Tamron AF 28300mm f/3.56.3 XR Di LD VC

Solid lens perfect for travel
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’m an enthusiast and owned only Nikon lenses, including 14-24mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4, and 70-200mm f2.8, prior to acquiring this Tamron AF 28-300mm VC lens. I’ve been looking for a decent walk-around lens for quite a while, and came by this Tamron lens accidentally. With the price was quite reasonable, and its VC feature, I decided to give it a try. Overall, I was quite impressed and satisfied with the image quality & convenience of this lens. The VC does work, and the lens size is compact enough for travel, while it still supports the full-frame camera that I operate. There were few minor issues, such as the noise when VC was on, and the much slower auto-focus compared to Nikon lenses. However, once I got to know & handle the lens better, those issues were not so critical to me. Plus, I can always switch it back to my reliable Nikon 50mm f1.4 when needed. In conclusion, Tamron 28-300mm VC is not as smart as Nikon lenses (Nikon 18-200mm VR is still the best option if you don’t need a full-frame camera), but it’s definitely a good buy with its high cost-performance ratio.

A lens for all situations
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
That is how I like to think of this lens. No matter what the situation or lighting, I can make this lens work.

It was a major revelation for me: I was at a point in my photography where I had rejected all other lenses in favor of the much vaunted Canon “L” class lenses (which are wonderful and wickedly expensive). Yes indeed, call me what you will; lens snob, optical bigot, glass gas-bag – whatever.

I confess my mind was closed until I came across the Tamron 28-300mm. It debunked for me the myth that only “L” class lenses produced great pictures (that is a self-effacing statement in-itself as I would like to believe that my vision and creativity have something to do with the process…. but back to the Tamron) and I came to accept this as fact until a friend of mine lent me this lens to use as a walkabout lens. I was impressed enough after one week to buy this lens. The truth be told that of all the lenses I have (and that is quite a few) the best pictures I have ever taken were taken with this lens.

Pros in plain english:

It is a light lens and compact (hence a great walkabout lens) and when compared with the Canon 70-300, so much lighter and overall better feel and action.

At first I did not like the lens lock but once you get used to it, it’s a great asset. Gravity will extend the lens if you tilt the camera down without the lock-tab activated.

The VR image stabilization is as good as any Canon lens.

Autofocus is fast and quiet.

At f/3.5, you have a lot of versatility with lighting, ISO, shutter speeds that you would not have with a f/5.6, but that seems fairly obvious and yet it makes the difference in many great shots.

Cons:

I don’t like the center pinch lens cap. It’s an innovative design but often doesn’t hold unless you get it “just right”.

The manual focus ring is as poorly placed as it is on most Canon lenses. A minor inconvience.

At maximum focal range the lens does tend to perform its worst. That is not true of all telephoto lenses.

If you’re a premium lens snob, try this lens, rent it and I think you will buy it.

After all, for photographers, what price can any of us put on such versatility?

Very Satisfied
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this as a used item, but it arrived packed in the original box and wraping and looked like new. It came as scheduled and I would use this supplier again without question.

Great all around lens
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Great range of photo possibilities !

VC works very good. This is the highiest point here.

Not a fast focus in low light.

Amazing sharp pictures can be achieved if properly used.

Highly recommend this lens for practical purposes if you travel a lot.

Great and versitile lens with only a few flaws
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have this lens on my Nikon D80. Was going to get the Nikon 18-200 but the image quality on that lens is disappointing. The Tamron 28-300VC has proved to be extremely versatile. I took it to the zoo and it was perfect! The VC is very loud and clunky sounding. It’ll take some getting used to but it’s not so bad. Panning is nice because it doesn’t have the delay you get form the Nikon 70-300VR.

As for build quality, it’s a tamron so it’s plastic. There is tons of lens creep after the first few weeks but there is a little latch to hold the lens at 28mm (I need to use it or else it’ll creep). It’s also a reasonable macro lens as well.

My only real gripe is with the autofocus. It is SLOW. If you shoot a Nikon AF-S, you will think this is slow. The initial focus is pretty close but then it takes a bunch of baby steps to lock onto the final focus. When I’m indoors shooting f4.5 or below, it takes about 1-2 seconds to focus. When it’s even darker, sometimes 4-6 seconds! I know i’m pushing the lens but my kit lenses could do much better. You can read more about the slow focusing ability of the new Tamrons with micromotors online.

I would recommend this lens but gave it 4/5 stars instead of 5 because of the slow autofocus. Otherwise, given the price, quality, versatility and weight, it’d definitely be a 5.

