Product Description

With the advent of the latest 15X zoom lens from Tamron, the pioneer of high power zoom lenses, the high power zoom lens has steadily evolved from a 7.1X to a 10.7X to a 13.9X and now to the worlds largest zoom ratio of 15X by combining advanced high power zoom design technologies accumulated by Tamron since 1992. The lens covers an angle of view equivalent to that of a 28mm wideangle to a 419mm ultra telephoto with just one lens, letting the user capture once-in-the-lifetime images of panoramic landscape images or close-up pictures of children smiling, without having to get too close to the subject and without having to change lenses.

Product Details

• Brand: Tamron
• Model: 18-270mm Canon
• Dimensions: 3.20" h x 3.20" w x 3.80" l, 1.00 pounds

Features

• AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC (Vibration Compensation) Tamron zoom lens
• Built-in vibration compensation for blur-free photos
• Low-dispersion glass and hybrid aspherical glass elements for superior image quality
• optical zoom ratio: 15X (approximately)
• Minimum focus distance: 19.3"

Amazon.com Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description Camera shake can ruin your photos, particularly when taking telephoto shots or shooting in low light conditions. The Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 macro zoom lens, however, fights camera shake with its state-of-the-art vibration compensation (VC) mechanism, which delivers blur-free handheld images for incredible results. The proprietary VC mechanism employs a three-coil system that moves the VC lens electromagnetically based on signals originating from the movement of three steel balls. The lens element that compensates for vibration is held in place by the balls, so there is little friction and the movement is quite smooth. The end result is a technology that makes it possible to create exceptional images at slower shutter speeds under conditions where a tripod used to be necessary. You can also use subject movement to good effect with the lens, bringing out the contrast between motion and stillness, or shoot without a flash to evoke the genuine atmosphere of the scene.

The lens covers an extremely broad range of focal lengths, from an extra-wide 18mm length to a telephoto 270mm length (the 35mm equivalent of 28mm to 419mm). The resulting 15x zoom ratio is the world's largest, representing a wide cross section of Tamron high-power zoom design technologies. Plus, the vibration compensation works throughout the entire zoom range, giving you the freedom to create a wide variety of images. The lens lets users capture once-in-a-lifetime panoramic landscape images or close-up pictures of children smiling, all without getting too close to the subject or changing lenses. Other details include a macro magnification range of 1:3.5, a minimum focusing distance of 19.3 inches, and a 72mm filter diameter. The lens, which measures 3.1 inches in diameter and 3.9 inches long, carries a six-year warranty.

Customer Reviews

For the price and what it offers, one of the best lenses in its category
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3PNXIZMMHLGC9 Tamron's new lens offers a 15X zoom range, the most you will find for a DSLR. But do you have to give up too much image quality as a result? I was looking for a lens for travel and for casual shots that could replace my need for both wide angle through the telephoto range and hopefully replace several other lenses that I typically have to bring with me.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this new lens, it did better than I was expecting. The quality of the photos is almost on par as my Canon 70-300mm (but of course not my 70-200 f/2.8) with a much more usable range for an everyday lens. I also tend to have back problems, so the less weight I carry on vacations, the better!

A few negatives: the lens does not zoom smoothly through its whole range, particularly when zooming from wide to tele, and you only have f/6.3 when fully zoomed (common with superzooms). The zoom was nice and tight when I got the lens (as shown in the video) but after a few weeks of use, it creeps pretty badly. The lens hood is fairly small, may not work as well at the 150mm+ range (but nice that they include one at all!) Also a typical issue for super zooms, as the hood has to be designed to minimize vignetting at the wide end. No full-time manual focus, which I don't use enough typically to be bothered about. The focus ring is located at the front of the lens and it's pretty easy to switch back and forth and use it as needed, but this is definitely not a great lens for using manual focus on. Some distortion in images at both ends as you would expect for a super-zoom, the barrel distortion at the wide end in particular is fairly obvious, but correctable in most situations. CA and vignetting on my copy are reasonable for a lens in this price range, with CA most apparent at the upper end of the range. Macro feature is nice to have, but somewhat underwhelming performance and certainly no substitute for a true macro lens. The lens has a nice, solid feel to it, while still being fairly lightweight. I've used the Canon 70-300mm DO lens in the past which was comparable to this in size, but MUCH heavier. The focus is fairly quiet as well, not USM quiet, but considerably better than some other off-brand lenses I've used. As I usually find with off-brand lenses, the autofocus is not quite as fast and accurate as Canon lenses, but it seems considerably better than some other Tamron lenses I've used and not enough to be a problem for casual use.

