. This is not a foremost issue for most people one would need to be really looking to find traces of it. If you're using your photography in competition or charging for your images, it could be of more concern you would probably be shooting a D700 or D3 with prime lenses attached to fulfill these undertakings. Until that point in time, the Tammy will make you very happy and recommend it without reservations.

Superzoom
The term hyperzoom or superzoom is used to promote photographic zoom lenses with unconventionally large focal length factors, typically more than 4Χ and ranging up to 15Χ, e.g., 35 mm to 350 mm. The largest ratio for digital SLR cameras is held by the Tamron 18–270 mm, giving 15Χ. Some Digital Camera Review by Gene Wrights have even larger zoom ratios up to 35Χ. For movie and television use, Panavision holds the record with their 300X HD Lens.  Jan 16, 2011

Following is a list of superzoom lenses, used for 135 format in SLRs or for APS format in DSLRs. The minimal factor used here is 5Χ or more. A 28–200 mm has a 75° to 12.3° angle of view, a 28–300 mm (or an 18–200 mm for an APS DSLR) has an 11.1x 75° to 8.2°

• Tamron macro lens series
The Tamron macro lens series produce sharp images against soft out-of-focus backgrounds.

• Aspherical Lens - a lens whose curved surface does not conform to the shape of a sphere. An aspheric element is often called an aspherical lens. 

• Di-II Series Design
Design has been improved by adding a gold-colored band between the focus and zoom rings to enhance the appearance and make it stand out as a Di-II lens.

• Low Dispersion lens elements
(LD Glass to reduce chromatic aberration for sharper images) Aspherical - contains aspherical elements (compensates for spherical aberration and distortion

• VC - Vibration Compensation.
Tamron’s proprietary tri-axial Vibration Compensation (VC) mechanism that minimizes the effects of handheld camera shake.

• World's first and greatest zoom ratio of 15X, covering 28-419mm 35mm-equivalent angle of view

• Minimum focusing distance of 19.3" over the entire zoom range for the max. mag. ratio of 1:3.5

• Optical system optimized for digital SLR cameras by taking incident rays of light reaching the image sensor into consideration

• High resolution performance

• Zoom lock mechanism for convenience in carrying the outfit

• Flower-shaped lens hood as a standard accessory

• New outer design matches the newest generation high power zoom lens in the digital era

Flower-shaped Lens Hood - Tamron U.S.A. 6-Year Warranty