Thanks.

LOVE the range
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The 28-300 zoom range on this lens made my recent trip to Alaska a real joy to photograph! In the past, I have had to switch between two lenses, over and over and over again to get the pictures that I wanted.

I LOVE It!

Great all-around lens
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
When I traded my Canon 50D for the 5D Mark II, I had to surrender all my EF-s lenses and the Tamron 18-270 VC that had been my “walk around” lens. I had found this 18-270 to be better built than the Canon 18-200, so, based on this experience, it was only natural to add the Tamron 28-300 VC lens to my camera bag.

My first usage coincided with a 3 week visit to England that is only now ending. I packed both my Canon 24-105 L f/4 and the Tamron 28-300. I used both about 50% of the time with the 24-105 for close encounters inside castles and cathedrals where the extra wide angle was needed as well as the low light capturing of the f/4 aperture.

While it has been said that comparing a Canon “L” to other less costly lenses is like comparing caviar and hot dogs, I could not see any differences in the computer files that I posted to our travel web site. I’ll examine the differences more closely when I get back home and begin making prints and putting together the book that will be published next year.

I am impressed with the smooth zooming of the Tamron compared with the somewhat sticky motion of the Canon. Of course, this is why there is a lock on the Tamron and I usually click it closed when walking around – otherwise, the barrel extends to the full 300mm setting and is awkward. The lock lever on this 28-300 is much easier to use than the lock on the 18-270 (which was a bit sticky and took a lot of coaxing to activate). So, I would say the build quality of the 28-300 is even better than the 18-270. Focus is very quick and the focus motor noise is not objectionable.

Tamron has done a very nice job of building a great super zoom, universal lens that meets my needs, is not too heavy and appears to make great images.

Exceptional compact walk-around lens with great range at reasonable price.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have owned and tested the Tamron 28-300mm VC zoom lens for about 2 months now. Here is an early review from my experience so far.

Pros:

Excellent optical quality (stronger at shorter focal length)

Versatile multi-purpose walk around lens. Leave this one on your camera and no need to lug around extra lenses.

Amazing focal length range 28-300 equals to 44-480 on 1.6x crop sensor.

Compact size and light weight.

Vibration compensation works very well zoomed out and in macro shots

Solid and well built quality

Rubberize grip feels much better then most Canon lenses

Reasonable price relative to comparable lenses

Included hood

Center-pinch lens cap should be an industry standard.

Extra peace of mind with standard 6 year manufacturer warranty

Cons:

Wider angle would be nice on a 1.6x crop sensor. If you shoot a lot of landscapes 44mm may not be enough.

In low light, indoor conditions, the f3.5-6.3 aperture means I have to increase the ISO and use longer shutter speeds to shoot brighter.

Occasionally, the AF searches a bit in low light shooting

Not a big deal but, the lens creeps (extends with gravity) when lens lock is off and the lens is pointing down.

In conclusion, the Tamron AF 28-300mm VC lens is an exceptional choice if you are looking for a general walk around lens to keep on your camera. You can not beat the optical performance with such range from a relatively compact, light and well-built package, especially considering the price.

Very good general purpose lens
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have been using this lens for about a month and I am very satisfied with it. The sharpness of the photographs is more than adequate for my needs and the VC works great. I routinely take photographs down to 1/8 which come out very sharp. When I need a flexible lens that will rapidly switch between wide angle and telephoto, this is the one I use.

Pros –

1. Huge range. I find my photographs are reasonably sharp at all focal lenths.

2. The VC works fantastic and truly allows you to capture photographs at much slower shutter speeds.

3. The build feels very solid.

4. Your options for a lens in this range are very limited. For the price and functionality I feel this is a very good lens.

5. The macro functionality works very well. It is not as good as a dedicated macro lens, but again, it is very nice to have the feature in an all-in-one lens.

Cons –

1. Without flash, this is not a practical indoors lens if your subjects are moving. For stationary objects the VC makes this an acceptable indoor lens.

2. The autofocus is not fast enough for photographing sports or other quick moving subjects.

3. There is a catch when zooming around 250mm. When the lens is at 300mm and you zoom back, the lens encounters resistence around 250mm and feels like it is stuck. At first I thought there was something wrong, but I have decided it is just a quirk that I need to get used to.

I gave four stars because it is has some minor drawbacks, most of which I knew before I purchased it. To get five stars the next version needs to autofocus faster. Constant f/2.8 would be nice also, but you can’t expect that in a lens covering this range at this price. In fact, there is no lens on the market covering this range that has constant f/2.8.

perfect deal
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Absolutely perfect lens. Useful size and weight. Vibration Compensation excellent. Makes best pictures even in the dark. I love it.