I give the lens 5 stars, not because it takes the greatest photos you will ever see, but because it is the first super-zoom I have tried that performs good enough that I am willing to use it, as a best-in-its-class lens. It's a perfect lens in particular for any new DSLR owner that can't afford to invest thousands in really high quality and/or multiple lenses, or for someone like me that is often limited in the equipment they can carry at one time. The lack of smoothness in the zoom ring and the creep are the primary annoyances for me, but I've yet to use a long telephoto lens in this price range that doesn't creep, so hard to be really tough on it for that. I wouldn't use it as my primary sports lens (my f/2.8 will do that job far better) nor as an architectural wide angle lens but for a general all-purpose casual lens, it's got a great feature set and well worth considering.

A technical marvel
I've had mine for three weeks now and have taken several hundred pictures under a wide range of conditions. I read all the reviews here and on other sites, both for Canon and Nikon mounts before I made a purchase. I hope to compare and contrast my experiences with what I've read here and on other review sites. My camera body is a Canon XTi.

I read some reviews that complained of chromatic aberration (CA). Yes, there is some at the edges, at some focal lengths and apertures. If you look at the test results ([...]) you will see that the lens performs excellently at around f-6.7 to f-8. Almost no CA and excellent sharpness. This lens simply wants to run best at about f-8. So, I've taken to using my camera in Av mode at f-8 when I'm using this lens. Excellent results with no visible CA.

I read some reviews that complained of 'softness' of the images in some situations. This is attributable to two issues. One is that if you let the camera program mode choose an aperture, you may get a very high number. At very high-number apertures (f-16+) the lens is limited in sharpness, not by any design fault, but by a basic law of physics. It's near the diffraction limit for that aperture. The second issue is that at long focal lengths the adaptive multi-point auto-focus algorithms mess up. If you're not watching carefully they may focus on a bush that's 50 feet away leaving the landscape that you were trying to capture out of focus. Blame the camera and not the lens. What I've been doing is using spot focus at longer focal lengths. Focus lock on what is supposed to be in focus and then frame the scene. Do that, and run Av mode at f-8 so you don't get high f-numbers, and 'softness' will not be an issue.

I've read some complaints of slowness or inconsistency of focus. This seems to come mainly from Nikon owners. For me, it focuses very quickly and quietly under all lighting situations. No problems at all. I've taken it out on a dark night and pointed it at a star and had focus lock within two seconds. I think the issue is more related to the focus algorithms running in the microprocessor in the camera body than to the lens itself. With my Canon XTi, I couldn't ask for better performance.

I've read complaints of 'lens creep'. That's the tendency of long-focal-length lenses to extend to their maximum focal length when hanging down, due to the weight of the front elements of the lens. Mine doesn't do it, yet. This could develop in the future. I don't expect it to be an issue, though. There's a simple lug that can lock the lens at the short focal length for carrying. While shooting I tend to support the weight of the camera and lens with my hand on the lens, and use the other hand on the body to work the controls and point. So lens 'lens creep' would not be an issue.

I've read some complaints of inconsistent force on the zoom ring required to zoom through the entire range. That's true. It does take a bit more force to zoom between the 70mm to about 120mm range. It's noticeable, and I wish it wasn't there, but I know why that is. Somewhere about 70mm the cams in the zoom mechanism go into a range where large amounts of extension occur with small zoom ring movement. While it's not desirable, it's also not at all a problem.

This lens is heavy, especially if you're used to the kit 18-55 lens. You'll get used to it and you'll be delighted if you're a Canon owner. If you're a Nikon owner you may have issues with focus in low light.

All-in-all I'm quite happy with the purchase and I don't hesitate to recommend this lens. But, to be really happy with it, you have to understand the compromises that are part of its design and how to work around them.

Had to return
Update:

I've found that the lens consistantly back focuses when shooting close-up at 270mm. It's unfortunate because otherwise I think the lens performs well. But I can't live with a lens that can't focus correctly. I don't know if this is a function of the design or just this copy. Either way, I'll have to return it.



First thoughts:

1. The lens is smaller than I thought, based on initial comments I read. It's much smaller (at 18mm) than my 17-55IS.

2. The focus ring moves smoothly in manual mode.
3. The VC does jump a bit at first but stabilizes quickly

4. The zoom seemed a bit stiff when I first tried it but I didn't notice it when actually shooting.

5. The zoom ring moves in the opposite direction as my canon lenses!

6. There is significant distortion at 18mm -- no big surprise. But at 35mm, I noticed an unusual distortion as well. This isn't a lens for architecture images.

7. The lens produces warmer images than my canon lenses.

8. Looking at my first few images, they look pretty good at 50% crop. At 100%, you can see issues. But I don't expect a lens of this range to be perfect at 100%.