Introduction Tamron has its three newly-announced full frame lenses on show at CP+ in Yokohama. It's a slight odd setup, though. You can look at the lenses in a glass cabinet or you can handle rather more rudimentary samples, with no marking on their switches and their names stick on with labelling tape.
Thankfully we were able to convince Tamron to let us photograph the more complete versions.
Tamron SP 35mm F1. 4 Di USD
The SP 35mm F1. 4 Di USD [Model F045] is the company's latest fast prime for Canon and Nikon DSLRs. It's designed for full frame and arrives as a higher-end alternative to its stabilized 35mm F1. 8 VC. It uses a conventional ring-type USD (ultrasonic drive) focus motor.
Tamron SP 35mm F1. 4 Di USD
The SP 35mm F1. 4 is fairly long lens but isn't excessively wide. The company promises you get the image quality to justify the size. Tamron suggests it's suitable for 'nearly every photographic genre, including photojournalism, landscape, sports, street life, wedding groups and family snapshots,' which is a pretty wide range.
Among the best 35s
Despite its fairly modest proportions (by modern standards, at least), Tamron seems bullish about the SP 35mm's performance, saying it should by the best of its type. We were certainly impressed by how smooth and solid everything felt, when we handled it. Not a bad way to mark the 40th anniversary of the SP series.
Tamron 35-150mm F2. 8-4 Di VC OSD
The Tamron 35-150mm F2. 8-4 Di VC OSD [Model A043] is an interesting and somewhat unfamiliar concept: a full-frame lens extending from slightly wide-angle to moderate telepoto focal lengths, while retaining a semi-fast maximum aperture. Tamron describes it as a 'Portrait Zoom. '
35-150mm F2. 8-4: a 'portrait zoom'
It's about half the size of a 70-200mm F2. 8, and still shorter even when extended, which should make it easy both to carry and to handle. Interestingly, the company says all its functions will remain available when adapted to a mirrorless camera. The sample we saw is fairly early, so we haven't been able to get a sense for the speed or sound of the 'Optimized Silent Drive' micromotor.
35-150mm F2. 8-4: handy for APS-C?
Although Tamron doesn't mention its use on APS-C cameras, we reckon the 52. 5-225mm equivalent range it would offer on a Nikon APS-C DSLR, long with the F4. 2-6 equiv maximum aperture could be fairly interesting for a range of shooting situations. It wouldn't offer especially shallow depth-of-field, but might make a temptingly portable midway point between a variable-aperture 55-200mm and the significantly higher cost of a 70-200mm lens, depending on how Tamron prices it.
Tamron 17-28mm F2. 8 Di III RXD
The final lens we got to see what Tamron's wide-angle F2. 8 zoom for Sony's E-mount cameras. The 17-28mm F2. 8 Di III RXD is a full-frame zoom that makes a lot of sense alongside the relatively small 28-75mm F/2. 8 Di III RXD that's one of our favorite lenses for FE-mount Sonys.
Tamron 17-28mm F2. 8 - a compact wide-angle
The Model A046 is based around the same 'Rapid eXtra-silent stepping Drive' focus motor used in the 28-75mm, so should be both quick and quiet. The lens itself is a touch shorter than its normal zoom counterpart but otherwise resembles it pretty closely. The biggest difference is that, unlike the 28-75mm, the 17-28mm F2. 8 doesn't extend when you zoom.
. dpreview.com2019-3-2 13:00