Tamron AF 28-300 lens
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The 28/ 300 Tamron lens is both small in size and lightweight. I understand it to be the smallest and lightest zoom lens in its class. Its focal length ranges from 28mm in wide angle to 300mm ultra telephoto – outstanding.

The lens is easy to operate and fairly priced for what you get. It has an anti-shake mechanism which is activated once you push the shutter button half-way. I have found this anti-shake (Vibration Compensatiuon) feature to be extremely beneficial and have taken excellent telephoto shots without a tripod. The lens features a lock which prevents the lens from fully extending when you are walking and not shooting – nice feature. The lens has two rubberized rings which are appropriately placed and make it easy to quickly zoom in (or out) on a subject.

The underlying question to all reviews is “Would you buy it again?” Absolutely!!

Average lens
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I had such high hopes for this lens. However, I’ve learned that if specifications on paper seem too good to be true, it often is. The image quality, is a disappointment. Perhaps the copy I received was not sharp, but you can’t honestly expect a lens with this much range to be without trade offs. Overall the images were soft, and dull. Once the zoom exceeds 200, chromatic aberrations became heavy, and distortions were pretty bad.

Tamron’s VC system genuinely works well, and it’s “lock on target” approach feels really satisfying. I hope they integrate the system into future lenses.

I’ve returned the lens, and since picked up the canon 70-200 f4 L lens. The canon wins, though I can’t call this a fair comparison. The only thing they have in common is their price.

Poor image quality
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I had high hopes for this lens, and indeed it feels very good on the camera. The Vibration Compensation works great and the zoom range is exactly what I was looking for.

Unfortunately, it was really hard to take good picture with it! Most of the images were very soft and I never figured out the magic formula to make them better.

And just so you don’t think I’m one of those “L” glass snobs, I’m comparing the pictures to the 18-55mm kit lens that came with my Rebel XT! When a $600 lens can’t take as good of pictures as a $100 kit lens, you know there is trouble.

At first I thought it might be a focus problem, but I took some test images against a grid of graph paper and the focal plane was right where I expected it to be.

Then I thought that maybe the VC was tricking me into thinking I was taking better shots indoors than I really was, since people move around even when the camera isn’t. Certainly I think this was part of the problem as the VC lets you hand-hold down to somewhere around 1/10 second exposures. But people have to hold really still not to come out soft at that speed. Anyway, that didn’t tell the entire story as I also took a bunch of shots outside in good light with fast shutter speeds, and it didn’t help very much.

My theory is that it is just too difficult to make a lens that covers such a diverse zoom range with sharp results. The only other one I know of that might be able to do it successfully is a Canon “L” lens, and that one costs $2300!

So for now, I’m giving up my dream of having a do-it-all superzoom lens (I returned this one) and instead bought a faster lens — the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8, because my kids can’t sit still for pictures! It was $200 cheaper than the 28-300, and takes much better pictures. The lens is very sharp, and the 2.8 aperture is fast and pretty. I don’t regret dumping the 28-300 one little bit.

Love the versatility!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Overall I am pleased with the lens. It’s nice not to have to be switching back and forth, but as has been mentioned in many of the reviews I had read, the autofocus is kind of slow. One of my favorite things to shoot is car and motorcycle racing, and for this I’ve found it’s just not up to the task. For motorsports my Canon 55-250 gives me much better results.

Great lens for what it is.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Having acquired this lens yesterday as a general purpose walk around lens I wanted to post my initial feelings on this piece of glass. Tamron optics tend to be “middle of the road”, neither super stellar nor super awful. This lens, however, does go far beyond the middle towards stellar.

The good:

The VC on this lens is on par with Nikon’s VR. Tamron will tell you it’s better because of 3 axis control, but I’m not buying it. Still, the VC is really capable and at 300 mm you can get a usable result at 1/40th of a second with good technique.

Color reproduction is good, too, and the lens provides a nice amount of contrast. Probably the best result I’ve seen out of a Tamron to date.

Sharpness is actually amazingly good stopped down, and not bad wide open either. This is what impressed me the most with this lens.

The bad:

The VC is loud. You can hear it work. I guess some people may find that assuring, but I find it slightly annoying.

Focus is about as slow as a glacier indoors. Outdoors, it’s OK, but not super snappy. It hunts a lot and I find myself using manual focus in somewhat dim indoor light. This is not surprising, given the lens maximum aperture of f/6.3 at telephoto and 3.5 at wide angle.

The small max aperture also dims the viewfinder substantially, again, not so bad outdoors but indoors, it’s like you’re wearing sunglasses.

The Neutral:

Like all lenses on a 35mm sensor, there is light fall off on the corners. It is pretty well controlled, and disappears by f/8. But, it is helped by the fact that its maximum aperture is small, so that helps mitigate light falloff.

Overall:

If you are looking for a capable walk around lens that won’t break the budget or your back, this is the lens to buy, period. Probably not suitable for APS-C sensor cameras (it becomes a 42-450 then), but on a 35mm sensor camera, this lens is a gem. If you have a APS-C sensor, consider the Tamrom 18-250 VC lens. It is every bit as good as this lens is.

Tamron AF 28-300 Di LD VC Lens
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Purchased this lens as a gift for my son who shoots lots of railroad pix and was in need of a zoom lens for his beloved Canon DSLR. Got a call from him yesterday to tell me once again how much he loves this lens. He has shot some amazingly crisp photos, hand-held, at long distances in various light levels, and at times, from a truck with the motor running. He is extremely pleased with the lens. A close friend of mine owns the Nikon version and some of her garden and wildlife pix are professional quality, from a person with little photographic knowledge or experience. So far, the only disadvantage I’ve seen with the lenses is that owners want to spend too much time wandering about taking pictures! They become addicts and I can’t wait to add myself to the list.

High Quality General Purpose Lens
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
When I purchased this Tamron Lens a Month ago, reviews were very scarce. I took a chance and was surprised at the sharp focus of this all purpose lens. The action of the zoom is fast, the image is crisp. It is very versatile. Two things that I found that I think would be useful. It has soft focus at the edge below f8 and you really have to remember to lock the lens. It can be agrivating to find the Lens Extended all the time due to gravity. A future addition would be to allow the lens to lock in several positions like 28mm, 50mm, and 85mm. I took several vertical shots and had great results(another review said that this was a problem).

I was happy to see that this lens performs well doing macro work as well even though it is not a dedicated macro lens. I was using two lenses, a Tamron 28-75 f2.8 and a Canon 70-300 is usm to do what this one now does for me. Plus neither of those lenses did macro!

Perfect for amatures
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I just received the lens, in time as usual from Amazon. I read a lot of reviews before buying this lens for over 6 months. I have used it for total of three days taking around 200 pictures, indoors and outdoors.

Indoor, low light condition, the lens performs well, and the VC really helps get the shot in one go. It has made a huge difference since I had very slow f/4-f/5.6 lens 35-85mm and f/4-f6.7 for 100-300mm.

Outdoor pictures, are just fabulous. Absoloutely sharp, crisp, more so at 200-250 range with VC on.

Compared to Nikor 18-200, f/3.5-f5.6 , the lens is lighter shorter, but there brighter image with Nikor lens, although the shutter speed and sharpness remains the same.

Macro , option is a definitive plus, i could have never imagined doing 300mm , at one and a half feet from the flower. Would post some pictures if allowed.

the only glitch that i found so far was, seeking focus at 250-300 range, but as long as I am not doing sports shooting, it is acceptatble.

I have compared this to canon f/1.4 50mm and the pictures are comparable , atleast outdoors.

I have given it 5 stars since for the price, i could not have asked more. Excellent lens from a amature point of view

It is also easy on hands, not too heavy. Great walk around lens for sure.

I have now used it for 4 months. Some shots are very disappointing. Specially the focusing is very slow.

Very poor in low light conditions. I will change my star rating to 3+ now.

Its great outdoor lens. Poor quality in low light.

Grean Lens
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This lens is great, the Vibration Compensation works great. I can get shots at 1/60 or slower without blur and much brighter colors. Great for low light and still a good walk around lens.

Excellent lenses for low price.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD VC (Vibration Compensation) Aspherical (IF) Macro Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Buying this with caution and testing…or you will regret this!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I own this for 6 months…had a great time travelling with this and my D700 Nikon camera.

PRO: satisfied that this lens is not as sharp as prime lenses, however, it is a general purpose walk about lens.

Con:

* camera and lens combination is heavy. Went to Beijing, carried it for 2 days, and used my G9 on third day. When back to this combination again on fourth day. alternating.

*after 6 months, I found that there was something wrong with the sharpness of the lens. Nikon service center tested to see if my camera had problem with focusing, and found that this lens had front focusing problme.

*went back to agent: tried two other lenses- replacement focused then blurred. Had exchanged the first lens when I found that the zoom was not smooth..at about 250mm, the barrel appears to have a slight jam.

*grey set: dont ever get a grey set for this lens. You will regret it, although the price could be $100 cheaper! You will get endless problems solving your lens problem.

Picture quality- acceptable quality, but once your photoshop adjust it, you will get a wow! effect.

Re-selling: if you decide to upgrade later, re-selling is really SLOW… nikkor lenses sell fast. But this..resale is slow.

Nikon did not develop a good FX lens, but for now, this is the best there is …covering the 28-300mm range . I often use the DX facility in the D700 to get further reach..picture is smaller, but good enough for websites.

achanth.

Note: I have since returned the faulty copy of the lens and obtained a sharp copy from the authorized distributor. With this I am quite pleased with the quality of the images and the outcome of performance in low light and low speed. Some of the images have been put in http://www.photography-xylec.blogspot.com. Hogan was right…this is a good carry-about lens.

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 xr di ld vc lense
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Great lens, but ups broke the first one and I lost a few nights shooting.

Great walk around lens
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have a Canon 1DMkII, 1Ds and a 40D. I also have the Canon lenses – 28-300mm L IS, 100-400mm L IS, 70-200mm L IS and 300mm L IS The lenses and cameras are great needless to say. However they are big, heavy (except for the 40D) and not great to carry around all day when spending the day taking photos of something when you are not looking for that ultimate quality.

The Tamron fits that need perfectly. Remember I am comparing it to the best that Canon makes so being second is not a bad thing! Combined with the 40D or a Canon XTi it makes a perfect walk around combination. You can go from wide angle to telephoto with one lens. The resolution is fine and the image stabilization performs nicely and is especially noticeable at the 300mm range.

The price is good and the build quality is good. I wouldn’t buy any other lens of this type. There are reviews in Popular Photo magazine and on their web site.

Ben Lanterman

Excellent travel lense
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I own two Nikon prime lenses that I use with my D700: the 24-70 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8. As I was planning a trip to Europe I decided to look for a more compact, lighter super zoom. After going through a number of reviews I decided to purchase the Tamron AF 28-300. It is very compact and light compared to my other two main lenses. I have been extremely satisfied with the results and so have been my shoulders! Of course it is not a prime lense and it does not feel like a Nikon but it did the job very well allowing me to zoom in and out depending on the situation. The wide range also allowed me to not have to change lenses which I consider a great advantage since I mainly shot outside: I did not have to worry about dust or trying to find a safe place to change lenses. The fact that I use a D700 with it helped make up for the fact that it does not open as much as my Nikon lenses. It did however, as I had read, have a bit of difficulty focusing at 300 and when I did some night shots. It is also noisier than my other lenses but I quickly stopped noticing it. I think that this is a very good lense for travelling.

OK horizontal, but try vertical…
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This is a nice lens for regular photography that is done on mostly a horizontal plane. I do a lot of product photography and document photography from a tripod with the camera pointed down at 45 degrees or more. The weight of the lens extends the focal length (zoom) at these angles. The lock mechanism only locks the lens at 28mm. It will not lock the lens at any other focal length. I’m taking this one back for a lens that will lock the focal length at any distance.

Tamron 28-300 VC
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Tamron 28-300mm VC lens is great. I have used it in many different situation and have not had any problems. I had the Tamron 28-300 without the vibration compensation and that was a great len the VC just made it a little better.

Best affordable lens out there!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
About ten years ago I bought a Tamron 28-200mm lens for my 35 mm Canon Elan IIe. It was state-of-the-art stuff then, and it’s still a very good piece. I went digital with the Canon Rebel, and now the XTi, and used the Tamron almost all the time. Then I saw where Tamron released this 28-300mm with Vibration Compensation and it is made especially for digital SLRs, I didn’t hesitate to order it. It has a couple quirks, but I have absolutely NO REGRETS! It’s a fabulous lens! Now I’m waiting for a Tamron 14-20mm with VC?? How sweet would that be?

disappointing product
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I’ve been an avid photographer for around a year now, and have acquired some pretty outstanding quality lenses (Sigma 10-20mm 1:4-5.6, Nikon 50mm 1:1.8D, Nikon 85mm f/1.4D AF, Nikon 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED, and Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG) which give superlative quality and perform exceptionally well.

I’d been eyeing a larger zoom lens for some time, and after reading many reviews about the Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD VC, I decided to drop the $600. It arrived on Friday of last week, and so I had the weekend to take it for a test drive on my trusty D80.

On Sunday I visited the Bronx Zoo – what better way to test out the zoom capability (polar bears, tigers, etc), together with its macro function (butterfly garden, amphibian area) – boy, was it a let down.

Almost every image was disappointing – no real tack-sharpness I’d expected – my Nikon 18-200 gives me pin point sharpness, and the lens is fast too. This Tamron lens produced nothing but either soft focused images, or the images just lacked any oomph. The zoom took forever too – and it was noisy.

I’m returning it today for a full refund, and I think I’ll be giving Tamron a wide birth in future – I’ll stick to the better quality Nikon and Sigma lenses.

(my returning the product has nothing to do with the seller, J&R – I have bought all of my other lenses through J&R and have received stellar service through this firm – outstanding company)

Wonderful lens for many situations, not good for low light environments
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I am a serious amateur photographer and the types of photos I do the most are of people, street photography, architecture and landscapes.

I was attracted to the Tamron 28-300 given its broad range and its very light weight and compact size. I also own the Canon 75-300 USM IS and the Canon f4L 70-200. The Tamron seem to me like a great lens for travel and field trips in which I do not want to take a big bag of lenses and accesories with me.

I am very satisfied with the lens. It does a great job across the whole range and is very sharp and delivers great colors. It is quite compact when it is closed or at 28mm and it grows significantly at 300mm. It is a great lens for street photography as it is not a big, intimidating canon. It does an awesome job on street photography, where you can capture buildings by opening the lens or zoom into people easily with the 300mm zoom. The VR shake redeuction also works great, I do not have a very steady hand and still, I was able to capture very crisp photos at 1/100th of a second with the zoom at 300mm.

Where the lens performs poorly is in low light situations. I recently shot a Salsa dance show with low light and the Tamron’s performance was very dissapointing. It took too much time to focus, and by the time it was ready you probably had missed the moment you were trying to capture. It basically turned my Canon 1D Mark III into some kind of a compact camera in terms of its low speed.

In summary a great lens for daylight photography and a rather poor lens in demanding night and low light environments, like dance shows.

Find street photos and salsa dancer photos I took with the lens here(cut and paste this in your browser):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carreon/tags/tamron28300mm/

Tamron good range 300 mm lens for Nikon
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Tamron AF 28-300mm with vibration compensation is a great lens for the price. I have used it with a Nikon D60 and D200 and works nicely with both.

A decent option for a one-size-fits-all solution.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I have owned this lens for a little over a year, so I have had a good chance to do some comparisons. Please be advised that all my comparison are with lenses that I also own, based on observation.

I currently own this lens, the nifty 50 (Canon 50mm F1.8), Tamron 28-75mm F2.8, Sigma 10-20mm, Tokina 11-17mm Fisheye, and a Canon 70-200mm F4 L IS.

I bought this lens as a single solution replacement for the 18-55mm lens that came with my Canon XTi (I have since upgraded to the 50D). Let me start by saying there are very few lenses that can handle this large of a focal range. 28-300 is HUGE. It is also incredibly convenient as an all-purpose lens. If I was forced to bring only one lens on a vacation/shoot/whatever, it would be this lens (based on the lenses that I own).

This lens is a good lens for one reason: the focal length.

This lens is an “OK” lens for several reasons. First of all, the focus is fairly slow in low light. Especially at the higher focal lengths. Secondly, this lens is softer than other lenses (my Canon 70-200mm F4 L IS was 50% more money, but is one of the sharpest lenses on the planet).

Yes the lens does creep. If you are walking around with the camera around your neck and don’t lock it, you will all of a sudden notice the lens hood touching your knees. It is also very difficult to do tripod mounted timed exposures where the camera is pointed up. I was able to take pictures of a solar eclipse, but it wasn’t easy.

Where the lens shines is daylight. I took some phenomenal shots at the Red Bull Air Races. Although I would love to try the 18-250mm.

The Vibration Control is excellent. It may even be more effective than the Canon. I can hand-hold 1/10sec at 300mm if I’m careful.

All of this being said, I rarely use this lens anymore. I keep it as a backup for my wife to use on our Rebel XTi (I use the tamron 28-75 and the Canon 70-200).

Very grainy and unsharp at high magnification
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The more I compare photos taken with this lens to photos taken with others, the more I realize how poor it really is. The lack of clarity is pretty much completely unacceptable past about 200mm. The vibration compensation doesn’t seem to help. And the macro mode is essentially unusable outside the studio due to the incompatibility with ring flashes. This is an Edsel of lenses: trying to be all things to all people and ending up being nothing to no one. I should have bought a 300mm prime instead, or perhaps a lens with less range.

Very nice lens
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I replaced two Canon lenses (18-135 and 70-300) with this single lens and I’m glad I did it. Most of my pictures are hand-held, on hikes or vacation, and I really don’t want to carry a bunch of lenses or change them in the field. In the last year, I’ve been hiking on a glacier in Canada and crossing the Sahara on horseback. Neither is a great place to change lenses and there were too many times I missed a shot I wanted because the right lens was in the bag, not on the camera.

This one is small, light, easy to use. I see no color or shape distortion. I can get the same results handheld at slower shutter speeds using Tamron’s VC as I got with Canon’s IS.

I do have a few small gotcha’s, though. One is that the direction of the twist to zoom in is opposite direction to the Canon lens. That took a bit of getting used to. Another is that auto focusing is a little louder. That might be a problem for places where silence is important. Third (and last), there is very little twist difference between 200mm and 300mm focal lengths. In other words, it is difficult to make precise choices at the upper ends of the range. (All zooms are more granular at their lower numbers; it is just that with a range this wide it is more pronounced than usual.)

All in all, I’m very happy with this lens and recommend it to you.

a little heavy…but,
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
it’s a little heavier than i would like, but it does a fine job as a “one size fits all”. i have no problem with the lens shifting when shooting straight up or straight down.Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD VC (Vibration Compensation) Aspherical (IF) Macro Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

I love this lens
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love this lens — an all-purpose carry-around lens with VC built in, and very good optics. I am surprised consistently by the IQ of the photos I am taking – not what I expected from a general walk-around lens of this type.

With my previous Nikon kit — the 18-200 was one of my favorite lenses, but the IQ was always a bit worse than what I got with any of my dedicated lenses…

Now with my Canon kit, I can clearly state that the Tamron 28-300 VC lens consistently gives me far better shots that the Nikon 18-200 ever did in the same lighting situations. The added zoom is a blessing and basically allows you to take your Canon camera, this lens, and nothing else on most photo shoots, especially when traveling.

I highly recommend this lens as an all-purpose walk-around lens, and I think you will find that the IQ is stunning — beyond what you would imagine with a lens of this type.

My only wish — that it was 18-300 because you DO miss the wider angle from 18-28 at times…but at this price point and this quality, I can’t recommend it more. You will not be sorry with this lens, and you might, like myself, find yourself basically using this for almost all situations. It hasn’t come off my Canon 40D in the two months I have had both.

Wow
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m definitely an amateur, even though I have several lenses for my Canon Rebel. I have found that I leave this lens on for 90% of my picture-taking. If you have special needs, i.e. portraits, go for this and the plastic Canon 50mm. If you are a professional photographer, shame on you for relying on our reviews to take our pictures. I hope you’re better than that.

What a relief!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I admit, we are not the most experienced photographers. We had previously been using a 15mm-28mm wide lens (mostly indoor shooting), and were getting very blurry images, to the point we thought there might be something wrong with our EOS 5D and/or lens. We have always been big fans of the our Canon G6, and went back to it, sad that we had paid so much for a camera and lens that were not working for us.

This lens changed all that! We now prefer the EOS 5D with it, and are getting wonderful results. We recommend this lens as your first lens for the EOS 5D.

Lens Review
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Bought lens 6 weeks ago and am very impressed with its capability. The image stabilization really locks on and the lens clarity is excellent. I consider this lens to be of pro quality. Have shot still and air show subjects and the lens operated excellently.

Disappointed
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
If you really care about very sharp photos, don’t buy this one. I have tried every setting available and even with the VC off, the mirror up on my Canon40D and using a tripod, the pictures are very soft.

The older Tamron 18-200 is sharper, and the Canon kit lens that came with my Rebel camera is even sharper.

fantastic lense
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
this lense is amazing. it took the place of two others in my camera bag and works wonderfuly. it takes some time to get used to the stabilisation but once you have its a great feture. highly recomended

Incredible value
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great lens for anyone that wants the versatility of such a wide focal range and the portability of this size lens. I have even used it for some wedding shots. (Outdoor shots only) Most everyone will love this lens.

Very satisfied Customer
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Tamron AF -28-300lens for Nikon

Very satisfied with the purchase, Great service and shipping before I expected .

New Canon Camera Lens from Tamron
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My new Tamron28-3 00 image stabilized lens was shipped properly and works perfectly as advertised.

Monster bang for the buck!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
After I received it in the mail I went straight to a wedding to click off a few photos. It out performed my other Tamron ten-fold. The only downfall I’ve run into with this lens is some minor lens creep if you’re not paying attention but that’s easy enough to prevent. I’m incredibly impressed with this lens. More bang for the buck than anything else in this price range. VC works well!! Much needed if you have shakey hands like me. To get a better lens you’d have to go with pro lenses.

Love it
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I may be biased b/c this is my first DSLR camera, but I can’t live without this lens. It is fantastic for up close and far away shots. The VC is a must have and took a bunch of shots deep sea fishing with the boat rocking and the pics were perfect…if not outstanding. My buddy who has several canon cameras and lens really liked it and also bought it after testing mine on his D40 Canon. Go for it…its an all in 1 lens so a much better option to travel with

Good Lens
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m new to the SLR market, though I own several cameras and camcorders. I bought a $250 Canon 300mm lens without VC, and I found out, you get what you pay for. The Tamron lens was recommended to me by a camera professional, and it’s was well worth the money. The zoom is fantastic, and the VC allows you to shoot without a tripod. If you are looking for a $600 quality lens, this is it. You don’t need to bring any other lens on your trip, this lens does it all.

Nice lens – decent macro
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This lens was the perfect addition to my camera for my 16 day African safari into Kruger National Park. All of my images turned out great and I used another filter which made the lighting incredible. Nice macro options too. Of course, I had fabulous subject matter, so I would have been tickled with a Brownie, but for the money, this lens does not dissappoint!

Great convenience, average image quality
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
My hopes for this lens were dashed within a half-hour of using it. EVERY picture I took was soft at all focal lengths. In fact, it can’t even beat the quality of the Canon 18-55 IS lens which really disappointed me. I compared both lenses, both on and off of a tripod, with and without the flash, with all the same settings (28-55mm focal lengths, apertures & ISOs), and indoor and outdoor. The Canon won EVERY single time. The Tamron is just a soft lens. I guess it’s the sacrifice for the sheer convenience of not having to swap out lenses for such a large range. But what good is a $590 lens that isn’t even as sharp as a $175 basic one?

This lens suffers from fringing as well as poor auto-focusing in low lighting. I thought the first lens I had was defective. I sent it back. It’s replacement isn’t any better. What’s worse, is that you have to up the aperture to at least 10.0 to shoot something that’s flat, straight-on! Otherwise, any deviation from a perfect perpendicular angle and the edges fall out of focus quickly.

The ONLY redeeming factors of this lens is it’s focal range and Vibration Compensation. It’s truly amazing how well the VC works in low-lighting and at 300mm.

Perhaps my standards are too high to be forgiving of this lens, but when it can’t beat a $175 kit lens with IS, it’s not worth the money in my opinion.

Tamaron AF 28-300MM VC Zoom Lense
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have taken over 1000 shots with the lense. The area where I have experience a problems are: moisture and focusing.

Moisture: My first lens is a Canon 17-85mm. I used it while in Canada at the Falls. It got soaked (I was careless and wanted a picture while close to the falls), I dried the lens and proceeded to take my picture. I experenced no problem with the lens. This has become my base line. While in Costa Rica in the Rain Forest a little moisture got on the lens. The lense fogged up and I was unable to use the lens. Once indoors the lens cleared and I went outside again. Within five minutes the lens fogged up. The lens again cleared once inside and I have not experenced any futher problems. I would not go far from home without a secondary lens on a wet day. Note a person with Nikon had the same problem and their lens took longer to clear The next day the Nikon still was not clear and my Canon had no problems at all.

Lens testing: I tested the lens at 300mm against a clear sky focused on a tree branch. The twigs did not blur however there were frnges of color around them. I had to use a great deal of mag to see these fringes around the twigs, therefore, I do not consider this a problem. (note I am not a pro!)

Focus Ability: Once above 200mm I don’t even consider Auto Focus. It does not find the target and goes into a hunt process and usually fails to focus. I experience no problem using Manual Focus.

Do I like the Lens: YES, And would buy it again. Because of its features: light weight, range 28-300mm, I use it has my primary lense. The F-stop range is limited but so I use 1600 ISO when needed and the pictures still look O.K. Most of my pictures are daylight at 200 ISO.

Great lens
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I shot over 250 picts with this lens in Moab, UT. Great results. Many folks complained about the lens fully extending when held in down position unless the lock is used. Yes, it does extend, but it wasn’t a problem, since after reading the reviews, I was prepared for it.

better than expected
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought this lens for D300. the overall built quality is fair for $599 lens. With my D300, I used AF fine tune to maximize the sharpness, however, it turns out that it always back focus when I shoot the object on the shadow and the background is brighter.

So, I suggest to turn AF fine turn off. (- -”)

VC is so good and very useful